World No. 2 Iga Swiatek began her quest for a historic career Grand Slam in a far-from-comfortable fashion on Monday night. Facing Chinese qualifier Yuan Yue, the Polish star survived a tense first-set tiebreak and high error counts to secure a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory on Rod Laver Arena.
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Meanwhile, third seed Coco Gauff also moved into the second round with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Kamilla Rakhimova, despite grappling with the persistent service issues that plagued her throughout the 2025 season.
At 24 years old, Swiatek has already amassed an incredible trophy cabinet: four French Opens, one US Open, and one Wimbledon. The Australian Open remains the final piece of the puzzle. If she triumphs in Melbourne, she will become only the seventh woman in the Open Era to complete the career Grand Slam.
Despite the pedigree, Swiatek appeared "rusty" against the 130th-ranked Yuan. The qualifier exploited Swiatek's shaky start to lead 5-3 in the opening set, forcing the Pole to dig deep.
I was a bit rusty at the beginning... many ups and downs. It's not hard to win matches when everything is going well. Today it wasn't, but I was able to win
Iga Swiatek
Coco Gauff entered the tournament with a cloud over her service game. In 2025, she recorded a staggering 431 double faults, the highest on the WTA Tour by a margin of over 130.
Against Rakhimova, the "yips" appeared early as Gauff committed three double faults in her opening service game alone. However, she managed to recalibrate, finishing the second set with only one double fault to secure a straight-sets victory.
2025 Double fault leaderboard:
Coco Gauff: 431
Next Closest Player: < 300
AO round 1 Stat: 6 double faults in Set 1; 1 in Set 2.
