Australian Open 2023: Kyrgios and Tomljanovic dealt brutal draws

It may be their local Grand Slam, but the draw hasn’t been kind to Australia’s best hopes Nick Kyrgios and Ajla Tomljanovic.

Aussies dudded at the Aus Open

Nick Kyrgios will have his work cut out to make the second week of the Australian Open after being dealt a tricky draw.

Kyrgios is seeded 19th but would have had a higher seeding if not for Wimbledon having been stripped of its points last year.

The 27-year-old will face Roman Safullin in the first round, before facing the winner of the all-French clash between Richard Gasquet and Ugo Humbert in the second round.

Kyrgios has beaten Humbert twice at grand slam level.

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But then it gets trickier for Kyrgios, who will likely play ninth seed Holger Rune in the third round before taking on World No. 6 Andrey Rublev in the fourth round.

If he makes it into the quarterfinals, Kyrgios would likely face either Novak Djokovic or fellow Australian Alex de Minaur — who plays a qualifier in the first round.

Elsewhere in the men’s draw, Rafael Nadal will face British youngster Jack Draper in the first round.

In a tough draw, defending champion Nadal could face last year’s finalist Daniil Medvedev as early as the quarterfinals.

Matteo Berretini and Andy Murray will play each other first up in one of the matches of Round 1.

Not ideal for Nick. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)

Brutal draw for Aussie Tomljanovic

Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic will take on World No. 192 Nadia Podoroska in the first round, but her draw gets much tougher from then on.

The Aussie’s projected run would likely face Victoria Azarenka (R2), Madison Keys (R3), Maria Sakkari (R4), Jessica Pegula (QF), (SF) Iga Swiatek, and Ons Jabeur if she progresses all the way to the final.

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has been dealt a tough Australian Open draw.

She will face Germany’s Jule Niemeier in the first round, before tough potential match-ups with former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in the second round and last year’s Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins in the third round.

The only two active former Australian Open champions, Victoria Azarenka and Sofia Kenin, will face off in the first round.

Australian men’s players’ Round 1 opponents

No.19 Nick Kyrgios vs Roman Saffiulin

No.22 Alex de Minaur vs Qualifier

Chris O’Connell vs Jenson Brooksby

Jordan Thompson vs JJ Wolf

Thanasi Kokkinakis vs Fabio Fognini

Jason Kubler (WC) vs Sebastian Baez

Alexei Popyrin (WC) vs Chun-Hsin Tseng

John Millman (WC) vs Marc-Andrea Huesler

Rinky Hijikata (WC) vs Qualifier

Australian women’s players’ Round 1 opponents

Ajla Tomljanovic vs Nadia Podoroska

Kimberly Birrell (WC) vs Kaia Kanepi

Jaimee Fourlis (WC) vs Linda Fruhvirtova

Olivia Gadecki (WC) vs Qualifier

Storm Hunter (WC) vs Xinyu Wang

Talia Gibson (WC) vs Qualifier

Ajla Tomljanovic has been dealt a brutal Australian Open draw. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2023 SEEDINGS

Men: 1. Rafael Nadal, 2. Casper Ruud, 3. Stefanos Tsitsipas, 4. Novak Djokovic, 5. Andrey Rublev, 6. Felix Auger-Aliassime, 7. Daniil Medvedev, 8. Taylor Fritz, 9. Holger Rune, 10. Hubert Hurkacz, 11. Cameron Norrie, 12. Alexander Zverev, 13. Matteo Berrettini, 14. Pablo Carreno Busta, 15. Jannik Sinner, 16. Frances Tiafoe, 17. Marin Cilic, 18. Lorenzo Musetti, 19. Karen Khachanov, 20. Nick Kyrgios, 21. Denis Shapovalov, 22. Borna Coric, 23. Alex de Minaur, 24. Diego Schwartzman, 25. Roberto Bautista Agut, 26. Dan Evans, 27. Miomir Kecmanovic, 28. Grigor Dimitrov, 29. Francisco Cerundolo, 30. Sebastian Korda, 31. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 32. Yoshihito Nishioka

Women: 1. Iga Swiatek, 2. Ons Jabeur, 3. Jessica Pegula, 4. Caroline Garcia, 5. Aryna Sabalenka, 6. Maria Sakkari, 7. Coco Gauff, 8. Daria Kasatkina, 9. Veronika Kudermetova, 10. Madison Keys, 11. Paula Badosa, 12. Belinda Bencic, 13. Danielle Collins, 14. Beatriz Haddad Maia, 15. Petra Kvitova, 16. Anett Kontaveit, 17. Jelena Ostapenko, 18. Liudmila Samsonova, 19. Ekaterina Alexandrova, 20. Barbora Krejcikova, 21. Martina Trevisan, 22. Elena Rybakina, 23. Zhang Shuai, 24. Victoria Azarenka, 25. Maria Bouzkova, 26. Elise Mertens, 27. Irina-Camelia Begu, 28. Amanda Anisimova, 29. Zheng Qinwen, 30. Karolina Pliskova, 31. Kaia Kanepi, 32. Jil Teichmann.

You can watch the official Australian Open draw unfold live on the tournament’s official YouTube channel.

Originally published as Australian Open 2023: Kyrgios and Tomljanovic dealt brutal draws