On the first day of the Australian Open, two Chinese players compete, with Men Dashi and Xiaomi La reaching the top, and a qualifier player winning another title.

In just three minutes daily, stay updated on global tennis news. Hello tennis fans, today is Saturday, January 17, 2026. Welcome to the midday news report brought to you by "Tennis Home."

Tomorrow at 8 AM Beijing time, the 2026 Australian Open will kick off in Melbourne. The opening match on the center court will be between Sasnovich and Barty. The women's top seed Sabalenka will play in the night session, followed closely by the men's top seed Alcaraz. Stars like Venus Williams, Raducanu, Alexandrova, Van Uytvanck, Zverev Jr., and Bublik will also make their appearances.

On the first day of competition, two Chinese players will take the court. Zhang Zhizhen will play the second match on Margaret Court Arena against the Argentine star F. Cerundolo, with a start time around 10:30 AM. Bai Zhuoxuan will face the Russian star Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth match on Kia Arena, starting around 3 PM. Best of luck to ZZZ and Xiao Bai!

Let's turn our attention back to the courts. This morning Beijing time, the ATP250 Auckland tournament concluded with excitement. In the men's singles final, third seed and Czech rising star Menšík delivered 18 aces throughout the match to defeat seventh seed, Argentina's Báez, 6-3, 7-6(7), ending Báez’s seven-match winning streak this year and claiming his second career singles title.

The ATP250 Adelaide singles final will take place at noon Beijing time today, featuring French star Humbert against Czech player Macháč. In yesterday’s semifinals, Humbert defeated Spanish player Fucsovics 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4), while Macháč came back from a set down to beat American Paul 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. In their head-to-head, Humbert leads 1-0. Do you think Humbert will win his eighth career singles title or Macháč will claim his second?

On the women’s side: The WTA500 Adelaide singles final finished this morning Beijing time, with third seed and Russian rising star Mira Andreeva in fiery form, once winning nine games in a row. She swept Canadian newcomer Mboko 6-3, 6-1, capturing her first WTA 500 title without dropping a set, marking the fourth singles title of her career. Congratulations to her!

In last night’s doubles final, the second seeds, the Chinese-Czech duo Zhang Shuai and Siniakova, defeated L. Chichinok/Krutsik 6-1, 6-4, winning the trophy again after their 2024 Guangzhou victory. This is Zhang Shuai’s 16th career tour-level doubles title and Siniakova’s 33rd.

At the WTA250 Hobart event, the singles final ended at noon Beijing time today. Italian qualifier Cocciaretto played excellently, defeating third seed, the young American Jovic, 6-4, 6-4. With seven consecutive wins, she secured her second career tour-level singles title.

Finally, let’s play a guessing game. The image below shows a player hitting a back shot. Without any hints, can you identify who he is?

In the last guessing game, some fans gave the correct answer. That’s right, the person in the picture is the Russian legend Maria Sharapova.

(Source: Tennis Home Author: Independent Thinker)