Australian Open draw revealed: Ash Barty gets dream draw, Nick Kyrgios

World No. 1 Ash Barty has been handed a dream draw for the Australian Open, avoiding the shark tank on the other side of the fixture.

Ash Barty is hunting a second grand slam title.

Aussie Ash Barty has been given a dream draw for the 2021 Australian Open women’s singles after avoiding Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova in her half of the draw.

The draw was less kind for the Aussie men’s contingent with Alex de Minaur and Nick Kyrgios both needing to knock off top-three ranked players to make it through to the second week of the event.

The full field fell nicely for World No. 1 Barty as Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley and tournament referee Wayne McKewen announced the full field.

If the top 16 seeds all progress through to the fourth round, Barty faces the prospect of meeting Croatian Petra Martic in the fourth round.

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She is drawn to likely face World No. 6 Karolina Pliskova in the quarters and Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Aussie Open champion who knocked Barty out 12 months ago, in the semi-finals.

The bottom half of the draw is a mine field for World No. 2 Simona Halep.

Kvitova, Naomi Osaka, Garbine Muguruza, Angelique Kerber and Williams have all landed in the loaded bottom half.

It means Barty will avoid all of them until the final.

Barty has drawn Danka Kovinic in the first round and is on a collision course with Aussie Daria Gavrilova in the second round.

The 2021 women’s main draw @AustralianOpen. pic.twitter.com/JodhXuGwKn

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) February 5, 2021

The men’s draw was less kind for Aussie Nick Kyrgios, who faces qualifier Frederico Silva in the first round, before his draw turns daunting.

The draw was also tough for Australia’s top-ranked men’s player Alex de Minaur, who has drawn American Tennys Sandgren in the first round.

The majority of the Aussie men’s contingent were handed friendly first round matches.

Only Alexei Popyrin and Aleksandar Vukic will play seeded players in the first round.

Bernard Tomic faces Yuichi Sugita in the first round. John Millman meets Corentin Moutet in the opening round.

De Minaur faces a series of tough obstacles to make it through to the second week of the Open, and is on a collision course to meet Fabio Fognini in the third round and Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.

Kyrgios’ hopes of going on another deep run at Melbourne Park also appear limited after he was drawn to play No. 3 seed Dominic Thiem in the Round of 32.

Millman must also beat No. 14 seed Milos Raonic and No. 17 seed Stan Wawrinka if he hopes of making it through to the last 16.

pic.twitter.com/gW3nFVApAI

— Marc McGowan 🗣✍️👨🏻‍💻📰 (@ByMarcMcGowan) February 5, 2021

Australia has 13 men in the men’s singles draw and another nine in the women’s singles draw.

The draw was supposed to take place on Thursday evening, but COVID-19 had other ideas. Upwards of 500 players and officials were told to isolate and get tested after a hotel staff member tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said a worker at a hotel the players and officials are staying in became infected with COVID-19.

Australian Open tennis.. 02/02/2021. Ash Barty vs Ana Bogdan. Ash Barty serves 1st set . Pic: Michael Klein

The 26-year-old man from Noble Park last worked at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne as a resident support officer for the Australian Open quarantine program on January 29 and anyone there was considered a casual contact.

All play on Thursday at five ATP and WTA warm-up tournaments, as well as the ATP Cup event featuring the world’s top players in Melbourne, were cancelled as a precaution.

However, play resumed as normal in those events on Friday and every single one of the more than 500 tests carried out on players, coaches and officials came back negative.

Kyrgios lost to Borna Coric in straight sets after throwing another dummy spit at the Murray River Open, while Barty will face Serena Williams after cruising through to the semi-finals of the Yarra Valley classic.

MEN’S SINGLES DRAW SEEDS

1. Novak Djokovic (SRB), 2. Rafael Nadal (ESP), 3. Dominic Thiem (AUT, 4. Daniil Medvedev (RUS), 5. Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE), 6. Alexander Zverev (GER), 7. Andrey Rublev (RUS), 8. Diego Schwartzman (ARG), 9. Matteo Berrettini (ITA), 10. Gael Monfils (FRA), 11. Denis Shapovalov (CAN), 12. Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP), 13. David Goffin (BEL), 14. Milos Raonic (CAN), 15. Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP), 16. Fabio Fognini (ITA), 17. Stan Wawrinka (SUI), 18. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL), 19. Karen Khachanov (RUS), 20. Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN), 21. Alex de Minaur (AUS), 22. Borna Coric (CRO), 23. Dusan Lajovic (SRB), 24. Casper Ruud (NOR), 25. Benoit Paire (FRA), 26. Hubert Hurkacz (POL), 27. Taylor Fritz (USA), 28. Filip Krajinovic (SRB), 29. Ugo Humbert (FRA), 30. Dan Evans (GBR), 31. Lorenzo Sonego (ITA), 32. Adrian Mannarino (FRA)

WOMEN’S SINGLES DRAW SEEDS

1. Ashleigh Barty (AUS), 2. Simona Halep (ROU), 3. Naomi Osaka (JPN), 4. Sofia Kenin (USA), 5. Elina Svitolina (UKR), 6. Karolina Pliskova (CZE), 7. Aryna Sabalenka (BLR), 8. Bianca Andreescu (CAN), 9. Petra Kvitova (CZE), 10. Serena Williams (USA), 11. Belinda Bencic (SUI), 12. Victoria Azarenka (BLR), 13. Johanna Konta (GBR), 14. Garbine Muguruza (ESP), 15. Iga Swiatek (POL), 16. Petra Martic (CRO), 17. Elena Rybakina (KAZ), 18. Elise Mertens (BEL), 19. Marketa Vondrousova (CZE), 20. Maria Sakkari (GRE), 21. Anita Kontaveit (EST), 22. Jennifer Brady (USA), 23. Angelique Kerber (GER), 24. Alison Riske (USA), 25. Karolina Muchova (CZE), 26. Yulia Putintseva (KAZ), 27. Ons Jabeur (TUN), 28. Donna Vekic (CRO), 29. Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS), 30. Wang Qiang (CHN), 31. Zhang Shuai (CHN), 32. Veronika Kudermetova (RUS)