Key events
Summary
Tumaini Carayol
The two-time champion Naomi Osaka survived a serious scare before rallying from a break down in the final set to defeat Antonia Ruzic of Croatia 6-3, 3-6 6-4. After easing through the opening set, things began to fall apart for an increasingly tense Osaka, the 16th seed, who soon trailed 3-4 in the final set. She reeled off the final three games to seal her victory.
By reaching the second round, Osaka has also offered herself another chance to wear one of her most dramatic outfits yet. Osaka entered Rod Laver Arena in an all-white outfit complete with a massive hat, a large umbrella and train veil, which she said was inspired by a jellyfish. She then stripped off the outer layers to reveal her more conventional competition outfit.
“It’s modelled after a jellyfish,” Osaka said of her get-up. “I’m just so grateful that I get to be able to do the things that I love. It’s really beautiful.”
So that’s it from me, but thanks for your company as always, and do join Daniel tomorrow for the night session, with Alex de Minaur, Mirra Andreeva, Alex Zverev and Frances Tiafoe in action, plus perhaps a bit of Cameron Norrie if his match stretches into the evening, with Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Daniil Medvedev among the names playing in the day, along with the British qualifier Arthur Fery. Bye!
A breakthrough! Inglis breaks to 15 and is serving for the match. “Let’s go Maddy, let’s go,” cries a voice in the crowd, which is loud but sparse on the John Cain Arena. And as the match clock reaches three hours, the 28-year-old qualifier brings up three match points at 40-0. And an unreturned serve settles matters! Inglis wins 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 and is in tears as the curtain comes down on day three at Melbourne Park.
It’s past midnight in Melbourne, and the two Australians Inglis and Birrell are the only players still going, and there’s still absolutely nothing between them after nearly three hours, at 4-4 in the final set, after Inglis took the first on a tie-break and Birrell won the second in a breaker.
“I kept reminding myself to stay in the moment, I felt at times I wasn’t locked in [at the start],” says the victor. “I’m really glad with the last three sets, I delivered a great level. The fans here are my favourite in the world, you’ve treated me really nice in the past few years, Melbourne feels like a second home.” Next up for Tsitsipas is Tomas Machac.
Tsitsipas beats Mochizuki 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
15-0. 30-0. 40-15. Tsitsipas is finishing this match in style. And an unreturned serve gets the job done. The 2023 runner-up – who’s got so many supporters in Melbourne – soaks in the applause and he’s already at 50% of the grand slam match wins he claimed in the whole of 2025. It’s good to see him smiling again.
Mochizuki appears to have surrendered at 15-40 but a punchy serve gets him to 30-40 and a simple smash to end a well-constructed rally makes it deuce. Two more unanswered points and the Japanese player holds. Tsitsipas must try to serve this out at 5-2.
Tsitsipas, after all his injury struggles last year, has grown in confidence as this match has gone on, and a couple of aces secure a hold to 30 for 5-1. “My biggest win for 2026 would be to not have to worry about finishing matches,” he said before the tournament. Well he’s just a game away now. And he’s been broken only once in the whole match.
So that leaves us with just two remaining first-round matches: Tsitsipas 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-1 Mochizuki and Inglis 7-6, 6-7, 1-1 Birrell.
One more result and it’s not gone the way of the Australian No 2 Daria Kasatkina, who’s followed the Australian No 1 Maya Joint out of the tournament with a 7-6, 0-6, 6-3 defeat by the 19-year-old Czech qualifier Nikola Bartunkova, who’s making her grand slam debut. Bartunkova will play Katie Boulter’s conqueror Belinda Bencic in round two.
So it was quite some entrance and finish from Osaka, who came from a break down in that decider to set up a second-round meeting with the Romanian Sorana Cirstea. Is Osaka in the title conversation here? Well her last title of any sort was at the 2021 Australian Open, but she certainly seems re-engergised and to be enjoying her tennis again, and a happy Osaka is great for the game. Swiatek is a possible fourth-round opponent though … and that would be a real test of the progress she’s made in the past six months.
Ruzic quickly takes her leave, but she’s got plenty to be proud of on her 23rd birthday. As for Osaka, she tells Jelena Dokic that it’s one of her favourite tournaments and she’s happy to start the year at a slam she’s won twice before. It takes a few questions before Dokic asks her about her “iconic” outfit. “It’s modelled after a jellyfish,” Osaka explains, helpfully. Not words I thought I would type at the beginning of today.
Osaka beats Ruzic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Maybe I should take that back, because Osaka speedily moves 0-30 ahead. But then this game reverts to the third-set script, as two unforced errors allow Ruzic back in at 30-all. Now it’s Ruzic’s time to err. She looked so tight there as she hit into the net. And Osaka has match point. A second serve … they get into a rally … Osaka nails a backhand winner down the line! We’ll be seeing that outfit again.
Four points, four more come ons and two aces. Osaka claims a love hold. There haven’t been many of those in this match. Osaka leads 5-4, and if she can break Ruzic here that’ll be the match … but nothing about this third set has been straightforward.
Perhaps yes, as the Croatian slips 0-30 behind. She then send Osaka one way and then the other, leaving the former champion spinning and sliding and doing the splits on the baseline, but Osaka is no Djokovic and it doesn’t come off. 15-30. Then 15-40. And Osaka ups the power to get the break back with the new balls. It’s 4-4.
“COME ON” No 1,235 from Osaka as she hauls herself to 30-all on serve at 3-3. But soon Ruzic has a break point … and Osaka drags her backhand wide! From 2-0 ahead, with two points to go up 3-0, Osaka now trails 4-3. Ruzic is just two games away from the most unexpected of birthday presents. But will she blink with the finish line in sight?
Kasatkina, one of the smartest players on tour who can come up with plan B, C, D and E if needed, has levelled up her match against Bartunkova with a dominant 6-0 set. And it’s a similar story for Tsitsipas, who’s now all square with Mochizuki, having taken the second set 6-3. The former runner-up also leads 3-1 in the third.
For all of Osaka’s powerful hitting, if opponents really apply the pressure, as Ruzic is doing here, the negativity can set in, and Osaka is chastising herself as Ruzic holds for 2-2. Osaka shows some resolve, though, to nudge ahead for 3-2. The bits of her outfit that she discarded after her walk on are neatly resting on her chair – wonder if they’ll be coming back on if she wins? I imagine she’ll be leaving in haste if this doesn’t go her way.
Osaka seems to be setting a “COME ON” record as she tries to drag herself through her service game, having blown a 40-15 lead. After another game point – and two break points for Ruzic – the Croatian breaks back when Osaka misdirects her forehand! This is absorbing stuff. The highlight for Ruzic in that game was an improbable forehand winner on the run hit from the tramlines.
Osaka rounds off the opening game of the third set with her eighth ace of the day, before skipping across the court to have a chat with her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, who used to work with Iga Swiatek and has recharged Osaka’s game since they linked up last summer. A run to the US Open semi-finals soon followed – the first time she’d been that far at a slam since winning the Australian Open for the second time in 2021 and the birth of her daughter in 2023 – and the Osaka of old is definitely on show right now, as she shows superb patience in the point before absolutely pummelling away the winner for 15-40. Ruzic double faults and Osaka has a 2-0 lead in the decider.
If you need to play catch-up, here are today’s reports so far:
The lights are out on Rod Laver. Which may sound like bad news, but as it’s the faulty net lights, it’s actually good news. After a five-minute delay, play resumes, and Osaka is quickly forced to save a set point. Soon she must save a second, but her return is tame and it floats into the tramlines. We’ve got ourselves a decider. It’s Osaka 6-3, 3-6 Rukic.
Elsewhere, Tsitsipas and Mochizuki are being extremely time efficient, with both getting some medical treatment simultaneously, with Mochizuki 6-4, 2-4 ahead. Inglis has struck first in her all-Australian affair, winning the first-set tie-break 8-6 against Birrell. And the Russian-turned-Australian Daria Kasatkina, playing her first home slam since gaining citizenship, has lost out in a breaker, 9-7 to the Czech qualifier Nikola Bartunkova. Kasatkina’s interview with Jack Snape is well worth a read too:
Ruzic, serving for the second set at 5-3, is playing only her second match at a grand slam, and the tension is perhaps starting to tell as she falls 15-40 down on serve. She shows some fortitude to bludgeon a backhand winner to scramble to deuce. And then some drama as play is halted because the red lights on the net posts, a new feature this year that confirms the out calls of the electronic line technology, are malfunctioning.
Osaka finally gets her side of the scoreboard moving in the second set, but she still trails by a break at 4-2, and Ruzic then holds to 15, finishing off with a piercing winner, for 5-2. Osaka must hold serve – or else this is going to a decider. Osaka gets to 40-15 with little fuss, but concedes the next two points and it’s deuce. Ruzic isn’t giving Osaka any cheap points now, and Osaka has to work hard to put away a forehand winner, and then a possible mis-hit from Osaka blows Ruzic off course.
Duckworth’s victory leaves us with just Osaka v Ruzic, Tsitsipas v Mochizuki, Inglis v Birrell and Kasatkina v Bartunkova in play.
Duckworth’s questionable prize for victory: a second-round meeting with a certain J Sinner.
Duckworth defeats Prizmic in five sets
A sudden shift in momentum on Rod Laver and Ruzic leads 3-0. Osaka has got a fight on her hands. And the crowd are in an Australian frenzy on Court 6, because after nearly four and a half hours, James Duckworth has finally seen off Dino Prizmic, 7-6, 3-6, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, on his third match point! The wildcard collapses on court before quickly jumping up with more energy than seems humanly possible after a four-hour battle; now he’s screaming to the night skies. He’s absolutely pumped, as he should be. Great scenes.
The Greek contingent in the stands on Margaret Court are silenced as Tsitsipas is broken in the seventh game amid a flurry of errors … and Mochizuki goes on to seal a 6-4 opening set. Tsitsipas said in the build-up to this tournament that he was feeling more optimistic, having seriously considered retiring last year because of the back problems that cut him down, but at the moment it’s turning into a similar grand slam story for him, after only two match wins at the majors in 2025.
“COME ON,” screams Osaka as she breaks for 5-3 with some big hitting that nearly makes as much of a statement as her garb. “COME ON,” screams Osaka again as she secures three set points at 40-0. Ruzic rifles long and Osaka takes the opener 6-3.
So what else is occurring now that night has fallen in Melbourne? Apart from Osaka v Ruzic and Tsitsipas v Mochizuki, it’s all about the Australians, with the qualifier Maddison Inglis and Kimberly Birrell facing each other, Daria Kasatkina playing the Czech Nikola Bartunkova and the wildcard James Duckworth, after a mere four hours, on course for a five-set victory over the lucky loser Dino Prizmic, leading the Croatian 4-1 in the decider.
Machac gets past Dimitrov
Machac has seen off Dimitrov in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, and awaits the winner of Tsitsipas v Mochizuki. That’s going with serve, 3-3 in the opening set.
I didn’t realise it’s Ruzic’s birthday today, and she finally has something to celebrate on court too when she takes that attritional fourth game, which in the end lasted 13 minutes. Perhaps she was blindsided by Osaka’s outfit early on, but she’s got her eye in now, and moves to break point on Osaka’s serve. Osaka hits long and Ruzic breaks to get back on serve, trailing 3-2.