Australian Open 2026 LIVE updates: Aussie stars in doubles final; Rybakina takes the fight up to Sabalenka

Former golfer Gary Player has voiced his admiration of Novak Djokovic following the Serbian’s semi-final win on Friday – comparing his career longevity to the likes of Tiger Woods, Tom Brady and Muhammad Ali.

“Watching Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Australian Open just now was a powerful reminder of why he stands as the greatest tennis player the game has ever known,” Player wrote on X.

“His journey began under extraordinary hardship, growing up amid conflict surrounding his childhood. To rise from that environment to this level of global excellence is nothing short of remarkable.”

The 90-year-old South African, who won over 150 professional tournaments during his career, is widely considered one of the greatest golfers of all time.

Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans are starting their men’s doubles final match under a closed Rod Laver Arena roof, with some light drizzle falling over Melbourne Park.

The Aussie duo won the toss and chose to receive. Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski held their first service game, and now this first set is tied 1-1.

Next up on centre court, our Aussie men’s duo Marc Polmans and Jason Kubler will be vying for the men’s doubles championship.

There’s still quite a task ahead of the Australian wildcards. They’ll need to beat sixth-seeded Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski first.

And it looks like there might be some competition in the stands … I can see a loud contingent of Americans ready to cheer on their countryman Harrison.

Hopefully the Aussie duo will inspired by their compatriots Olivia Gadecki and John Peers, who won their second consecutive Australian Open crown in the mixed doubles category yesterday.

Try and take a leaf out of their book, Jason and Marc!

We always knew a seat at the Australian Open men’s final would be expensive. But did we expect a whopping resale price of $6598.90?

A scroll through Ticketmaster’s home page gives you a price tag of $1299 for a single men’s final ticket. But as of 2pm today, a closer look at the arena’s available seats show only four tickets left – the cheapest being a resale ticket for $4948,90.

As of last night, the stakes have officially been raised for this year’s final. Young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz is only one match away from his career grand slam, and so is 10-time Open champion Novak Djokovic from his 25th grand slam – breaking yet another record. And let’s face it, it’s also peppered with fears we might be seeing one of Djokovic’s last matches of his more than 20-year career.

We’ll report back tomorrow to see just how much higher these prices will go at the 11th hour – and if those four tickets are still available.

Elise Mertens of Belgium and Zhang Shuai of China have been crowned this year’s Australian Open women’s doubles champions, after defeating Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic in straight sets, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.

Danilina and Krunic managed to save two championship points in the final set, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Belgian and Chinese partnership from storming to victory.

Neither member of the winning duo is a stranger to the doubles circuit. Mertens has previously been ranked world No.1 in doubles, and has won five major tournaments. Zhang has peaked at world No.2 and has won two other majors.

Mertens and Zhang were presented their trophy by Aussie great Samantha Stosur amid big cheers from the crowd.

“It’s the first week we actually played together … what a result,” Mertens said after the win.

Take a look at today’s key matches.

It’s pretty overcast on the ground here at Melbourne Park today. But safe to say it’s still pretty warm out.

Check out our weather module below for a detailed forecast.

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