13:46
Seidel – Sabalenka 0:1
Then the time has come for the debutante’s first winner. The forehand sits inside-in. At the same time, this means a game ball for Seidel. Sabalenka then fends this off with all her determination at the front of the net.
13:44
Seidel – Sabalenka 0:1
Now Seidel is allowed to serve for the first time and then seems quite tense. Sabalenka scores with the backhand. After a slight forehand error by the outsider, the score is 0:30.
13:43
Seidel – Sabalenka 0:1
Furthermore, Sabalenka leaves nothing to be desired. The 25-year-old doesn’t give up any more points and confidently secures her first game win.
13:42
Seidel – Sabalenka 0:0
The favorite then makes a backhand error. This gave the young German her first point in the main draw at a Grand Slam tournament.
13:41
1 sentence
At this moment Sabalenka opens the match. The first serve comes right away and Seidel’s backhand return gets caught on the edge of the net.
13:36
Entry and coin toss
At this moment our protagonists step onto the court in the huge Rod Laver Arena. After a few steps of preparation, you meet at the net with the chair umpire Marijana Veljović for the vote. The coin falls in favor of the German, who decides to strike back. Afterwards they both play together some more.
13:33
Aryna Sabalenka
Sabalenka missed her second major triumph in singles at last year’s US Open as a losing finalist. At the other Grand Slam events, the world number two was at least in the semi-finals and had already won the crown as a doubles player with Elise Mertens in Flushing Meadows 2019 and Melbourne 2021. In singles, Sabalenka has now reached 25 finals on the WTA tour, of which she won 13. She missed her 14th title a week ago in Brisbane due to the smooth final defeat against Elena Rybakina.
13:27
Already number 1
Sabalenka was already number 1 in the world last season, but has now been overtaken again by Iga Świątek. Thanks to her incredible power, the Belarusian is considered difficult to control. As long as the 25-year-old limits her mistakes and hits the balls as desired, she is almost unstoppable. The defending champion is in Melbourne for the seventh time since her debut in 2018, having failed to qualify the year before. Twelve months ago, the Minsk native celebrated her first Grand Slam title as a singles player here.
13:17
Shortly
Ultimately, Novak Djokovic still got some momentum going. At this moment, the world number 1, with his seventh match point, beats the 18-year-old Croatian Dino Prižmić 6:2, 6:7, 6:3 and 6:4 after almost exactly four hours of play. This means that the court in the Rod Laver Arena is finally free for our women, who will be able to start shortly.
12:58
Test of patience
In the meantime, Djoker was on the right track, winning eight games in a row. But the 36-year-old hasn’t put the lid on it yet. Therefore we have to continue to be patient. For the women, this means the match starts around 1:30 p.m. CET.
12:17
Continue to wait
Novak Djokovic still has some trouble with his first round opponent, but at this moment he at least wins the third set. The Serb still needs one pass, but it’s taking a long time. In the meantime, we have to note that Ella Seidel and Aryna Sabalenka will easily have to wait until 1:00 p.m. CET. By the way, that would be 11:00 p.m. local time.
11:08
Even later
There is already news about current events. The outsider Dino Prižmić won the tie-break 7:5 and won the second set. For the world number one, the opening match will take a little longer. At least two rounds still have to be played, which means we have to orient ourselves towards 12:30 p.m. CET for our women’s match.
10:58
delay
But it will probably take a while before the women get their turn, because Novak Djokovic is having a little trouble in the Rod Laver Arena and is ahead by one set against the Croatian qualifier Dino Prižmić, but is currently struggling through a tie-break. As a result, the start of our match is delayed. That won’t happen before 11:45 a.m. CET.
10:48
Difficult task
Seidel played in five finals at ITF tournaments last year and won three of them. In addition, the Hamburg team reached the final of the US Open in 2022 as a junior doubles player with Carolina Kuhl, but lost out there. Today, however, will be by far her biggest match so far, given the opponent. And it couldn’t have been much harder for Seidel, because Aryna Sabalenka will be on the other side of the net.
10:38
Ella Seidel
Seidel first appeared on the WTA tour in May 2022, but suffered an opening defeat in the 125 in Karlsruhe. The German celebrated her first victory at this level in September 2023 in the qualification in Bucharest. The right-hander first really caught people’s attention in November. She had two wins in Andorra that took her to the quarter-finals. Last week it was the round of 16 in Canberra. In the world rankings, Seidel is number 173 and was recently one position higher.
10:28
Tennis hope
Ella Seidel is considered the new German tennis hope. The 18-year-old competed in the qualification for a major tournament for the first time and made it into the main draw straight away. Seidel eliminated the US-Americans Elizabeth Mandlik, who were higher in the world rankings, in three sets, Hailey Baptiste in two sets and the British Francesca Jones in three sets. The Hamburg native is making her Grand Slam debut today.
10:18
Welcome
Welcome to the Australian Open 2024! The first Grand Slam tournament of the year starts on Sunday for the first time this year. Big names are also in the game on the first day of the competition. Ella Seidel faces such a difficult hurdle as she has to deal with Aryna Sabalenka from 11:00 a.m.