American Madison Keys embarks on the first chapter of her first Grand Slam title defence on Tuesday at Australian Open 2026, the women's ninth seed opening the Day 3 program at Rod Laver Arena.
Keys, who thwarted Aryna Sabalenka's bid for an AO hat-trick in a thrilling three-set final last January, plays Ukraine's Oleksandra Oliynykova first up on RLA, with compatriot and men's eighth seed Ben Shelton beginning his tournament against Frenchman Ugo Humbert.
A pair of Australian Open champions headline the Tuesday night program at RLA, with reigning back-to-back men's champion Jannik Sinner playing Frenchman Hugo Gaston, and women's 16th seed Naomi Osaka, the AO 2019 and 2021 champion, meeting Croatia's Antonia Ruzic in the second match.
Tuesday's day program at Margaret Court Arena features the fifth seeds in both singles draws, Italian Lorenzo Musetti and Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina, while women's 10th seed Belinda Bencic meets Brit Katie Boulter to begin the night session, that match to be followed by AO 2023 men's finalist and 31st seed Stefanos Tsitsipas against Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan.
Australian players feature prominently at John Cain Arena on Tuesday, with women's 30th seed Maya Joint opening the day session against Czech Tereza Valentova, while the final match of the night session pits qualifier Maddison Inglis against compatriot Kimberly Birrell.