Stosur’s Open campaign to start early

Australia’s top-ranked player Samantha Stosur won’t have to wait long for her Australian Open moment of truth.

Ninth seed Stosur, who bombed out in last year’s opening round, has been scheduled for the second match on Rod Laver Arena on Monday’s first day, for her clash with Taiwan’s Kai-Chen Chang.

Fellow Australian Lleyton Hewitt will play in the opening night match on the main show court, against Serbian eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic.

Maria Sharapova, the 2008 winner, has been handed the tournament’s opening match on centre court, against fellow Russian Olga Puchkova.

Australian wildcard entrant Ashleigh Barty will play an afternoon match on Hisense Arena on Monday against 15th seed Dominika Cibulkova.

Three Australians will play day matches on Margaret Court Arena, with Bojana Bobusic, Matthew Ebden and Casey Dellacqua all to begin their tournaments on that court.

Stay up to date with the latest sports news
Follow our social accounts to get exclusive content and all the latest sporting news!