A valuable start. Oleynikova nearly won a set against Aus Open 2025 champion

Ukrainian tennis player Alexandra Oleynikova (WTA 92) She made her debut in the Grand Slam tournaments.

On the night of January 20, the Ukrainian entered the Rod Laver Arena, the center court of the Australian Open, for the 1/64 final match against the ninth ranked racket in the world and the current grand champion from Melbourne. Madison Keys from the USA.

Oleynikova lost to Keys in straight sets in 1 hour and 40 minutes and narrowly missed the first match.

In the first set, Alexandra immediately made two breaks and took the lead 4:0 / 4:1 (40:15). Keys moved to the ball on time, began to constantly press and hit the field, so that five consecutive games were played. However, Oleynikova managed not only to serve and stay in the set, but also to attack in the 11th game. Keys called a reverse break and sent the game to a tiebreaker.

Alexandra took the first four points in the tiebreak and then won two set points: 6:4. Unfortunately, they were unable to execute these and Madison completed its comeback.

Australian Open 2026. 1/64 finals

Alexandra Oleynikova (Ukraine) – Madison Keys (AMERICA) [9] – 6:7 (6:8), 1:6

Keys will face her compatriot Ashlyn Kruger (WTA 62), who defeated Sara Beilek (Czech Republic, WTA 89) 6:3, 6:3 in the second round of the Australian Open.

Since the Australian Open moved from Kueng to Melbourne Park in 1988, the last women’s singles champion is 28-1 in the first round of the tournament. The only person who didn’t advance was Jennifer Capriati in 2003.

Video review of the match

Match statistics

Photo gallery of the match