Melbourne Park will be humming with excitement as the second round of Australian Open 2026 gets underway on Day 4.
Top seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz headline Wednesday’s day session at Rod Laver Arena, while home favourites Priscilla Hon and Alex de Minaur will aim to shine brightest under the lights during the night session.
Sabalenka, the two-time AO champion, has a first-time encounter against qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan, the Chinese rising star who stunned Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the opening round.
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Competing on the court occasionally dubbed “Rod Laver Aryna,” the world No.1 will fancy herself as a heavy favourite, not only because her 23-year-old opponent is yet to earn an upset against a player ranked inside the top 30.
The in-form 27-year-old defended her Brisbane International crown earlier this month, and has her sights set on being reunited with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup on the tournament’s final Saturday. But qualifiers are always dangerous; although Bai is unfamiliar with Melbourne Park’s biggest stage, she’ll be hungry to cause an upset on a court that brought success to AO 2014 champion Li Na, one of her tennis idols.
Following that clash, world No.1 Alcaraz will strive to keep his dream of a maiden AO title alive when he faces Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann.
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The Spaniard was broken twice by Hanfmann at the 2023 China Open, but ultimately prevailed in straight sets.
Since then, the 22-year-old has added four more majors to his collection and has been vocal about his desire to become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam this fortnight.
The man from Murcia, who got the better of rival Jannik Sinner in two of three major finals last year, believes that the title and an accompanying kangaroo tattoo are in his near future.
“I[‘m] just feeling this year probably it is one of those years that I will be able to, or I will have the chance to go further [than the quarterfinals],” he said after his opening-round win over Adam Walton on Sunday.
In the night session, men’s sixth seed De Minaur squares off against Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic for the first time.
Known for his retrieval skills and defensive abilities, the athletic Australian has been increasingly focused on improving his court positioning to be able to dictate points, and will look to up his aggression against the world No.90.
Medjedovic, 22, has a secret weapon in the form of 10-time AO champion Novak Djokovic. Having trained with and received financial support from his countryman and mentor, the 2023 ATP Next Gen Finals champion will do his best to cause a surprise as he searches to replicate a fraction of the 24-time major champion’s success at Rod Laver Arena.
In another first-time clash, Australian wildcard Hon is eyeing victory over 29th-seeded American Iva Jovic to secure a career-best third-round berth at the AO, which would match her performance at last year’s US Open.
“I think it will be a tricky match,” said the 18-year-old Jovic. “Being an Aussie at the Australian Open is always difficult to play against, so it will be quite the atmosphere.”
Though thousands of Australian fans may drown out support for the American, Jovic reckons a contingent of her family members – including roughly 15 of her cousins – will do their best to be heard.
“They have shirts with my name on them so it's quite an elaborate thing … they're ready to go, they are ready to cheer,” Jovic said.
“I’m super excited.”