Aryna Sabalenka overcomes a nervy start in a first-round win

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus [AP Photo]

Aryna Sabalenka admitted she was a little bit nervous with Rod Laver and Roger Federer in the crowd for her first-round win at the Australian Open yesterday.

The top-ranked Sabalenka, who won the Australian title in 2023 and ’24 and was runner-up last year to Madison Keys, lost the first three points and dropped her opening service game before rallying to beat Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah 6-4, 6-1.

“I didn’t start my best. She showed up. Fired on. She was playing great,” Sabalenka said of the left-handed Rakotomanga Rajaonah, a 20-year-old French wild-card entry. “It was a tricky start. I’m super happy I found my rhythm at the end of the second set.”

Sabalenka prepared for the first major of the season with a title in Brisbane, which included a quarterfinal win over Keys. She has been in good form, and is into her 74th week with the women’s No. 1 ranking.

In her on-court interview, she said she’d snuck a look and saw Laver, the Australian great who has the main court named in his honor, and 20-time major winner Federer sitting in adjoining seats.

“I’m a huge fan. I wanted to show great tennis so you guys enjoyed watching me play,” she said. “There was definitely a lot of pressure. I was walking thinking ‘don’t look there, don’t look there!’”

She shrugged that off and found her rhythm and was content with a straight-sets win.

“I mean, first of all, it’s the first match, right? You’re always kind of trying to figure out where you are,” she said.

Carlos Alcaraz was scheduled to play the following match on Rod Laver Arena against Adam Walton, starting his bid to become the youngest man to win a career Grand Slam. The 45-year-old Venus Williams was playing Sunday night on John Cain Arena.

Day 1

Alexander Zverev, runner-up here last year to Jannik Sinner, shrugged off a sluggish start to beat Gabriel Diallo 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in the afternoon match on the first of 15 days in the tournament. He’s into the second round at Melbourne Park for the 10th straight year.

“Definitely, when I saw the draw, wasn’t too happy to be honest,” Zverev said of the tricky challenge presented by No. 41-ranked Diallo. “He’s very young, very talented. Unbelievably aggressive.

“First set wasn’t my best tennis, I would say. It got a lot better after that for me.”

Two of the women’s seeds went out in the opening afternoon, with Elsa Jacquemot ousting No. 20 Marta Kostyuk 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) and Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sönmez upsetting No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

Sönmez halted her match briefly in the second set to help a ballkid who appeared to be struggling in the heat before the tournament medical team took over.

Seventh-seeded Jasmine Paolini beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1, 6-2, and No. 12 Elina Svitolina and Maria Sakkari also advanced in straight sets.

Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova withdrew because of a shoulder injury before her scheduled first-round match, giving a place in the main draw to Taylor Townsend, the lucky loser from qualifying, to take on Hailey Baptiste.

In a 2 1/2-hour all-American contest on Court 13, Baptiste prevailed 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3. MDT/AP