Could There be an All-American Championship of Madison Keys vs. Danielle Collins?
Can Top-Seeded Australian Ash Barty Take it All?
The Australian Open women’s semifinals will be aired live late tonight at 3:30 a.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ with the possibility of an all-American championship at stake. In the first match, local favorite and top-seeded Ash Barty will square off against Madison Keys, a native of Illinois. The second match will pit by No. 7 Iga Swiatek of Poland against No. 27 Danielle Collins, a Floridian who played at the University of Virginia where she won the Honda Sports Award as the nation’s best female tennis player in 2016. This is the first time the women’s semifinals have been played in prime time in Australia, moving them to the overnight slot in the U.S., from 10 p.m. ET last year.
Chris Fowler will call the first match, working with Mary Joe Fernandez while Rennae Stubbs reports from courtside in Melbourne. The second semifinal will have Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver in the booth with Darren Cahill courtside. Chris McKendry will host the telecast in the studio with Brad Gilbert. Shriver will join them during the first match.
Barty remains on course to become first Australian woman to reach the final in Melbourne since 1980 (Wendy Turnbull). She has a French Open and Wimbledon trophy on her mantle and would love to add her home country’s title to her resume. Keys is into the semifinals of a Major for the first time since the 2018 U.S. Open, having previously reached that round at the 2015 Australian Open, the 2018 French Open and the US Open in 2017 where she lost in the final.
Swiatek, only 20, won the French Open in 2020 and last year was the only woman to reach the second week of all four Majors. Collins is also into the penultimate stage of the first Major of the year for the second time (2019) and on Monday will reach a new career high in the WTA rankings.
Other Action Tonight
ESPN+ and ESPN3 will offer matches from the Doubles, Wheelchair, Legends and Juniors (Boys’ Singles and Doubles, and Girls’ Singles and Doubles) draws. ESPN3 will cover all matches on Courts 5 and 6 while ESPN+ presents Courts 3 and 8, in addition to Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena, all beginning at 7 p.m. ESPN+ action will include:
- Anna Danilina / Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. No. 2 Shuko Aoyama / Ena Shibahara – first on Rod Laver Arena
- Thanasi Kokkinakis / Nick Kyrgios No. 3 Marcel Granollers / Horacio Zeballos – second on RLA, not before 10:30 p.m.
- 1 Barbora Krejcikova / Katerina Siniakova vs. No. 3 Veronika Kudermetova / Elise Mertens – second on Margaret Court Arena, not before 9 p.m.
- 1 Dylan Alcott vs Sam Schroder – third on RLA, not before 11:30 p.m.
- Matthew Ebden / Max Purcell vs No. 2 Rajeev Ram / Joe Salisbury – third on MCA
2022 AUSTRALIAN OPEN
(All times are Eastern, and each day “begins” at 6 a.m. ET.
Therefore, the listing Wed., Jan. 26, at 3:30 a.m. ET is actually very late on Wednesday night.)
| Date | Time (ET) | Network(s) | Event | |
| Wed Jan 26 | 7 p.m. – conclusion | ESPN+, ESPN3 | LIVE | Action from around the grounds |
| 3:30 – 7:30 a.m.
3:25 – 6:30 a.m. |
ESPN, ESPN+
ESPN Deportes |
LIVE | Women’s Semifinals | |
| Thur, Jan 27 | 2 – 5 p.m. | ESPN2 | Encore | |
| 8 -10 p.m. | ESPN+ | LIVE | Mixed Doubles Championship | |
| 10 – 10:30 p.m. | ESPN | LIVE | Men’s Semifinal Pre-Match Show | |
| 10:30 p.m. – 1 a.m.
10:25 p.m. – 2 a.m. |
ESPN, ESPN+
ESPN Deportes |
LIVE | Men’s Semifinal #1 | |
| 3:30 – 6 a.m.
3:25 – 7 a.m. |
ESPN, ESPN+
ESPN Deportes |
LIVE | Men’s Semifinal #2 | |
| Fri, Jan 28 | 2 – 5 p.m. | ESPN2 | Encore | Men’s Semifinals |
| 3 – 3:30 a.m. | ESPN Deportes | LIVE | Women’s Championship Pre-Show | |
| 3:30 – 5:30 a.m.
3:30 – 6 a.m. |
ESPN, ESPN+
ESPN Deportes |
LIVE | Women’s Championship | |
| 5:30 – 7:30 a.m. | ESPN+ | LIVE | Men’s Doubles Championship | |
| Sat, Jan 29 | 8 – 11 a.m. | ESPN2 | Encore | Women’s Championship |
| 2 – 3 p.m. | ABC | Taped | Second Week Highlights | |
| 11 p.m. – 1 a.m. | ESPN+ | LIVE | Women’s Doubles Championship | |
| 3 – 3:30 a.m. | ESPN Deportes | LIVE | Men’s Championship Pre-Show | |
| 3:30 – 6:30 a.m.
3:30 – 7:30 a.m. |
ESPN, ESPN+
ESPN Deportes |
LIVE | Men’s Championship | |
| Sun, Jan 30 | 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. | ESPN2 | Encore | |
| 6 – 10 p.m. | ESPN2 | Encore |
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