By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday January 15, 2024

 

Iga Swiatek will begin her bid for a maiden Australian Open title on Day 3 in Melbourne Park.

Photo Source: Getty

Tuesday marks the third day of first-round action in the new look Australian Open, and some incredible talents are on tap.



SEE THE FULL DAY 3 ORDER OF PLAY HERE:

Scroll down to find out what we’ll be keeping tabs on.

Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina on Rod Laver Arena

The top half of the women’s draw is loaded with talent, and is home to two potential title winners in top-seeded Iga Swiatek and No.3-seeded Elena Rybakina. Both will be in action on Tuesday, with Swiatek taking the court first on Rod Laver Arena with a showdown with 2020 champion Sofia Kenin.

Though Swiatek will enter as the massive favorite, due to the fact that Kenin is still working her way back to top form, Tuesday's showdown will be an intriguing matchup between two Grand Slam champions.

Kenin got her feet back underneath her in 2023, rising from outside the Top 200 to her current perch inside the Top 40.

Swiatek, meanwhile, is hoping for a breakthrough in Melbourne, a place where she has never won let alone made it to the final. She’d love to take it to Kenin early and often and use the match as a springboard, setting the tone for a fortnight of challenges.

In the night session, third-seeded Rybakina, who knocked Swiatek out of the Australian Open in the round of 16 last year en route to the final, opens with a tricky encounter with former World No.1 Karolina Pliskova. Another intriguing matchup, to say the least.

Pliskova may be past her prime, but she is still dangerous when feeling her lethal first-strike game.

Grigor Dimitrov, fan favorite?

Fresh off his first ATP title since 2017, rejuvenated Grigor Dimitrov will look to continue his winning streak with a first-round encounter with Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics in John Cain Arena. Dimitrov, who reached the semifinals at the Aussie Open in 2017, where he fell to Rafael Nadal in five wildly entertaining sets, is 1-2 lifetime against Fucsovics, but he did take their last meeting, at San Diego in 2021.

At 32, is Dimitrov capable of parlaying his hot form into a deep run at a Slam? We’ll get our first clues on Tuesday. The Bulgarian is considered by many to be a dark horse candidate this year in Melbourne.

Alcaraz, Rune Ready to Challenge?

We haven’t seen two-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz since the ATP Finals in November, and many are wondering if he is going to hit the ground running in Melbourne, where he has only made two career appearances to date, and has never been beyond the third round.

Alcaraz missed the event in 2023 due to injury, so the statistic might be a little bit misleading. Could 2024 mark the first deep run for Alcaraz at the Happy Slam? He opens with veteran Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the second night session match at Rod Laver, and when he does he’ll be looking to shake off an uninspiring end to the 2023 season that saw him win just seven of his final 13 matches, starting with his loss at the hands of Daniil Medvedev in the US Open semifinals.

Speaking of young guns, tennis fans are curious to know how Danish teen Holger Rune will perform in 2024, now that he has added Boris Becker and Severin Luthi to his coaching team. Expectations, most certainly, are high.

The wildly talented No.8 seed opens with a tricky first-round clash with Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. 28-year-old Nishioka, ranked 61, reached the round of 16 last year in Melbourne Park, and he beat Rune in the pair’s only previous matchup, at Adelaide last year.