MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are aiming for the same record from opposite sides of the draw, leaving open the prospect of them playing in the final for a seventh Australian Open title.

The top-ranked Djokovic and defending champion Federer enter the season-opening major equal with Roy Emerson, who won his six Australian singles championships between 1961-67, before the Open era.

Serena Williams already has won seven Australian Open singles titles, and is a strong contender to add another after skipping last year’s tournament while on leave after having a baby.

Now seeded 16th, Williams was drawn into the same section Thursday as No. 1-ranked Simona Halep, the runner-up last year. The pair could meet in the fourth round.

Djokovic starts at the top of the draw and will open against a qualifier. Things could get much tougher quickly, with a potential second-round meeting against wild-card entry Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, his opponent in the 2008 Australian final, and with Denis Shapovalov in the same section. Eighth-seeded Kei Nishikori, who opened the season with a title in Brisbane, is a potential quarterfinal rival and No. 4 Alexander Zverev looms as a semifinal opponent if both players advance that far.

SPANISH POLICE said 28 pro tennis players, including one who participated in last year’s U.S. Open, have been linked to an international organized group accused of fixing matches.

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Authorities said the players tainted results after taking bribes from an Armenian ring that was dismantled in October. Fifteen people were arrested at the time, including some players.

Eleven houses were raided and police seized luxury vehicles, a shotgun, credit cards, and $191,000 in cash.

It wasn’t clear if the player who took part in the U.S. Open was among those detained.

Police accused Spaniard player Marc Fornell-Mestres, whose highest career singles ranking was 236th in 2007, of acting as the link between players and the Armenian ring that bribed them for betting purposes.

No other names had been immediately disclosed by authorities.

Fornell-Mestres, 36, was provisionally suspended from professional tennis at the end of last year. He was ranked 1,007th in singles and 772th in doubles at the end of 2018.

The European Union law enforcement agency Europol said that at least 97 matches from lower-tier Futures and Challenger tournaments were fixed.


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