Two-time Australian Open champion and 2025 finalist Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) made an excellent start to her participation in this year's Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne, BTA reports. The leader in the schedule and world rankings did not encounter serious difficulties against the “wild card” Frenchwoman Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonas and achieved success with 6:4, 6:1 in just 77 minutes of play.
One of the big surprises of the day was provided by the Turkish Zeynep Sonmez, who started her participation in the qualifiers. The 23-year-old tennis player eliminated 11th-seeded Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in a hard-fought match that ended 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
Sönmez impressed not only with her play on the court, but also with her sportsmanship. During the match, she stopped the game to help one of the girls serving the balls, who had fainted due to the extreme heat. The Turkish woman came to the rescue, supporting the child and helping him sit up until the medical team intervened, which earned her a standing ovation from the audience.
Despite allowing the set to be tied, Sonmez showed character and closed the match in her favor, becoming the first tennis player from Turkey to reach the second round of the Australian Open.
In other first-round matches, American Haley Batiste defeated compatriot Taylor Townsend 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3, and Russian Polina Kudermetova defeated Spanish Giomar Maristani 6-2, 6-3.