The draw for the year’s first Grand Slam at the Australian Open is set — and there are some tough tests for the biggest names in the early rounds. 

Two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka was on hand with defending men’s champion, Jannik Sinner, to kick off the official draw ceremony on Thursday at Melbourne Park. The World No.1, the top seed at a major for the first time in her career, leads the draw in the hopes of being the first woman to win three straight singles titles Down Under since Martina Hingis in 1997-99.

“To be back here, and to walk here with this beautiful trophy as the two-time defending champion is definitely something special,” Sabalenka said. “I really hope that I can keep doing what I’m doing here in Australia.”

“Putting your name into history and being next to those legends, it’s something special,” she added. “[Winning three in a row] would be huge, but I have to focus on myself … bring my best tennis every time I’m out there, and put my name next to those legends.”

But Sabalenka won’t have things all her own way. First up, she was drawn to face 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the opening round — and the road only gets tougher from there.

Sabalenka and Coco Gauff were drawn into the top half of the draw in a projected semifinal — a match, and round, won by Sabalenka 12 months ago in Rod Laver Arena 7-6(2) 6-4. Gauff, too, faces a major winner at the first hurdle, as she opens against 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin — and Sabalenka could also face No.5 seed Zheng Qinwen in the quarterfinals in a rematch of last year’s championship. 

Looming in Gauff’s quarter is two-time Australian Open winner Naomi Osaka, who will face France’s Caroline Garcia in the first round in Melbourne for the second year in a row. The winner of that could face No.20 seed Karolina Muchova in Round 2, with No.16 seed Jelena Ostapenko (or the returning Belinda Bencic, Ostapenko’s first-round foe) for the right to potentially face Gauff in the last 16. 

In the bottom half, No.2 seed Iga Swiatek opens against Katerina Siniakova, in the same half as No.4 seed Jasmine Paolini and No.6 seed Elena Rybakina, and No.8 seed Emma Navarro.

More to come…