Sabalenka, Zverev and Habib shine on rain-hit first day at Australian Open

With a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Sloane Stephens in the first round of the Australian Open, Aryna Sabalenka has made a third successive Australian Open champion.

Sabalenka struggled to maintain her form despite the powerful show that was staged on Sunday at Rod Laver Arena. The American broke her twice in a poor first set, but she remained resilient with the help of her powerful forehand, which earned her 15th straight victory at a hardcourt Grand Slam.

The stand-out hardcourt player in the women’s game, Sabalenka, stormed to a 4-0 lead over Stephens in the first set as fans were still settling in their seats for day one’s first evening match on centre court.

Sabalenka regrouped to claim the set with strong net play and customary aggression despite Stephens breaking her twice to reclaim the set at 4-3.

In her bid to become the first woman to win the “threepeat” at the Australian Open since Martina Hingis (1997-99), Sabalenka will face Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro for a spot in the third round.

Second-seeded men’s second seed Alexander Zverev barely needed to get out of third gear as the Frenchman defeated Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Zverev, who has previously won the Grand Slam twice, has revealed his desire to play for the first time at Melbourne Park this year, and the 2024 semifinalist hit the ground running.

Lebanese flag flys over Hady Habib.

Hady Habib, a Lebanonian, defeated China’s Bu Yunchaokete on Court 13 to become the first player from his country to win a Grand Slam match.

The only Lebanese to qualify for the main draw at one of the four majors is world number 219 Habib, a man or woman.

The 26-year-old continued his fairytale run with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) victory, following which he draped himself in the Lebanon flag as he signed autographs.

“This is probably one of the best days of my career honestly”, said Habib.

“It’s truly incredible for me and Lebanon to win,” said the player.

” As you guys could see there, the crowd was absolutely wild. Wining in front of them made it even more unique.

Habib has been living in Lebanon since he was 15 when he first competed in the Davis Cup and has been representing the nation since then. He was born in the United States to a Lebanese father.

His reward is a second-round match against France’s 14th seed Ugo Humbert.

” It’s a huge win, especially what we’ve been going through as a country, “said Habib.

Rain, thunderstorm halt play

Earlier on the day of the main round, Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, who lost to Sabalenka in last year’s final, reached the second round indoors, while men’s sixth seed Casper Ruud and former world number four Kei Nishikori dodged the wet weather to secure five-set victories.

On the outside courts, the game ended after less than an hour and didn’t resume until more than six hours later in the early evening.

Organisers will be appreciative of the extra day’s cushion, which was added to the tournament last year, in eight of the 32 scheduled singles matches.

The men’s draw saw two longer matches with Norwegian Ruud advancing after a 6-3 1-6 7-5 2-6 6-1 victory over Jaume Munar and Japan’s Nishikori prevailing 4-6 6-7 (4) 7-5 6-2 6-3 against Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro.