Rain ruined the opening day of the 2025 Australian Open, but the opening night still features a bunch of Aussies and some of the biggest names in tennis.

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Back-to-back defending champion Aryna Sabalenka’s quest for a third Melbourne Park crown is off to a solid start, beating former US Open champion Sloane Stephens 6-3 6-2.

There were some concerns when the Belarusian gave up a 4-0 start, collapsing to throw away her double break lead, but she surged back into the match from there and showed her class in the second set.

Sabalenka is trying to become the fourth woman in the Open Era to win the Australian Open three times in a row, and the first since Martina Hingis in the late 1990s.

In utterly bizarre scenes, commentator Jelena Dokic got Sabalenka to dance in front of the Rod Laver Arena crowd in her post-match interview.

Fellow title contender Alex Zverev won through in straight sets afterwards, the No.2 seed downing former semi-finalist Lucas Pouille 6-4 6-4 6-4.

A valiant effort from wildcard Australian Li Tu wasn’t enough to secure him a career-best spot in the second round, with Czech gun Jiri Lehecka winning 6-1 3-6 6-3 7-6(1) on Margaret Court Arena.

The 28-year-old Aussie took a while to find his groove on Sunday evening, having his serve broken twice inside the first 20 minutes by Lehecka. His inability to convert on second serves cost him to begin with, as the 26th seed took full advantage of his opponent’s conservative serves after faulting.

Tu fought back hard to claim the second set 6-3, but that proved to be his only break for the rest of the four-set match as his opponent held strong throughout the third, before his dominant 7-1 win in the fourth set tiebreaker.

Lehecka will play Frenchman Hugo Gaston in the second round on Wednesday, with Gaston also defeating an Aussie in Omar Jasika to progress past the opening day.

Jasika was down 2-6, 1-0 before rain intervened earlier in the day, and resumed play on Court 3 by taking the second set.

But Gaston got back in control from there, and won it 6-2 3-6 6-2 6-2.

In another Aussie vs French battle, Adam Walton took a two-set lead over Quentin Halys, 6-4 6-4, before losing two tight ones in a row, 4-6 6-7(4).

In the second match of the night session on Margaret Court Arena, popular Aussie Daria Saville returns to Melbourne Park where she faces Anna Blinkova.

The former world No.20, who has twice made the fourth round in her home slam but not since 2017, surged to a 6-1 first set win before dropping the second 4-6.

Aleks Vukic’s clash with Damir Dzumhur has been cancelled due to rain and will take place on Monday.

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AUSTRALIAN OPEN NIGHT 1 ORDER OF PLAY

Show courts and Aussies – all times AEDT

Rod Laver Arena

Night session from 7pm

No.1 Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) def Sloane Stephens (USA) 6-3 6-2

[WC] Lucas Pouille (FRA) def by No.2 Alex Zverev (GER) 6-4 6-4 6-4

Show Court 1

Night session from 7pm

No.24 Jiri Lehecka (CZE) def [WC] Li Tu (AUS) 6-1 3-6 6-3 7-6(1)

Anna Blinkova (RUS) vs [WC] Daria Saville (AUS)

John Cain Arena

Twilight session from 5pm

No.11 Paula Badosa (ESP) def Xinyu Wang (CHN) 6-3 7-6(5)

No.14 Ugo Humbert (FRA) def [Q] Matteo Gigante (ITA) 7-6(5) 7-5 6-4

Court 3

Hugo Gaston (FRA) def [WC] Omar Jasika (AUS) 6-2 3-6 6-2 6-2

Adam Walton (AUS) vs Quentin Halys (FRA)