Tennis-Djokovic faces Struff, Barty takes on Tsurenko at Australian Open

Sepc

16/01/2020 08:06

MELBOURNE, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic will begin his
quest for an eighth Australian Open title against Jan-Lennard
Struff, while Ash Barty's bid to become the first homegrown
singles champion at the year's first Grand Slam since 1978
starts against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko.
    Serbian Djokovic is defending champion after winning his
record seventh Melbourne Park crown in last year's final against
Rafa Nadal, who is the top seed this year and will face Bolivian
Hugo Dellien as he aims for a 20th Grand Slam title.
    American Serena Williams is only one Grand Slam title short
of Australian Margaret Court's record of 24 and the eighth seed
begins her bid for an eighth Melbourne Park crown with a tie
against Russian Anastasia Potapova.
    Japan's Naomi Osaka, seeded third, won her second Grand Slam
crown in Australia last year and starts her title defence
against Czech Marie Bouzkova.  
    Rising American talent Coco Gauff plays twice champion Venus
Williams, who she beat on her main draw Grand Slam debut at
Wimbledon last year.   
    Only one man has won more major men's singles titles than
Nadal and Swiss Roger Federer will open his search for a 21st
with a first-round match against American Steve Johnson.
    French Open champion Barty, the women's top seed and world
number one, will be looking to end Australia's 42-year wait for
a home champion since the unseeded Chris O'Neill won the title
at Kooyong. 

 (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Shri Navaratnam)
 ((Nick.Mulvenney@tr.com; +61 2 9321 8190;))