Day 1 of the Australian Open was a teenage dream for Alina Korneeva and Brenda Fruhvirtova

The first day of the Australian Open was a teenage dream. A pair of 16-year-olds, Alina Korneeva and Brenda Fruhvirtova, both won their first-round matches at the year's first Grand Slam tournament.

It's the first time that two 16-year-olds won their first-round matches at a Grand Slam since 2007, when Caroline Wozniacki and Tamira Paszek did it at Wimbledon. (After coming out of reitrement last summer, Wozniacki, in an amusing twist, is in the women's draw, too, and also won her first-round match on Sunday.)

The kids did it the hard way: After both won three matches in qualifying (Korneeva even saved match points in the second round), they won three-setters. In her Grand Slam main-draw debut, Korneeva was a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 winner over Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo, while Fruhvirtova also came from a set down to beat Romania's Ana Bogdan, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, for her first win in her third main-draw appearance after two first-round losses last year.

"Of course, I'm so happy about the result what I did today," Korneeva said after beating the world No. 52. "I think it's difficult when you are 16 and you win first round of Grand Slam. It's so difficult to feel this in my side, like in my body, because I really can't understand that I'm here and I'm not play[ing] junior already.

"But at the same time I try already think about tomorrow, about the practice tomorrow, and I will watch my opponent tomorrow."

Twelve months ago, Korneeva was the junior winner in Melbourne, as she beat Mirra Andreeva in a three-hour, 18-minute marathon for the title, 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-5. Andreeva quickly went on to have her own star turn in the pro ranks, as she finished in the Top 50 and was named the 2023 WTA Newcomer of the Year. She'll hope to join her peers in the second round when she faces American Bernarda Pera on Monday.

Per the WTA, the last time at least two 16-year-olds reached the second round of the Australian Open was in 2005, when Nicole Vaidisova, Michaella Krajicek and Tatiana Golovin all did it.

"I think everybody, it doesn't matter what age you are, you try to just to do everything on the court that you can, on the match, and that's all," Korneeva said.

"Of course, if you do everything on the court and if you do everything on the practice, the result will be, and that's all. It doesn't matter what age you are."

Coached now by former Olympic champion Nicolas Massu of Chile, Fruhvirtova not only overcame a stern test from 66th-ranked Bogdan—who, at 31, is nearly twice her age—but a wrist problem. The younger sister of 18-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova, who reached the fourth round at the Australian Open last year, Fruhvirtova needed five match points across two games to finally seal the victory.

"I was just focused in the moment because I really wanted to finish it," Fruhvirtova said. "It was really amazing feeling to finally finish the match and then to get the win.

"The Grand Slams, there are only four in the year. So I was, like, 'OK, even though I'm not feeling so well today, I still have to fight and try to win as many games and points as I can.' I kind of got the rhythm and started to feel a little better in the second set. Then in the third set I was really in the match, and I was focused and fighting very hard. So that kind of helped me to get through."

After beating Sorribes Tormo on Court 17, the Czech is assured of a center-stage moment up next: She's the next opponent for defending champion and No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, who dropped just one game in defeating Germany's Ella Seidel in her return to Melbourne.

"It will be a great experience no matter who wins," Fruhvirtova said, "but I'm really looking forward to the next round, and hopefully I will get some big court or bigger one than today."