Australian Open 2025 Day 1 Summary

Day one at Australian 2025 is complete, and the rain caused several matches to be pushed back to tomorrow.

Fortunately, first-round games are spread over three days to use Sunday as opening day, making things more manageable for schedulers.

On the indoor courts, Kei Nishikori and Casper Ruud played the toughest matches of the day and survived the five-setters to advance.

Second seed Sascha Zverev was the highest-ranked player in action, comfortably unseating wildcard Lucas Pouille and showing no signs of the biceps strain that saw him pull out of the United Cup quarter-finals.

Day One 2025 Australian Open Round of 128 Results

Nishikori proves himself king in five sets once again

If you were asked to name who has one of the best five-set records in the Open Era, not many casual fans would throw out Kei Nishikori, but he’s right up there, having won 78.4% of his five-setters, which causes him to end up in the same place. 4th on the all-time leaderboard with Novak Djokovic.

On Sunday, the Japanese made his fifth comeback from two sets down to defeat Brazilian Thiago Monteiro in a thrilling first-round encounter.

Under the roof of the John Cain Arena, the Japanese star faced elimination when he trailed by two sets and found himself at two match points while serving at 4-5 in the third. But Nishikori, refusing to go quietly, dug deep and staged his recovery, firing 23 winners and committing just eight unforced errors in the final three sets. He sealed a remarkable 4-6, 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 victory after four hours and six minutes.

Since toppling Ferrer in five sets at the 2008 US Open, Kei has maintained his ability to go the distance, winning 29 and losing just eight games in five sets. It’s not something you’d expect, given his career has been somewhat plagued by injuries, but his record speaks for itself. Can he make it through Round 2? He has 2 days off.

It was really tough, I almost forgot he had two match points. I tried to stay calm even though I was almost out of the tournament. I just tried to focus on what I can do. I almost gave up. Match points and he played very well. In the first and second sets, he was on the move. He almost deserved to win. But somehow I fought back. Nishikori on his win.

Ruud gathers past Munar

Casper Ruud heads into 2025 after a fairly lackluster 2024, and he kicked things off with a dramatic encounter on Day 1 of the Australian Open, defeating Spaniard Jaume Munar 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6 , 6-1 to reach the second round for the fourth year in a row.

Munar has been able to push top 10 players to five sets on six occasions at the Grand Slam, but he has yet to cross the line. Giant slayer, he’s not, but he’s not someone you want to see in your section, since you more than likely have a long day at the office.

As for Ruud, Melbourne is not his best tournament, as he has yet to get past round four, but he produced his best level in the deciding fifth set, winning an impressive 93% (13/14) of his first-serve points to seal a hard-fought victory in 3 hours and 24 minutes under the Rod Laver Arena roof.

Other notable matches

Alexander Zverev made a strong start to his Australian Open campaign, defeating French wildcard Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round.

Despite pulling out of the United Cup quarter-final with a biceps tear, the German showed no discomfort, firing 37 winners and saving both break points in a 2hr 20min win.

In other action, Jiri Lehecka, who won his second ATP title in Brisbane, defeated Australian wildcard Li Tu 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(1). Lehecka meets Hugo Gaston next after the Frenchman beat Omar Jasika 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

The dangerous Frenchman, who is overdue for a Grand Slam performance, Ugo Humbert also advanced, defeating Matteo Gigante 7-6(5), 7-5, 6-4.

Australian Open Day 2 round of 128 matches

Are you excited for the Australian Open? Or has having the men’s and women’s world record for doping tests in the past year dampened your interest in the sport? Let me know in the comments.