10 match-ups we’d love to see

The ausopen.com team compiled the following list, in no particular order…

1. Mirra Andreeva v Iva Jovic

Andreeva and Jovic, the two youngest players in the WTA top 50, have never faced each other, but a match-up between these ascendant stars would no doubt be compelling.

Andreeva returned to the top five thanks to her recent triumph at Roland Garros, an impressively-assured performance that saw her become the youngest women’s winner in Paris since Monica Seles in 1992.

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Jovic also performed admirably at Roland Garros, extending Naomi Osaka to three exciting sets in the third round. She went on to reach the Queen’s semifinals, putting her on the brink of the top 15.

Both are in form, and wherever and whenever they may meet for the first time, the clash would pit Jovic’s intensity and aggression against Andreeva’s clever court sense and point construction.

2. Rafael Jodar v Joao Fonseca

Continuing with the all-teen theme, we’d love to see another battle between Jodar and Fonseca.

Since their one and only meeting in Madrid, which Jodar won in three sets, both advanced to their first Grand Slam quarterfinals at Roland Garros.

Both 19, Jodar and Fonseca are now ranked 23rd and 25th respectively and are the two youngest players inside the ATP top 100.

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With their power, weapons and big-stage presence, their next meeting would likely be a shot-making dream as the two youngsters compete for bragging rights.

3. Stan Wawrinka v Gael Monfils

At the opposite end of the career spectrum are Wawrinka and Monfils.

They’ve played just once in the past seven years and met – incredibly – only seven times despite each competing on tour for more than 20 years.

The Swiss and the Frenchman are both playing in their final seasons, making a meeting all the more poignant given it might be their last match-up before retiring.

Monfils, a fan favourite for his audacious shots and athleticism, won their most recent meeting at Wimbledon in 2024 and leads the head-to-head 4-3.

Yet Wawrinka, beloved for his big-stage presence and outstanding backhand, won their two other Slam meetings – at Australian Open 2011 and Roland Garros 2017 – and their very first meeting, all the way back in 2007 in New Haven.

4. Elena Rybakina v Coco Gauff

Entering Roland Garros, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff were the top four seeds. All were reigning major champions and multiple Grand Slam winners, with head-to-head series in the double digits.

All, that is, except Rybakina and Gauff, who have only met once despite both being fixtures at the top of the game for the past four years. That one meeting came in 2022 in Toronto, which Gauff won in a third-set tiebreak.

With Gauff’s incredible athleticism and counterpunching abilities lined up against Rybakina’s clean, flat, first-strike style, it has all the makings of a fantastic spectacle.

We’d just love to see more of it on the game’s biggest stages.

5. Aryna Sabalenka v Serena Williams

Another one-time meeting occurred between Sabalenka and Williams, more than five years ago at the Australian Open.

That fourth-round match at Rod Laver Arena in 2021 was a barnstormer, with a 39-year-old Williams holding off an ascendant Sabalenka 6-4 2-6 6-4. “It was definitely a lot of power,” Serena reflected after prevailing in two hours and nine minutes. “I was OK with it really. If she wants to play power, let's go.”

Sabalenka was ranked 11th at the time but has since risen to become a longstanding world No.1 with four Grand Slam titles.

And with Serena now back on tour and having not completely ruled out a singles comeback, who wouldn’t love to see a second instalment of this match-up?

6. Alex de Minaur v Nick Kyrgios

For the past 10 seasons (2016-2025), either Alex de Minaur or Nick Kyrgios has finished as the highest-ranked Australian in the year-end ATP rankings.

Yet despite their careers overlapping for almost a decade, they’ve played each other only once. That was four years ago, at the Canada Masters, a match Kyrgios won during a purple patch when he also reached the 2022 Wimbledon final and 2022 US Open quarterfinals.

Kyrgios hasn’t played much singles lately, but there’s something irresistible about a match-up between two players with vastly different playing styles and temperaments who have spearheaded men’s tennis in their country.

7. Maja Chwalinska v Tatjana Maria

This is a match-up for the tennis purists, and it’s one we’ve yet to see.

Last year, Maria sliced and diced her way through a succession of stars to win the WTA 500 title at Queen’s Club, as a qualifier. Less than a year later, Chwalinska, also a qualifier, sliced and diced her way to the Roland Garros final.

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What’s fascinating is that Chwalinska did it on clay, while Maria did so on grass. It proves that while both rely on guile over power, there are myriad tools and tactics that work on different surfaces.

It’s this texture, and their idiosyncratic styles, that would make this potential clash unmissable.

Perhaps on a hard court, a great leveller away from natural surfaces?

8. Novak Djokovic v Jakub Mensik

They’ve met twice before, both at Masters tournaments. They split those meetings, with Mensik winning their most recent meeting in a stunning upset in the 2025 Miami final.

But when it came time for a high-profile rematch, at Australian Open 2026, it never occurred – Mensik was forced to withdraw ahead of the fourth-round clash due to an abdominal injury.

Everything about this match-up – an intergenerational rivalry pitting the Greatest of All Time against a player who idolises him – ticks the box. And since AO 2026, Mensik has gone on to become a Grand Slam semifinalist.

In line for a top-16 seeding at Wimbledon, could a healthy Mensik get his shot at Djokovic on the Grand Slam stage, at a tournament where the 39-year-old has triumphed seven times?

9. Aryna Sabalenka v Iga Swiatek – in a major final

The two superstars own 10 major titles between them and since April 2022 are the only players to have been ranked world No.1. Collectively, they’ve spent 220 weeks at the summit.

Yet for all their time at the top of the sport, they’ve yet to meet on its very biggest stage – a Grand Slam final.

In their 13 career meetings just two of those have come at majors, in semifinals at the 2022 US Open and at Roland Garros last year. Both meetings were three-set affairs, with Sabalenka prevailing in Paris after Swiatek had triumphed in New York.

Incredibly, they’ve twice been one point away from setting up a major final meeting, only for one to lose from match point up in a semifinal.

It’s only fitting that the two best players of their generation should meet with a Grand Slam trophy on the line.

10. Jannik Sinner v Carlos Alcaraz – at the AO

Sinner v Alcaraz is currently the sport’s best rivalry between its two top players.

Yet despite playing 18 times, and twice at every other major, they have never clashed at Melbourne Park.

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After meeting in the Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open finals of 2025, Alcaraz and Sinner were one set away from booking a fourth straight Slam final at AO, only for Djokovic to upstage Sinner with a scintillating semifinal performance.

And a year earlier, Djokovic stunned Alcaraz in the quarterfinals at AO 2025 – a tournament Sinner went on to win.

As world No.1 and No.2, the Italian and the Spaniard could only meet in the final. Should they maintain those positions, it sets the stage for what could be a highly-anticipated decider on the final Sunday of Australian Open 2027.

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