The top seed did not need a second invitation to close out the match, finishing the contest with her ninth ace to preserve her record of never having lost in the first round in 15 visits to Melbourne Park.
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The two dominant players of a year ago, Djokovic and Williams are no strangers to the heat of the Australian summer, of course, but sweltering conditions might help expose any flaws in their early season form or fitness.
“It’s an absolute pleasure to come back to Rod Laver Arena, it’s the most successful court in my career and there have been many memorable moments in the matches I’ve played here”, Djokovic said.
Only Cliff Drysdale and Matt Wilansky believed that Serena can still pick up where she left off despite taking quite a lengthy hiatus from tennis after falling short of winning all Grand Slam tourneys in one season at the US Open in September.
Despite feeling good in practice, Sharapova said, it’s a lack of matches rather than any kind of superstition which prevents her looking too far ahead.
“For me, my child is more important to me, and my wife is more important to me, than a tennis match”, he told reporters in Melbourne. I didn’t sleep well actually.
Nadal finished past year on a bit of an upswing, posting victories over both Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray at the ATP World Tour Finals before losing to Djokovic in the semifinals.
A 1-to-6.5 favorite heading into this year’s Australian Open, according to Tabbet, Djokovic quickly stretched his lead after a competitive first set.
The bespectacled Chung was making only his third Grand Slam appearance after playing at last year’s Wimbledon and US Open, but he was churned by the prospect of facing the premier tennis player on the other side of the net.
“Unfortunately there were some, in those times, those days, rumors, some talks, some people were going around”.
Berdych, the No. 6 seed who has reached the semi-finals at the past two Australian Opens, dispatched Indian Yuki Bhambri 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 with a minimum of fuss. Also advancing were No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 12 Belinda Bencic, No. 13. Dominic Thiem and No 26 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
The hours before the tournament began were overshadowed by news reports alleging match fixing that had gone unchecked.
Murray, who has lost four finals at Melbourne Park, is the second seed this year.
It all starts at the Australian Open, which can set the tone for a player’s season.
Kermode said tennis authorities “absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match-fixing has been suppressed for any reason, or isn’t being investigated”.
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“There s been many years here where people have had sort of accidents on court, dehydrated”, said Australia s Bernard Tomic.
