Australian Open: Alexander Zverev starts against Daniel Altmaier

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Alexander Zverev

Photo: Kelly Defina / Getty Images

Olympic champion Alexander Zverev starts with a German duel in the Australian Open.

The 24-year-old placed third in the first round of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year meets Daniel Altmaier - this was the result of the delayed draw on Thursday.

The three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber first has to deal with the experienced Estonian Kaia Kanepi.

The tournament will take place in Melbourne from January 17th to 30th.

Andrea Petkovic (Darmstadt) had a hard time with the French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova from the Czech Republic and Tatjana Maria (Bad Saulgau) with the two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist Maria Sakkari from Greece.

The German number two Jan-Lennard Struff meets the US Open quarter-finalist Botic van de Zandschulp from the Netherlands, Dominik Koepfer faces Carlos Taberner from Spain.

Ashley Barty starts against qualifier

The tournament officials had apparently postponed the draw by more than an hour in connection with the legal tug-of-war over the visa of world number one Novak Djokovic without giving any reason.

Djokovic was drawn to his compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic to start his title defense.

The number six seeded Rafael Nadal, who is tied with Djokovic in 20 Grand Slam titles, will compete against the unseeded American Marcos Giron.

Number two seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev, who was defeated by Djokovic in the Melbourne Park final last year, will face Swiss Henri Laaksonen.

In the women’s top seeded Ashley Barty starts her fight for her first Australian Open title against a qualifier.

Naomi Osaka, who is ranked 13th, starts her title defense against the Colombian Camila Osorio.

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