Heroic Habib Makes History For Lebanon with Debut Grand Slam Win

On his debut appearance at a Grand Slam tournament, Lebanon's Hady Habib pulled off a remarkable straight-sets victory over Buyunchaokete (aka 'Bu') of China, winning 7-6(4), 6-4, 7-6(6), to progress to the second round at the Australian Open. Habib had already become the first Lebanese player in the Open Era to compete in the main draw of a major in singles, having secured his spot through the qualifying tournament. Now, with his latest win, Habib also has the honour of being the only player from Lebanon to have won a main-draw match at a Grand Slam event in singles.

Hady Habib lifts the Lebanese flag towards his fans after his victory over Buyunchaokete at the Australian Open.

Habib, who is the current world no. 219 in the ATP rankings, was considered an underdog before his first-round match on court 13 in Melbourne Park, with his Chinese opponent ranked more than 150 spots above him at no. 67. Habib put in an inspired performance against Bu, hitting an incredible 61 winners. He was also exceptionally strong on serve, firing down 18 aces and winning 88% of his first-serve points. Habib won in straights sets, but the match was a fairly tight contest. Although he only lost one service game, that came at a crucial moment in the third set when Habib was serving for the match with the score at 5-3. A nervy ending followed, as Bu fought back to push the set to a tiebreak. However, Habib held his nerve to win the tiebreak, and thus the match, sending the numerous Lebanese fans in attendance into ecstasy as Habib achieved his historic victory.

26-year-old Habib's journey to this point has been somewhat of a fairy tale. Born in Houston, USA, he moved to Lebanon at the age of 6, where he first learned to play tennis, before returning to the US in his teens. Eventually, he became a professional tennis player, and in the summer of 2024, he competed at the Paris Olympics in singles and in the doubles alongside Benjamin Hassan. Habib's singles match against former world no. 1 Carlos Alcaraz made him the first tennis player from Lebanon to compete at the Olympics. Later, at the end of last year, he won his first title on the second tier of professional tennis, the ATP Challenger Tour. That Challenger title, which he won in Temuco, Chile, was the first ever for a Lebanese player in singles and, crucially, pushed Habib just high enough in the ATP rankings to secure a spot in the Australian Open qualifying tournament.

Amazingly, in his first-ever Grand Slam qualifying event, Habib won all three of his matches to qualify for the main draw of the 2025 Australian Open. The final qualifying match, against Clement Chidekh of France, was a story in itself. The match was pushed to a deciding set in which Habib was behind for most of it. Numerous breaks of serve were exhanged in a tense encounter, but eventually Habib forced his way into a deciding tiebreak, which he won 10-8 to secure his place in the Australian Open main draw.

A week can be a long time in tennis, and a few months, even longer. Habib's performance in Australia will propel him up the ATP rankings to just outside the top 160, assuming he doesn't win his next match. He could rise even further if he were to win his second-round contest against the world no. 14, Ugo Humbert of France. That match will take place on Wednesday in Melbourne and, given Humbert's top-20 status, will probably be played on one of the bigger show courts. And it's likely those extra seats will be needed. Melbourne has a large Lebanese population, and they turned out in huge numbers to see Habib beat Bu on Sunday. It's easy to imagine that even more fans will turn out to back Habib on Wednesday, in the hope of witnessing yet another historic victory.