MELBOURNE: Coco Gauff and Venus Williams could meet in the second round of the Australian Open, more than six years after they first played each other in a major.
Gauff was 15 when she beat seven-time major winner Venus Williams in the first round at Wimbledon in 2019 in her Grand Slam debut.
Now she’s the No. 3 seed and a two-time major winner. The 45-year-old Williams has a wild-card entry for the Australian Open, where she’s playing for the first time in five years.
Williams is set to become the oldest woman to compete in an Australian Open main draw, surpassing the record previously held by Japan’s Kimiko Date, who was 44 when she lost in the first round at Melbourne Park in 2015.
The draw for the year’s first major was held Thursday at Melbourne Park. The tournament starts Sunday.
Gauff will open against No. 91-ranked Kamilla Rakhimova. No. 576-ranked Williams, who made her Australian Open debut in 1998 and has twice reached the final, will open against No. 68-ranked Olga Danilovic.
They’re on the same half of the draw as top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, who won back-to-back Australian Open titles before losing last year’s final to Madison Keys.
Sabalenka has a potential third-round meeting against 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu.
Defending champion Keys was drawn into the same quarter as No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 4 Amanda Anisimova. No. 2-ranked Iga Świątek is in the bottom quarter on that side of the draw and has a potential fourth-round match against Naomi Osaka.
Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic landed in the same half of the draw, setting up a potential semifinal between the defending champion and the 23-time major winner.
Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz is on the opposite side of the draw to Sinner and Djokovic.