First-round matches at Grand Slams – especially the Australian Open – can be tricky. Players have an entire off-season to store the nerves and anticipation of that first massive point of the season, and can occasionally stumble out of the gates.
MORE: All the results from Day 1 AO 2026
That wasn’t an issue on Sunday at AO 2026 for Jasmine Paolini, who blazed past Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1 6-2 in just over an hour.
The world No. 7 swarmed Sasnovich with aggressive groundstrokes, darting across the court and dictating play from the baseline.
Sasnovich soon looked drained under the relentless pace, struggling to stay in rallies that barely gave her a moment to breathe.
“I didn’t expect that,” Paolini beamed post-match.
“I was solid, I was focused. Before the match, I was a little nervous, to be honest, but then I stepped on the court and felt good from the first ball.
“I remained focus, because in tennis, you never know.”
MORE: AO 2026 women's singles draw
For Paolini, the emphatic win began long before the first serve, with a deliberate shift in mindset.
“I said to myself, ‘you haven’t smiled since you got up’. Smile a little bit because if not, you step on the court and you play bad. For me, it’s important to enjoy my tennis, enjoy being on court, so sometimes I force myself to smile more,” she explained, before signing off with “I will enjoy my Sunday now!” on the television cameras.
Paolini faces the winner of Monday’s match between Magdalena Frech and Veronika Erjavec in round two.
Svitolina still unbeaten in 2026
Elena Svitolina’s 13th Australian Open campaign also got off to a smooth start on Sunday.
After dropping an early break to Cristina Bucsca, Svitolina dazzled the crowd with a cross-court backhand that stretched past the Spaniard’s reach and quickly broke back.
From there, the world No.12 barely put a foot wrong, closing out a 6-4 6-1 victory to extend her streak to 12 consecutive first-round Australian Open wins.
Svitolina is unbeaten to start 2026 after claiming the WTA 250 title in Auckland last week. The secret to her strong start, she joked, was simple: “Trained with my husband!”
Svitolina and Gaël Monfils – who is contesting his final Australian Open this year – have spent the summer supporting each other on tour, with the Frenchman in his familiar spot in the box, wearing his signature smile.
“We enjoy it a lot, supporting each other. Having somebody at every tournament and having someone who really understands and supports you every step of the way,” Svitolina said.
The Ukrainian will face the winner of Monday’s meeting between Linda Klimovicova and Francesca Jones in the second round.
Kostyuk and Jacquemot make AO history
Marta Kostyuk and Elsa Jacquemot made history with the first three-tiebreak women's singles match at the Australian Open in the Open Era.
Playing in her first main draw at the tournament, Jacquemot triumphed over Kostyuk 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 7-6[10-7] in 30-degree weather in three hours and 31 minutes
Things looked dire for the 22-year-old Frenchwoman in the second set with Kostyuk serving for the match, but Jacquemot saved a match point and regrouped to force a tiebreak, rallying again after falling behind by a mini-break.
There was more drama late in the third set when Kostyuk rolled her ankle and required a medical timeout to have it strapped.
“It was tough, because you feel like it’s the end of the match,” Jacquemot said.
“I tried to stay as calm as possible, don’t think too much about it. I’m really happy I stayed focused in the match.”
The victory marked Jacquemot’s first win over a top-20 opponent and was all the more impressive given Kostyuk’s recent form, which included wins over Amanda Anisimova, Mirra Andreeva and Jessica Pegula before a loss to Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the Brisbane International.
Jacquemot will next face Yulia Putintseva, who overcame Beatriz Haddad Maia – and a lively Brazilian crowd – in three sets, 3-6 7-5 6-3, earlier on Sunday.
“She was my coach’s player before [me],” Jacquemot said of her second-round opponent.
“I’ll have a couple of days to prepare … I really need to recover.”
Turkish qualifier stuns world No.11
Qualifier Zeynep Sönmez produced an upset over 11th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on Sunday, becoming the first Turkish player to reach the second round of the Australian Open with a 7-5 4-6 6-4 victory.
The defining moment came with Sönmez trailing 1-3 in the deciding set.
The 23-year-old fired a forceful forehand before feathering a soft drop shot. When Alexandrova tracked it down and replied with a perfectly-angled forehand of her own, Sönmez sprinted metres beyond the sideline to retrieve it, igniting the crowd and swinging the momentum of the match.
Sönmez, who had lost to Alexandrova in the third round of Wimbledon 2025, later left 1573 Arena to a standing ovation, draped in a Turkish flag.
After racing through qualifying without dropping a set, the win marked Sönmez’s first main-draw victory at the Australian Open and her second career win over a top-20 opponent.
She faces the winner of Monday’s clash between Anna Bonda and Elizabeth Mandlik.