(Melbourne) Quebecer Gabriel Diallo had a good start, but his opponent was simply too strong in the first round of the Australian Open tennis tournament.

Diallo (41^e) lost 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4 and 6-2 to German Alexander Zverev (third) on Sunday.

Obviously not intimidated by his opponent, Diallo quickly scored a break to make it 3-1 in the opening set. Although he let this lead slip away, he still won the first five points of the tiebreaker to give himself the lead.

Zverev, who reached the final of this first major tournament of the season before losing to the Italian Jannik Sinner last year, was however whipped by this first round. He took the second run in 32 minutes and maintained his pace until the end.

Zverev slammed 15 aces and won 85% of rallies with his first serve ball. He will face in the second round the winner of a duel between the Australian Alexei Popyrin (49^e) and the Frenchman Alexandre Muller (50^e).

Diallo struggled with his second ball, committing five double faults and winning 38% of the points with it.

Having ended his long-standing association with coach Martin Laurandeau at the start of the year, Diallo begins the new season with three defeats in four games. The first two came at the hands of Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong (132), in the second round in Hong Kong, and Italian Andrea Vavassori (336^e), in the first round in Adelaide.

Diallo reached the second round in Melbourne last year. His best Grand Slam result is a third-round loss at the 2024 U.S. Open. However, he is 0-8 against players in the top 10 on the ATP Tour.

Canadian Liam Draxl (145^e) was also in action on Sunday morning in Melbourne, with a match against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur (66^e).

Félix Auger-Aliassime (seventh) and Denis Shapovalov (23^e), among men, just like Leylah Annie Fernandez (22^e), Victoria Mboko (17^e) and Marina Stakusic (127^e), on the women’s side, are also in the running.

(Melbourne) Italian Jasmine Paolini was dominant from the start at the Australian Open, winning 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour against Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Sunday.

Paolini (seventh) won the first round in just 27 minutes against Sasnovich (102^e) on center court, giving the crowd what they wanted as a curtain-raiser to this first major tournament of the season.

At the end of the day, the world’s leading rackets Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz will make their debut. The Belarusian will face the French Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah (118^e), while the Spaniard takes on the Australian Adam Walton (79^e).

Sabalenka is seeking her third Australian Open title. She lost in the final last year against American Madison Keys (ninth).

Alcaraz, for his part, will try to win the only Grand Slam tournament he is missing, although he has triumphed twice in France, England and the United States.

The American Venus Williams (576^e) will become the oldest player, at 45, to play a main draw match in Australia. She will face the Serbian Olga Danilovic (68^e).

Williams has never won the Australian Open. She reached the final in 2003 and 2017, losing to her sister Serena each time.