Janice Tjen Reaches Australian Open 2026 Second Round

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian tennis player Janice Tjen sparked a major upset at Melbourne Park by advancing to the second round of the Australian Open 2026. Competing at the ANZ Arena on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, Tjen stunned the 22nd seed, Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, with a commanding straight-sets victory in their first-round encounter.

Making her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam, Tjen displayed remarkable composure from the outset. She dominated the opening set, securing it 6-2 with clinical precision. In the second set, Fernandez, who is a former 2021 US Open finalist, mounted a fierce comeback attempt, pushing the match to the limit. However, Tjen remained focused under pressure, ultimately clinching the match with a decisive 7-6(1) tiebreak victory.

The high-stakes battle lasted one hour and 43 minutes. According to official Australian Open statistics, Tjen recorded four aces and 17 winners throughout the match. She proved exceptionally efficient at key moments, converting four of her seven break-point opportunities and narrowly outmaneuvering Fernandez in a grueling series of baseline duels.

The opening set saw Fernandez take an early lead after holding her serve in the first game. While the players traded blows early on, the 23-year-old Jakarta-born athlete soon seized total control of the momentum. After falling behind 1-2, Tjen went on a relentless run, winning five consecutive games to sweep the set and silence the Canadian’s challenge.

The second set proved to be a much tighter affair. Tjen briefly held a 3-1 lead before Fernandez roared back to lead 4-3. The two players remained deadlocked until 6-6, forcing the set into a tiebreak to decide the outcome. In this high-pressure phase, Tjen was nothing short of dominant, conceding only a single point before securing the biggest win of her young career.

The 2026 Australian Open marks Tjen’s second appearance in a Grand Slam main draw, following her impressive run at last year’s US Open. In New York, she similarly reached the second round by defeating the 24th seed, Veronika Kudermetova, before her campaign was eventually ended by Emma Raducanu.

In addition to her singles success, Janice Tjen is also competing in the doubles draw alongside Poland’s Katarzyna Piter. The duo enters Melbourne in high spirits, having recently captured the WTA 250 Hobart title. Tjen’s doubles pedigree has been on a steady rise; she secured her maiden WTA doubles trophy in Guangzhou last October and followed it up with a victory at the WTA 250 Chennai alongside fellow Indonesian Aldila Sutjiadi.

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