• World No 8 to face Botic van de Zandschulp in first round
• Kyrgios to make grand slam return against Jacob Fearnley

Eighth-seed Alex de Minaur faces a tough start to his Australian Open tilt after drawing former world 22 Botic van de Zandschulp in the first round, with a potential match-up against top seed and defending champion Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals.

The draw for the Australian Open was made on Thursday ahead of the start of tournament on Sunday. De Minaur is hoping to become the first Australian to win the men’s singles at his home grand slam since Mark Edmondson in 1976.

The Australian has beaten his first round opponent in their only previous meeting, a clash in the Davis Cup in 2022, but Van de Zandschulp will be no pushover. The 29-year-old has reached the third round at Melbourne Park before, was a US Open quarter-finalist in 2021 and upset Carlos Alcaraz in the second round at Flushing Meadows last year.

De Minaur is coming off a strong 2024 in which he reached the last eight in three slams before his season was ended prematurely by a hip injury. He is the highest Australian men’s singles seed since 2006, and said this week he feels like he is a “better version” of what he was last year.

“The biggest thing that’s back is my movement, that’s something that suffered a little bit of a hit after the injury last year,” de Minaur said. “I’m trying to get a little bit stronger, trying to get a couple of more free points on serve, a little bit of everything.”

Nick Kyrgios meets British 23-year-old Jacob Fearnley – ranked 86 in the world and yet to win an ATP title – in the first round as part of his comeback from a wrist injury, and practised at Melbourne Park on Thursday with Indian player Sumit Nagal despite a The Australian looked untroubled hitting his forehand and backhand, but resisted testing his serve until the end of the session, when he briefly clutched at his stomach in apparent pain.

Former Australian player John Millman said the draw had been “relatively kind” to Kyrgios, even though a third round match-up looms against second seed Alexander Zverev. “If he can get through and have the opportunity to play Alexander Zverev it would be a bit of a serving-a-thon,” Millman said.

Alexei Popyrin, the 25th seed, meets 69th-ranked Frenchman Corentin Moutet, and 27th seed Jordan Thompson received a favourable draw and will play a qualifier.