Qualifier Zeynep Sonmez will remember the opening day at Australian Open 2026 for the rest of her life, pulling off the biggest win of her career to send 11th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova crashing out on Sunday.
The 23-year-old from Turkey was given a rousing reception by those packed inside 1573 Arena on her way to a 7-5 4-6 6-4 victory, the most significant of her young career so far.
The world No.112 from Istanbul, who hit back from 3-0 down in the decider, made as many headlines for her compassion on court as her racquet skills en route to a second top 20 win when she helped a ballkid who had collapsed next to the umpire’s chair during the second set.
"I always say it is more important to be a good human being than a good tennis player,” Sonmez told BBC Sport after becoming the first Turkish woman ever to win a main draw singles match at Melbourne Park.
That upset was one of 32 singles matches played across both draws in front of the largest day session crowd in tournament history, with 73,235 coming through the gates.
Alexandrova was one of four seeds who lost during the first few hours as Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse beat 26th seed Dayana Yastremska 6-4 7-5.
Frenchwoman Elsa Jacquemot made history when she outlasted 20th seed Marta Kostyuk in a 3hr 31min thriller 10-7 in the deciding shootout, in what was the first triple-tiebreak match in the open era at the Australian Open.
On the men’s side, young British qualifier Arthur Fery made the most of his opportunities against 20th seed Flavio Cobolli to win 7-6(1) 6-4 6-1. The Italian later explained he had been suffering from an upset stomach that struck minutes before he walked on court.
The great Venus Williams put on yet another memorable show for those inside John Cain Arena as the 45-year-old wildcard pushed Serbia’s Olga Danilovic all the way.
The seven-time major singles champion and two-time runner-up in Melbourne grabbed a first set tiebreak before the young left-hander Danilovic steadied herself to come through 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4.
Elsewhere in the women’s draw it was business as usual for the big names as Aryna Sabalenka, Jasmine Paolini, Elina Svitolina and Emma Raducanu all moved into the second round.
Former two-time champion Sabalenka beat Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah 6-4 6-1 during the opening match of the RLA evening session, while seventh seed Paolini cruised against qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich for the loss of three games on the same court earlier on Sunday.
Twelfth seed and recent Auckland champion Svitolina is looking sharp early in the season, and had few problems getting past Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 6-4 6-1.
And make sure you check out Maria Sakkari’s miraculous forehand return that she conjured during her win over Leolia Jeanjean. We might have already witnessed the shot of the tournament.
In the men’s draw, top seed Carlos Alcaraz had little cause for concern during his first match of the season as he got past Aussie Adam Walton 6-3 7-6(2) 6-2.
No.3 seed Alexander Zverev had to work a little harder, dropping the opening set to young Canadian Gabriel Diallo before fighting back to win 6-7(1) 6-1 6-4 6-2.
And there were victories for the newest member of the ATP top 10 Alexander Bublik as well as 29th seed Frances Tiafoe, who has recently began working with a performance physiologist and biomechanics researcher in his quest to get back up the rankings.