MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Coco Gauff and Venus Williams could face each other in the second round of the Australian Open, more than six years after they first faced each other in a major tournament.
Gauff was 15 when she beat seven-time major winner Venus Williams in the first round at Wimbledon in 2019 in her Grand Slam debut.
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She is now the third seed and a two-time major winner. Williams, 45, holds a wild card for the Australian Open, where she is playing for the first time in five years.
Williams is set to become the oldest woman to enter the main draw of the Australian Open, surpassing the record previously held by The Kimiko meeting in Japanwho was 44 when she lost in the first round at Melbourne Park in 2015.
The draw for the first major tournament of the year took place on Thursday at Melbourne Park. The tournament starts on Sunday.
Gauff will start against Kamilla Rakhimova, ranked No. 91. Williams, ranked 576th, who made her debut at the Australian Open in 1998 and reached the final twice, will start against Olga Danilovic, ranked 68th.
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They are in the same half of the draw as top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, who won back-to-back Australian Open titles before losing last year’s final to Madison Keys.
Sabalenka has a potential third-round meeting against 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu.
Defending champion Keys was drawn into the same quarter as No. 6 Jessica Pegula and No. 4 Amanda Anisimova. No. 2-ranked Iga Świątek is in the bottom quarter on that side of the draw and has a potential fourth-round matchup against Naomi Osaka.
Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic landed in the same half of the draw, setting up a potential semi-final between the defending champion and the 23-time major winner.
Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz is on the opposite side of the draw from Sinner and Djokovic.
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AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
