The first round of the new season's Australian Open women's singles has concluded, spread over three match days. Ultimately, eight Chinese players participated, with four advancing to the second round: Zheng Qinwen, Wang Xiyu, Zhang Shuai, and Wang Yafan, setting a new record for the Australian Open.
Moving forward, the women's singles will enter the second round, with Zheng Qinwen from the top half of the draw leading the charge on January 15 (today), facing off against Germany's 36-year-old veteran, Siegemund. This match is scheduled to begin at 8:00 AM.
As the No. 5 seed in the women's singles, Zheng Qinwen advanced to the second round with a 2-0 victory over qualifier Todoni. She started slowly in the first set but managed to win through a tiebreak, followed by a comfortable 6-1 sweep in the second set. In comparison to Zheng Qinwen, Siegemund had a tougher time in her first-round match, ultimately winning after a grueling three-set battle that saw her reverse a deficit against Baptiste.
Zheng Qinwen will now compete with Siegemund for a spot in the top 32. The two have no previous encounter records, but given the significant difference in their abilities, Zheng Qinwen has a high probability of winning.
Last year, Zheng Qinwen was able to defeat opponents ranked outside the top 50 in the world. However, she must be cautious of Siegemund's time-consuming tactics; in her last match, Siegemund spent at least 30 minutes out of 180 minutes consuming serves. Her style of play involves grinding it out until the very last second before making a move.
Eliminating Siegemund would earn Zheng Qinwen 130 points and a prize of 290,000 Australian dollars (approximately 1.31 million RMB), as well as more rest time after finishing her match early, which would be beneficial for preparing for her next match.
Before the start of this match, CCTV had already arranged a broadcast schedule on its official website. Among them, CCTV5 will begin live broadcasting at 8:30 AM, while CCTV5+ will start live broadcasting at 4 PM, without scheduling a live broadcast for the 2 PM match.
It is worth noting that the start time for Zheng Qinwen's match is exactly 8:00 AM, yet CCTV has scheduled the broadcast for 8:30 AM. It is possible that the live broadcast may instead feature the match between Sabalenka and Bosas, which starts at 8:30 AM and is also on the center court. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that CCTV might suddenly change its broadcast plan and move the time up to 8:00 AM.