2023 Australian Open draw: Swiatek, Jabeur top the field

MELBOURNE, Australia -- The draw for the season's first Grand Slam has been revealed at the 2023 Australian Open. The ceremony was conducted on Thursday afternoon at Melbourne Park.

For the complete draw, click here.

World No.1 Iga Swiatek returns to Melbourne Park after posting her best result last year when she made her first hard-court Slam semifinal. The next highest seed in Swiatek's top quarter is No.7 Coco Gauff, and the two could face in the quarterfinals. Gauff kicked off her season by winning all ten sets she played in Auckland to win the ASB Classic. 

The second quarter sees No.3 Jessica Pegula and No.6 Maria Sakkari. Pegula comes into her most successful Slam full of confidence after leading Team USA to the inaugural United Cup title. A quarterfinalist in Melbourne in her past two appearances, Pegula went 4-1 at United Cup to open her year, including a stunning straight-sets win over No.1 Swiatek.

Landing in the bottom half of the draw are No.2 Ons Jabeur, No.4 Caroline Garcia, No.5 Aryna Sabalenka and No.8 Daria Kasatkina. Jabeur was unable to play the Australian Open last year due to injury. Despite nursing a back injury in Adelaide 1, the Tunisian has made the final at her previous two Slam appearances and remains an all-surface threat.

Jabeur could face a confident Sabalenka in the quarterfinals. Sabalenka opened her season by ending a 19-month title drought, dominating the field to win her 11th career title at Adelaide 1. 

Notable first-round matches:

[11] Paula Badosa vs. Catherine McNally
[17] Jelena Ostapenko vs. Dayana Yastremska
[24] Victoria Azarenka vs. Sofia Kenin
[25] Marie Bouzkova vs. Bianca Andreescu
[26] Elise Mertens vs. Garbiñe Muguruza
[28] Amanda Anisimova vs. Marta Kostyuk
Leylah Fernandez vs. Alizé Cornet
Sloane Stephens vs. Anastasia Potapova
Marketa Vondrousova vs. Alison Riske-Amritraj

Breakdown: The Top 10 Seeds

No.1 Iga Swiatek 
Age: 21
Titles: 11
Hard-court titles: 6 (2021 Adelaide, 2022 Doha, 2022 Indian Wells, 2022 Miami, 2022 US Open, 2022 San Diego)
Best Australian Open Result: Semifinal (2022)
2022 Australian Open Result: Semifinal
First-round opponent: No.68 Jule Niemeier

No.2 Ons Jabeur
Age: 28
Titles: 3
Hard-court titles: 0
Best Australian Open Result: Quarterfinal (2020)
2022 Australian Open Result: DNP
First-round opponent: No.88 Tamara Zidansek

No.3 Jessica Pegula
Age: 28
Titles: 2
Hard-court titles: 2 (2019 Washington D.C., 2022 Guadalajara)
Best Australian Open Result: Quarterfinal (2021, 2022)
2022 Australian Open Result: Quarterfinal
First-round opponent: No.143 Jaqueline Cristian

No.4 Caroline Garcia
Age: 29
2023 Season: 3-0
Titles: 11
Hard-court titles: 5 (2017 Wuhan, 2018 Beijing, 2018 Tianjin, 2022 Cincinnati, 2022 WTA Finals)
Best Australian Open Result: Round of 16 (2018)
2022 Australian Open Result: First Round
First-round opponent: Qualifier or Lucky Loser

No.5 Aryna Sabalenka
Age: 24
Titles: 11
Hard-court titles: 10 (2018 New Haven, 2018 Wuhan, 2010 Shenzhen, 2019 Wuhan, 2019 Zhuhai, 2020 Doha, 2020 Ostrava, 2020 Linz, 2021 Abu Dhabi, 2022 Adelaide 1)
Best Australian Open Result: Round of 16 (2021, 2022)
2022 Australian Open Result: Round of 16
First-round opponent: No.73 Tereza Martincova

Champions Corner: How Sabalenka is taming the tiger to win

No.6 Maria Sakkari
Age: 27
Titles: 1
Hard-court titles: 0
Best Australian Open Result: Round of 16 (2020, 2022)
2022 Australian Open Result: Round of 16
First-round opponent: No.119 Yuan Yue

No.7 Coco Gauff
Age: 18
Titles: 3
Hard-court titles: 2 (2019 Linz, 2022 Auckland)
Best Australian Open Result: Round of 16 (2020)
2022 Australian Open Result: First Round
First-round opponent: No.48 Katerina Siniakova

No.8 Daria Kasatkina
Age: 25
Titles: 6
Hard-court titles: 5 (2018 Moscow, 2021 Phillip Island Trophy, 2021 St. Petersburg, 2022 San Jose, 2022 Granby) 
Best Australian Open Result: Third Round (2016, 2022)
2022 Australian Open Result: Third Round
First-round opponent: No.98 Varvara Gracheva

No.9 Veronika Kudermetova

Age: 25
Titles: 1
Hard-court titles: 0
Best Australian Open Result: Third Round (2021, 2022)
2022 Australian Open Result: Third Round 
First-round opponent: No.87 Maryna Zanevska

No.10 Madison Keys

Age: 27
2023 Season: 5-0 
Titles: 6
Hard-court titles: 3 (2017 Stanford, 2019 Cincinnati, 2022 Adelaide) 
Best Australian Open Result: Semifinal (2015, 2022)
2022 Australian Open Result: Semifinal
First-round opponent: No.72 Anna Blinkova