Top seed and world no.1 Novak Djokovic was in ruthless form against 19-year old Korean Hyeon Chung. Unaffected by the scorching Melbourne heat, the Serb took just under 2 hours in defeating Chung 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. In 57 career matches played at the Australian Open, Djokovic has now won 51 of them. The five-time defending champion needs just one more win at Melbourne to equal Roy Emerson’s record of 6 titles. In the second round, Djokovic will run into another teenager France’s Quentin Halys, who defeated Croatia’s Ivan Dodig 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5. Switzerland’s 17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer sailed into the second round with a smooth 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 win over Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia. Federer, who has been having virus-related health issues looked in fine touch against the Georgian and will next face Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov, who beat Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. 6-2.
Among other first day men’s winners were; no.6 seed Czech Tomas Berdych, who scored a 7-5 6-1 6-2 victory over India’s Yuki Bhambri; no.7 seed Japanese Kei Nishikori defeated Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-3, 6-3; no.9 seed Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Cyprus’ Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; no.12 seeded Croatian Marin Cilic beat Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands 6-7, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4; no.14 seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon, a 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 winner over Canadian Vasek Pospisil and Australia’s no.29 seed Nick Kyrgios, who played a great game in defeating Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.
In women’s draw top-seeded defending champion Serena Williams played her first match since her US Open exit but the 4-month break was far from evident in her game. Serena did have some tense moments in the second set but she was otherwise dominant in her 6-4, 7-5 victory over the Italian Camila Giorgi. Among other seeded players, Poland’s 4th seed Agnieszka Radwanska defeated USA’s Christina McHale 6-2, 6-3; Russian 5th seed Maria Sharapova beat Japanese Nao Hibino 6-1, 6-3; Czech 6th seed Petra Kvitova outclassed Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum 6-3, 6-1; no.10 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain defeated Swiss Viktorija Golubic 7-5, 6-4; no.12 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland beat USA’s Alison Riske 6-4, 6-3; Italian no.13 Roberta Vinci defeated Austria’s Tamira Paszek 6-4, 6-2 and no.23 seed Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova 6-0, 6-2.
17th seeded Frenchman Benoit Paire and 22nd seeded Croat Ivo Karlovic were the only men’s seeds to lose in the first round on opening day but several women seeded players made their exit on Monday. Among them were Denmark’s no.6 Caroline Wozniacki, no.17 Sara Errani of Italy, no.22 Andrea Petkovic of Germany, no.24 Sloane Stephens of USA, no.25 Samantha Stosur of Australia and no.26 Anastasia Pavlychenkova of Russia.