How much prize money did Sloane Stephens, Taylor Townsend, Sofia Kenin, Stefanos Tsitsipas & Andrey Rublev earn despite Australian Open 2025 1R exit?

The first round of singles at the Australian Open 2025 concluded on Tuesday (January 14). While all the top 10 players made it safely to the second round on the women's side, that wasn't the case for the men. 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov was unfortunately forced to retire due to an injury, while ninth seed Andrey Rublev was stunned by teen phenom Joao Fonseca.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, Sofia Kenin, Sloane Stephens, and Taylor Townsend were some of the other well-known names to bow out in the first round. All of them received A$132,000 (approx. US$81,000) despite losing in the first round. This is an increase from the A$120,000 (approx. US$74,000) that the players earned after losing in the first round of last year's edition.

11th seed Tsitsipas was shown the door by Alex Michelsen for the second straight Major. He lost to the American in the first round of last year's US Open as well, though it wasn't that much of a shock given his poor record in New York. However, he's a former Australian Open runner-up and has also reached the semifinals on another three occasions, so this loss was a little surprising.

Stephens was up against two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the first round and lost to her 6-3, 6-2. Kenin drew another in-form player, Coco Gauff, in her opener here, and went down 6-3, 6-3. Taylor Townsend gave Renata Zarazua a tough fight but ultimately came up short, losing to her 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-2. These weren't the only notable upsets in the first round.

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Two-time Major champion Victoria Azarenka sent packing in the first round of the Australian Open 2025

Victoria Azarenka at the Australian Open 2025. (Photo: Getty)

Victoria Azarenka, who won both of her Major titles in Melbourne, was beaten 6-2, 7-6 (2) in the first round by Lucia Bronzetti in one of the biggest upsets of the Australian Open 2025. She always gave her best here, so for the Belarusian to go out this early was astonishing.

16th seed Jelena Ostapenko's poor run of form continued with a first-round exit here. She faced Belinda Bencic in her opener and lost to her 6-3, 7-6 (8). Former top 10 player Maria Sakkari couldn't cross the first hurdle either and went down to Camila Osorio in a thrilling three-set contest.

Emma Raducanu made a winning return at the Australian Open. However, it was at the expense of 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and beat her 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2). 29th seed Linda Noskova, who stunned Iga Swiatek in the third round here last year, was knocked out by Clara Tauson in the opening round as well.

23rd seed Alejandro Tabilo, 25th seed Alexei Popyrin, 28th seed Sebastian Baez, 30th seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, and 32nd seed Flavio Cobolli were the other top players to lose in the first round of the Australian Open 2025. As mentioned earlier, all these players also received A$132,000 (approx. US$81,000) for losing in the first round here.