Day 3 order of play: India's Nagal in action, Alcaraz and Swiatek begin campaigns

Listen to Story There will be Indian action on Day 3 of the Australian Open 2024 as Sumit Nagal and Yuki Bhambri will be playing their first round matches on a day that will be headlined by Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek. Sumit Nagal, who famously took a set off Roger Federer in their US Open meeting in 2019, will take on 31st seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan on Court 6 in the morning session.

The last time the youngster played in the main draw was in the Australian Open 2021 where he lost 2 6, 5 7, 3 6 to Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis. Sumit Nagal, who was nominated by the Indian tennis body for a wildcard for the Australian Open after he pulled out of Davis Cup fixture in February, worked his for the first time in 3 years.

Meanwhile, Yuki Bhambri and his Dutch partner Robin Haase will be in action in the men's doubles opening round against Barrientos and Rafael Matos of Brazil. , the focus on Tuesday will be majorly on World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and two time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz as they begin their quest for a maiden Grand Slam crown in Melbourne on Tuesday.

Swiatek, who is among the favourites for the women's singles title, will be hoping to improve on last year's fourth round exit after a strong start to the season in which she won all five of her singles matches at the United Cup mixed team event. orld number two Alcaraz also begins his campaign on Tuesday, and by comparison to Swiatek, the Spaniard is almost undercooked, having opted to skip all the warm up events this month.

Ahead of his first round meeting with veteran Richard Gasquet, Alcaraz said he needed a holiday to recover from a gruelling 2023 season in which he won six titles, including Wimbledon, Madrid and Indian Wells. Day session: From 12 pm local time (6:30 am IST) Night session: From 7 p.m local time (1:30 pm IST) 1 Iga Swiatek (Poland) v Sofia Kenin (U.S.) 8 Holger Rune (Denmark) v Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan) 3 Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) v Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) Richard Gasquet (France) v 2 Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) Albert Ramos Vinolas (Spain) v 11 Casper Ruud (Norway) Camila Giorgi (Italy) v 18 Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 6 Alexander Zverev (Germany) v Dominik Koepfer (Germany) Rebecca Marino (Canada) v 5 Jessica Pegula (U.S.) Sloane Stephens (U.S.) v Olivia Gadecki (Australia) 13 Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) v Marton Fucsovics (Hungary) Sebastian Ofner (Austria) v Thanasi Kokkinakis (Australia) Petra Martic (Croatia) v Ajla Tomljanovic (Australia)..