All seven American men won their first round AO qualies matches. Nishesh Basvareddy, Colton Smith, Brandon Holt, Tristan Boyer, Martin Damm and Murphy Cassone. All were in three setters except for Smith and Basavareddy.
Michael Zheng will try to keep the Stars and Stripes momentum going later today vs Cruz Hewitt. Mackenzie McDonald, Mitchell Krueger, Zachary Svajda and Nicholas Alboran also play today.
Bernard Tomic is still out there grinding and he was victorious in his 1R qualies match, beating Hugo Dellien 63 63.
Nico Jarry, seeded 21, was defeated by Titouan Droguet 64 63. The 30 year old former world no. 16 made 2R in 2023 which was his best result in Melbourne.
American women struggled as Madison Brengle, Sachia Vickery and Bernarda Pera all lost. Mary Stoiana and Taylor Townsend both managed to win by 75 in the third set and Sloane Stephens prevailed 61 75 vs. Barbora Palicova.
AO · Martin Damm Jr. · USA
Sam · January 14, 2026 at 3:57 am
Scoop, speaking of the Australian Open, do you expect Djokovic to make the semis at least?
And were you shocked to see him kick the PTPA to the curb over “ongoing concerns regarding transparency, governance, and the way [his] voice and image have been represented”? 🤔
Scoop Malinowski · January 14, 2026 at 8:34 am
Sam I can see Djokovic winning. But today I saw something about some kind of neck problem on the practice court. He is said to be physically stronger now and let’s hope his body can handle the rigors of seven physical matches. I think he his extremely motivated to make a statement and with the right breaks, good karma, another Djokovic perfect storm can happen. My view on stepping back from PTPA is he has enough work to do regarding his ON COURT endeavors. Wasting energy on off court stuff like PTPA and corruption will not help his on court performance, it can only hurt it.
Scoop Malinowski · January 15, 2026 at 9:12 am
The 1 pt tiebreaker may be the greatest innovation in tennis history… https://tennisnow.com/amateur-smith-wins-1-million-in-ao-1-point-challenge/
Cyndy · January 19, 2026 at 2:47 pm
Scoop Malinowski— it was a delight to watch Wawrinka win his first round match at the AO and looking forward for him to go deep. Also as always I love reading your insights on Djokovic and whether it can be number 11 for him this year keeping in mind that he had made the semis of all slams in 2025. That was a good point you made on him leaving the PTPA. Popyrins match against Muller was good too with the boisterous crowd backing him in that fifth set tiebreaker that Muller won. Hopefully the niggling neck pain of Djokovic will ease off and not hinder his matches going forward.
Scoop Malinowski · January 19, 2026 at 3:14 pm
Cyndy, thank you, welcome back. Stan is one of those players it is simply impossible to dislike. He can beat Gea too and get on some kind of momentum roll a la Jimmy Connors US Open. That would be a poetic farewell to Melbourne. Djokovic is right there on the cusp of making a slam final and it seems he has worked hard with new ideas to surpass his 2025. Muller I first saw playing Tallahassee Challenger about seven years ago, now he’s almost an elite player. Not far at all.
Cyndy · January 19, 2026 at 4:10 pm
Many thanks Scoop Malinowski — yes Wawrinka plays Gea (who surprisingly beat Lehecka in straights) next and with the crowd that give him the hearty energised boost to push him through with another match win and march on. Yes it would most certainly be a fitting poetic farewell for him and he so deserves it. Will look forward to your write ups for the 2nd round matches after some upsets with Felix A retiring. We shall see what next. And Alcaraz new serve motion too.
Sam · January 24, 2026 at 4:33 am
with the right breaks, good karma, another Djokovic perfect storm can happen.
Scoop, that would definitely be nice!
My view on stepping back from PTPA is he has enough work to do regarding his ON COURT endeavors. Wasting energy on off court stuff like PTPA and corruption will not help his on court performance, it can only hurt it.
I can understand that on the surface, but why not just say then, “I’m temporarily stepping away to focus on my tennis”? Unfortunately, the optics of this split, which looks pretty nasty, leave much to be desired. 🤔
Scoop Malinowski · January 24, 2026 at 8:01 am
Sam: “If you can’t beat em join em.”