The best Croatian tennis player Marin Čilić, 7th seeded in the Australian Open, will play in the first round of the premiere Grand Slam tournament in 2017 against Pole Jerzy Janowicz (268th in ATP), while the best female tennis player Ana Konjuh (36th in WTA) will compete against French Kristina Mladenović (45th in WTA)
Marin Čilić has met with Janowicz twice and lost to him in 2012 at the Masters tournament in Paris, defeating him in the Davis Cup duel in Warsaw. In case he wins, he will play the better from the match between Argentinean Facundo Bagnis and Brit Daniel Evans, Jutarnji List reported on January 13, 2017.
The remaining two Croatian representatives are Ivo Karlović, who will play left-handed Argentinean Horacio Zeballos (69th in ATP) and Borna Ćorić (57th in ATP), set to compete against Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov (63rd in ATP) who defeated him in 2015 at the Masters tournament in Monte Carlo, reversing the score the same year at the Masters in Shanghai. Karlović may go on to meet the better of Czech Pavlašek and Australian Whittington, while Ćorić may meet either Czech Vesely or French Monfils.
All three female players have already defeated their opponents in previous matches. Mirjana Lučić-Baroni (79th in WTA) will open the tournament against Chinese Qiang Wang (70th in WTA), possibly going on to meet either Pole Agnieszka Radwanska or Bulgarian Cvetana Pironkova. Donna Vekić (97th in WTA) is set to play Australian Lizette Cabrera (208th in WTA), while in the second round she may meet either Dane Caroline Wozniacki or Australian Arina Rodionova. If she defeats Kristina Mladenović, Ana Konjuh will play the better of Australian Darija Gavrilova and Brit Naomi Broady.
