Australian Open 2025: Sabalenka v Andreeva under way; Draper v Alcaraz to come – live

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Oh no. Mirra Andreeva has been broken again on centre court. She’s now 5-1 down after just 20 minutes. Sabalenka has served up a potent brew of power and finesse to completely overwhelm her teenage rival so far. On the final shot of this game, a flurry of bludgeoning baseline shots softened Andreeva up before the No 1 brought the velvet hammer down with a sublime drop shot.

The 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva is under early pressure after losing an early break to Aryna Sabalenka who has defied crowd distractions and even a low-flying airplane to surge to a 4-1 lead. The No 1 seed has dropped only one point so far.

No 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka and No 14 Mirra Andreeva are into it on Rod Laver Arena. Servers are dominating so far with both players winning their opening games to love and Sabalenka just taking the second to lead 2-1 in the first set.

Mirra Andreeva of Russia returns a shot from Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in their round four clash. Photograph: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/AP

Preamble

Hello tennis fans and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the 2025 Australian Open. Angus Fontaine here guiding you through the early follies and volleys before Jonathan Howcroft picks up the cudgels in the afternoon session.

We are into round four and the action is heating up. Temperatures are set to reach 30C+ in Melbourne today and the first stars into the pressure cooker of Rod Laver Arena will be the No 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka taking on 17-year-old sensation Mirra Andreeva (seeded 14). That match commences shortly.

That tussle will be followed by another women’s single showdown when America’s No 3 seed Coco Gauff’s clashes with Switzerland’s unseeded veteran Belinda Bencvic.

Ourc death in the afternoon duel today is between Great Britain’s No 15 seed Jack Draper and Spain’s smiling assassin Carlos Alcaraz, seeded No 3 and popular favourite to take the men’s singles title this year.

The night arrives in style with No 7 seed Novak Djokovic taking on Czech Republic’s No 24 seed Jiri Lehecka. On the doubles court Australian hopes will rest with Luke Saville and Li Tu who face off with the pair of Goransson and Verbeek.

There’s doubles about to get under way on Margaret Court Arena too so buckle ‘em up and batten ‘em down, we’re about to light the fuse on day eight…