As expected, Djokovic and Swiatek get No. 1 seedings ahead of the Australian Open
Playing true to their rankings, de‐ fending champion Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek will be the top seeds at the Australian Open in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year which begins Sunday at Melbourne Park.
The men's seedings mirror the ATP rankings as of Wednesday from Nos. 1‐32, with 24‐time major winner Djokovic followed by Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, the only player to beat him a Grand Slam event in 2023.
The women's seedings followed the WTA rankings from Nos. 1‐8, then Barbora Krejcikova is pro‐ moted to No. 9 at Melbourne Park because of the injury enforced ab‐ sence of her fellow Czech Karolina Muchova, the French Open finalist last year.
Muchova hasn't played since los‐ ing to eventual champion Coco Gauff in the U.S. Open semifinals last September.
Two‐time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is pregnant and skipping the year's first major and last year's U.S. Open semifinalist Madison Keys has an injured shoulder, taking the players ranked 17th and 18th out of the equation for Australia.
The seedings mean that players in the top 32 avoid each other in the early rounds when the brack‐ ets are determined for the major tournaments. The top two seeded players cannot meet before the final.
Here is a list of the seedings:
Men
1. Novak Djokovic
2. Carlos Alcaraz
3. Daniil Medvedev
4. Jannik Sinner
5. Andrey Rublev
6. Alexander Zverev
7. Stefanos Tsitsipas
8. Holger Rune
9. Hubert Hurkacz
10. Alex de Minaur
11. Casper Ruud
12. Taylor Fritz
13. Grigor Dimitrov
14. Tommy Paul
15. Karen Khachanov
16. Ben Shelton
17. Frances Tiafoe
18. Nicholas Jarry
19. Cameron Norrie
20. Adrian Mannarino
21. Ugo Humbert
22. Francisco Cerundolo
23. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
24. Jan‐Lennard Struff
25. Lorenzo Musetti
26. Sebastian Baez
27. Felix Auger‐Aliassime
28. Tallon Griekspoor
29. Sebastian Korda
30. Tomas Martin Etcheverry
31. Alexander Bublik
32. Jiri Lehecka
Women
1. Iga Swiatek
2. Aryna Sabalenka
3. Elena Rybakina
4. Coco Gauff
5. Jessica Pegula
6. Ons Jabeur
7. Marketa Vondrousova
8. Maria Sakkari
9. Barbora Krejcikova
10. Beatriz Haddad Maia
11. Jelena Ostapenko
12. Zheng Qinwen
13. Liudmila Samsonova
14. Daria Kasatkina
15. Veronika Kudermetova
16. Caroline Garcia
17. Ekaterina Alexandrova
18. Victoria Azarenka
19. Elina Svitolina
20. Magda Linette
21. Donna Vekic
22. Sorana Cirstea
23. Anastasia Potapova
24. Anhelina Kalinina
25. Elise Mertens 26.Jasmine Paolini
27. Emma Navarro
28. Lesia Tsurenko
29, Zhu Lin
30. Wang Xinyu
31. Marie Bouzkova
32. Leylah Fernandez
Jessica Pegula advances to the Adelaide International quarterfinals
Second‐seeded Jessica Pegula secured a 4‐6, 6‐2, 6‐3 win over fellow American Bernarda Pera on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Adelaide In‐ ternational.
Pera earned a spot in the main draw as a so‐called lucky loser from qualifying and then upset former No. 2‐ranked Paula Ba‐ dosa in the opening round.
Pegula went 1‐for‐10 on break points in the first set as Pera's powerful left‐handed game led to the unseeded player's early ad‐ vantage. But Pegula found her rhythm in the second set, where she hit 11 winners to six unforced errors.
Pegula will next face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat fellow qualifier Katerina Siniakova 2‐6, 6‐3, 6‐2.
Adelaide is among the last tune‐ up events for the Australian Open, which starts Sunday in Mel‐ bourne.
Top‐seeded Elena Rybakina, last year's Australian Open finalist and winner of the Brisbane Interna‐ tional on Sunday, beat Cristina Bucsa 6‐3, 7‐5.
Tommy Paul, the top‐seeded player in the men's draw in Ade‐ laide, beat Australian qualifier Alex Bolt 6‐3, 6‐2.
Jannik Sinner skipped official lead‐in tournaments for the Aus‐ tralian Open and preferred to play at the Kooyong Classic exhibition in Melbourne, which also features No. 8‐ranked Holger Rune and Andy Murray.
Playing his first match of the sea‐ son on Wednesday, Sinner beat Marc Polmans 6‐4, 6‐0.
The 22‐year‐old Sinner finished 2023 by beating No. 1‐ranked Novak Djokovic in the round‐ robin stage of the ATP Finals in Turin and again a week later as he led Italy to the Davis Cup title in Malaga.
He also won late‐season titles in Beijing and Vienna which in‐ cluded wins over No. 2 Carlos Al‐ caraz and third‐ranked Daniil Medvedev.
Sinner's best result at the Aus‐ tralian Open came in 2022 with a quarterfinal appearance. His best Grand Slam singles to date was a semifinal run last year at Wimble‐ don.
"It was a good end of season last year and I'm starting from zero to try and get confidence from last year again," Sinner said. "It's obvi‐ ously tough in the first match you play but I was happy with today."
Top‐seeded Elise Mehrtens ad‐ vanced to the quarterfinals at the Hobart International with a 6‐2, 6‐ 3 win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlová.
Mehrtens is attempting to win her third Hobart title. The Belgian player, who won in Hobart in 2017 and 2018, will meet Dutch veteran Arantxa Rus for a place in the semifinals.
"That would be amazing (to win the tournament again). But we're only in the quarterfinals — I need to win three more," Mertens said.
Australian Daria Saville later beat 2020 Australian Open win‐ ner Sofia Kenin 7‐6 (3), 6‐1 to also advance to the quarterfinals.