Pro Media & News

2024 Australian Open: Gauff arrives on hot streak; Shelton, Paul return to breakthrough

Haley Fuller | January 11, 2024

The United States is in top form and ready for the first major of 2024, arriving in Melbourne off a strong end to 2023 and an in-form start in the new year. Thirty-one Americans—eight of them seeded—will be representing the red, white and blue at the Australian Open in singles play, the most of any nation. 

 

The 19 women and 12 men in the singles draws exited the past year with one Grand Slam title, one WTA Finals runner-up trophy, six ATP titles and six WTA titles. Here’s what awaits the Americans in the singles draws at the 2024 Australian Open.

Women’s draw: Gauff hungry to continue a Grand Slam streak

US Open champion Coco Gauff, just 19 years old, is already off to a great start during the summer Down Under, defending her Auckland title last week in New Zealand. She’s the only seeded American in the bottom half of the draw, and goes up against former Top 30 player Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in her first round match. Gauff has a 2-0 record in their past meetings, defeating Schmiedlova in straight sets both times.

 

WTA Finals runner-up Jessica Pegula landed in the third of the draw as she continues her quest to conquer a Grand Slam quarterfinal and book her first-ever ticket to a major semi. The calm, consistent American will probably face Chinese seeds Zhu Lin--who reached Round 4 at the AO last year--and 2023 US Open quarterfinalist Zheng Qinwen on her way to the quarterfinals, where No. 3 Elena Rybakina is expected to await her. If Pegula defeats the Kazakh and breaks her quarterfinal curse, she may face Swiatek in the semifinals for a rematch of the pair’s WTA Finals match of 2023.

Gauff during a training session. Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images.

In the top quarter, 2020 AO champ Sofia Kenin faces a fellow Grand Slam winner in the opening round for the second year in a row. Kenin has the unenviable task of facing world No. 1 Iga Swiatek first up, in a rematch of the 2020 Roland Garros final which was won by Swiatek. Kenin, who has a resurgent season in 2023 and landed just outside the Top 32 seeds, hopes to pull off a stunner, tie up their head-to-head record, and prevent the top seed from claiming her fifth major title.

 

It doesn't get any easier from there: Danielle Collins fell one line below Kenin, facing Angelique Kerber. Collins, the 2022 AO finalist, is now up against the 2016 champion—and new mother—who helped lead Germany to victory at the United Cup. 

 

No. 27 seed Emma Navarro, who'll be playing in the final at the WTA 250 in Hobart on Saturday, also landed in the first quarter of the draw, and is projected to face Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in Round 3 if she wins her first two matches.

Both a relative tour newcomer and a veteran face some tough challenges in the first round. Peyton Stearns will look to back up her run to Round 4 of the 2023 US Open, but will have to get past No. 14 Daria Kasatkina first, who defeated Stearns twice last summer. Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, will open her AO against an Australian wild card, and would face Stearns or Kasatkina in the second round.

 

First Rounds for American Women at the 2024 Australian Open

(4) Coco Gauff vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK)

(5) Jessica Pegula vs. (Q) Rebecca Marino (CAN)

(27) Emma Navarro vs. Wang Xiyu (CHN)

Sofia Kenin vs. (1) Iga Swiatek (POL)

Sloane Stephens vs. (WC) Olivia Gadecki (AUS)

Caroline Dolehide vs. (Q) Leolia Jeanjean (FRA)

Peyton Stearns vs. (14) Daria Kasatkina

Danielle Collins vs. Angelique Kerber (GER)

Bernarda Pera vs. Mirra Andreeva

Ashlyn Krueger vs. (12) Zheng Qinwen (CHN)

Taylor Townsend vs. Paula Badosa (ESP)

Alycia Parks vs. (Q) Daria Snigur (UKR)

Kayla Day vs. Viktoriya Tomova (BUL)

Emina Bektas vs. Kamilla Rakhimova

Claire Liu vs. Marta Kostyuk (UKR)

Shelby Rogers vs. Emma Raducanu (GBR)

(WC) McCartney Kessler vs. (Q) Fiona Ferro (FRA)

Amanda Anisimova vs. (13) Liudmila Samsonova

(Q) Katie Volynets vs. Anna Kalinskaya

Men: Paul, Shelton return to site of breakout success

The American men started a breakout season in Melbourne last year, and they’re arriving at the first major of the year wanting to repeat their successes—at the very least. 

 

However, they’ll have to defeat each other in the later rounds if they want a chance of lifting the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup, with four of the five seeds sitting in the top half of the draw. Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda landed in the top half, and Tommy Paul anchors the bottom half.

Shelton wins his match in Auckland. Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images.

Paul, the No. 14 seed, reached the semifinals at last year’s AO, before falling to Novak Djokovic. This year, however, the second-highest seeded U.S. man won’t face the world No. 1 in Rod Laver Arena unless they meet in the final. Provided he wins his opening round against Frenchman Gregoire Barrere and the second—where he may face fellow American Marcos Giron—Paul is likely to face two-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz in Round 4.

 

Shelton arrives at Melbourne Park ready to prove that his Cinderella showings at the 2023 hard-court Slams were the first two of many. He reached the quarterfinals at last year’s Australian Open, which was his first time out of the United States, and the semifinals at the US Open. Shelton’s opener is against Roberto Bautista Agut, a former Top 10 player who missed hearty chunks of last season with injury, and is projected to face No. 20 seed Adrian Mannarino and Djokovic in the third and fourth rounds, respectively.

Fritz will go up against Facundo Diaz Acosta in Round 1, before likely matchups with No. 22 seed Francisco Cerundolo in Round 3 and No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas in Round 4. If Fritz makes it to the final eight and Shelton and his big serve manage to take down the Goliath that is Djokovic, two Americans could face off in the quarterfinals in Melbourne yet again.

 

Last year, Korda made a splash with an upset of Daniil Medvedev taking him to the quarterfinals, and this year he’ll face similar challenges if he wants to match that effort. He’ll meet a qualifier in the first round, and is projected to play No. 6 seed Andrey Rublev in the third round, the same round when he defeated Medvedev in straight sets last year. If he survives that, newly-crowned Top 10 player and home favorite Alex de Minaur will be his Round 4 challenge, with the winner likely to play Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals.

 

2019 Melbourne quarterfinalist Tiafoe is in the same quarter as Korda, starting off against former No. 12 Borna Coric, and eyes a potential rematch with No. 15 Karen Khachanov if he reaches the third round—the same opponent and round that cut his time in Melbourne short last year.

 

First Rounds for American Men at the 2023 Australian Open

(12) Taylor Fritz vs. Facundo Diaz Acosta (ARG)

(14) Tommy Paul vs. Gregoire Barrere (FRA)

(16) Ben Shelton vs. Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP)

(17) Frances Tiafoe vs. Borna Coric (CRO)

(29) Sebastian Korda vs. (Q) Vit Kopriva (CZE)

Christopher Eubanks vs. Taro Daniel (JPN)

Mackenzie McDonald vs. (WC) Shang Juncheng (CHN)

J.J. Wolf vs. (26) Sebastian Baez (ARG) 

Marcos Giron vs. Jack Draper (GBR)

Alex Michelsen vs. (WC) James McCabe (AUS)

(WC) Patrick Kypson vs. Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN)

(Q) Aleksander Kovacevic vs. Alejandro Tabilo (CHL)

 

The 2024 Australian Open is set to begin with the tournament's first-ever Sunday start on Jan. 14 in Melbourne—Saturday evening in the U.S. Full draws and the tournament schedule are available at the official AO website.

Skip Advertisement

Advertisement

Related Articles