Quick Served: Australian Open Day 1

Upsets, star selfies and a new record.

Jan 18, 2026

Welcome to Quick Served Day 1! Andy’s pumped, brackets are busted and Maria Sakkari is calling her shot (of the tournament). Andy and Producer Mike run through the results and the Day 2 picks.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels. Liza Wastcoat is literally running from court to court to bring you all the action as it happens. Hydrate, Liza. It’s hot there.

Bracket Busters

Several upsets and one upset stomach wrecked more than a few brackets. Andy took more Ls than Ws on Day 1.

The biggest upset on the women’s side was qualifier Zeynep Sonmez taking out No. 11 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. The Turk also scored karma points by helping a ballkid in heat distress.

No. 20 seed Marta Kostyuk went down to Elsa Jacquemot 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 (and to a rolled ankle) in a battle that lasted three hours and 31 minutes.

On the men’s side, the biggest upset featured qualifier Arthur Fery beating No. 20 seed Flavio Cobolli 7-6, 6-4, 6-1. Cobolli saw the trainer after a few games for illness, and it went downhill from there. Credit to Fery for playing a solid match and moving on.

The reigning NCAA champion, Michael Zheng, rode a hot streak into the second round over Sebastian Korda, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 6-3. Zheng won two Challengers last fall, defended his NCAA title and came through qualifying in Melbourne.

Who Cruised

Top seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz eased through their opening matches without losing a set. Sabalenka came to the net 22 times because, she said, she wanted to impress the two VIPs in the front row—Rod Laver and Roger Federer.

@arynasabalenka

Aryna Sabalenka on Instagram: "round 1 ✔️ selfie ✔️ so good to …

More notable results

No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev lost the first set to Gabriel Diallo before winning 6-7, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
No. 28 seed Emma Raducanu looked good in her 6-4, 6-1 win over Mananchaya Sawangkaew.
Olga Danilovic got by Venus Williams 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. Williams is sticking around to play doubles with Alexandrova.
Aussie teenager Talia Gibson thrilled the crowd with the first win of the day, 6-1, 6-3 over Anna Blinkova.
Hayley Baptiste and Taylor Townsend put on a show of attacking tennis before Baptiste came through 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. Townsend got into the main draw as a Lucky Loser when Marketa Vondrousova withdrew with an injury.
Caty McNally proved Andy wrong by winning her first-round match against qualifier Himeno Sakatsume, 6-3, 6-1.
No. 10 seed Alexander Bublik proved JW wrong by dispatching Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
No. 29 seed Frances Tiafoe, wearing the colors of his parents’ native Sierra Leone, beat Aussie qualifier Jason Kubler 7-6, 6-3, 6-2.

@bigfoe1998

Frances Tiafoe on Instagram: "2026 @australianopen starts today…

73,235

Day session attendance on Day 1

The Australian Open didn't just break the day-session attendance record yesterday—it absolutely crushed it. Demand was so intense that Melbourne Park hit maximum capacity, forcing organizers to freeze ground pass sales for the first time in history.

The Record Smash

Previous Record: 68,883 (Set on Middle Saturday in 2019)
New Record: 73,235 (Day 1, 2026)

The Global Impact

To see just how massive that 73,000 figure is, look at how it stacked up against the biggest global games over the last 24 hours:

Beating the NFL Playoffs: The AO Day 1 crowd was larger than the attendance at the Seahawks vs. 49ers Divisional Playoff game (68,579).
The NBA Quadruple: It took the combined crowds of four major NBA games yesterday to match the volume of fans at Melbourne Park:
- Mavericks vs. Jazz (20,031)
- Nuggets vs. Wizards (19,968)
- Knicks vs. Suns (19,812)
- Heat vs. Thunder (19,704)
- Total: 79,515
A Manchester Derby–Sized Crowd: The attendance at Melbourne Park nearly equaled the capacity of a sold-out Old Trafford for yesterday’s Manchester United vs. Manchester City clash (~74,000).