Play begins at the Australian Open with the season’s first Grand Slam

Seventh seed Jasmine Paolini cruised past Aliaksandra Sasnovich as the Australian Open began in Melbourne, while stars Aryna Sabalenka, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev featured Sunday, with veteran Venus Williams returning via wildcard for a landmark singles appearance event history

Melbourne: No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini got the dominant start she wanted, defeating Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1 6-2 in just over an hour at the Rod Laver Arena as the Australian Open got started on Sunday.

Paolini took the first set in just 27 minutes on the main show court at Melbourne Park, giving the crowd what the wanted as the first Grand Slam of the season got underway.

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On the men’s side at Melbourne Park later Sunday, No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev faces Gabriel Diallo.

The No. 1 seeds for men and women headline Sunday’s night session at the Rod Laver Arena. Aryna Sabalenka faces Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, and Carlos Alcaraz goes against Adam Walton.

Sabalenka is after her third Australia Open title and was the runner-up to Madison Keys a year ago. She has reached the last three finals and won two.

Alcaraz is trying to become the youngest man to win a career Grand Slam. The 22-year-old Spaniard has won twice in the other three Grand Slams but has not been past the quarterfinals at the Australia Open.

No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner, the two-time defending Australian Open champion, has combined with Alcaraz to win the last eight Grand Slam trophies.

The highlight of the day might feature a player ranked No. 576 by the WTA.

That would be, of course, 45-year-old Venus Williams. She will be the oldest player to compete in singles at the Australian Open. Williams received a wild card to enter the tournament and has won seven Grand Slam titles — the last in 2008 at Wimbledon.

Williams faces Olga Danilovic of Serbia in the evening session.

Williams was married in December to Italian Andrea Preti. She was 17 when she first played the Australian Open in 1998, reaching the quarterfinals in just her fourth Grand Slam event.

She’s never won the Australian Open. She made the finals in 2003 and 2017 and lost both times to her sister, Serena. She won five Wimbledon titles and two at the US Open.