A potential semi-final clash with defending champion Sofia Kenin could be on the cards for Ash Barty at the Australian Open, while Nick Kyrgios might face Dominic Thiem as early as the third round.

Both the women’s and men’s draw were held on Friday afternoon in the wake of the news all Australian Open quarantine participants returned negative results following a positive COVID-19 test for a worker in the Grand Hyatt.

Barty has drawn Montenegrin Danka Kovinić, who is ranked 77 in the world, in the opening round.

Should the world number one win through she may meet fellow Australian Daria Gavrilova in the second round. Gavrilova, a wildcard in the women’s draw, will play Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo in her opening match.

If Barty makes it through to the fourth round for a third consecutive year, she could face Croatia’s 16th seed Petra Martić.

Former world number one Karolina Pliskova or the 11th-seeded Belinda Bencic are possible quarter-final opponents should Barty make the last eight.

Barty lost to Kenin in the Australian Open semi-finals just over 12 months ago and another meeting in the last four looms should they advance that deep in the tournament.

Kenin plays Australian wildcard Maddison Inglis in the first appearance of her title defence.

Barty is finalising her Australian Open preparations in the Yarra Valley Classic at Melbourne Park and will play Serena Williams in the Saturday’s semi-finals in what is her first WTA tour appearance since last February.

Williams, chasing her 24th major singles title, is in arguably the tougher side of the women’s draw for the season-opening major.

The seven-time Australian Open champion is pitted in the same half as second seed Simona Halep and 2019 winner Naomi Osaka, who is seeded third.

Williams, the 10th seed opens her account against German Laura Siegemund, Halep plays Australian wildcard Lizette Cabrera, and Osaka takes on experienced Russian Anastasia Pavlyuohenkova, who was a quarter-finalist in Melbourne last year.

Kyrgios lands tough draw

Nick Kyrgios will play Dominic Thiem should they both make the third round.(AP: Andy Wong)

The unseeded Kyrgios, ranked 47, will open his Melbourne Park campaign against Portuguese qualifier Frederico Ferreira Silva.

But the draw becomes more challenging for Kyrgios if he advances from the first round.

France’s 29th seed Ugo Humbert might be waiting for the 25-year-old and US Open champion Thiem, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2020 men’s final, will be his third-round opponent if they both progress to the last 32.

Thiem is seeded three in the men’s draw.

Kyrgios will enter the Australian Open under an injury cloud. He struggled with a knee problem in his 6-3, 6-4 loss to Borna Ćorić in the Murray River Open third round at Melbourne Park on Friday.

He was playing in his first ATP Tour event in almost 12 months after sitting out much of the 2020 season amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Australia’s top-ranked men’s player Alex de Minaur, seeded 21 in Melbourne, will play controversial American Tennys Sandgren in the first round.

De Minaur and second seed Rafael Nadal are in the same half of the men’s draw and could face each other in the fourth round should they progress to the last 16.

Nadal has been troubled by a back injury, which forced him out of Spain’s ATP Cup tilt at Melbourne Park this week.

Men’s world number one Novak Djokovic will meet veteran Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the first round.

Among the Australian men’s contingent, John Millman has been drawn to play France’s Corentin Moutet, and Jordan Thompson is up against Norway’s 24th seed Casper Ruud.

Bernard Tomic, who qualified for the Australian Open last month and is ranked 229 in the world, meets Japan’s Yuichi Sugita in the first round.



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