Novak Djokovic opened his Australian Open title defense with a straight-sets win, then had to go to the defense of his sport as reports of match-fixing overshadowed the first day of the season-opening Grand Slam.
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Defending champion Serena Williams ramped up her bid for a 22nd grand slam title with a dominant 6-1 6-2 win over unseeded Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei to charge into the Australian Open third round on Wednesday.
“I haven’t played many matches in many weeks, it was great to come out here and start my season”, said Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam victor who could face a rematch against Williams this year but in the quarterfinals.
Williams made a bright start, in a way, holding up one finger and twirling in her neon yellow two-piece outfit to celebrate her 6-4, 7-5 over Camila Giorgi on Monday.
The Serb world No. 1 handled the blistering heat and the 19-year-old South Korean to post an accomplished 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory in 1hr 55mins on Rod Laver Arena which at times left him puffing and reaching for the ice vests and water. She withdrew from the Hopman Cup earlier this month due to inflammation in her left knee but said it is fine now.
However, it was Giorgi who wilted at 5-5 in the second set, a double-fault handing Williams the decisive break and allowing the American to close out the match with a barrage of booming serves.
Djokovic broke Chung’s first two service games on the way to taking the second set.
The sixth seed Petra Kvitova is also safely through to the second round after she cruised past Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum 6-3, 6-1, but Caroline Wozniacki and Sloane Stephens both crashed out. “So in that sense I’m a bit of an anomaly”, she said.
Two Canadians are scheduled to play their opening singles matches Monday. The loss is a huge disappointment to Nadal’s fans – and tennis fans worldwide – who had been expecting great action from his side of the Australian draw where Nadal, now ranked No. 5 in the world, would have faced Andy Murray.
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams, who won the inaugural WTA Elite Trophy in 2015 as well as tournaments in Auckland and Wuhan, never got her game going.
British number one Jo Konta destroyed Venus Williams at the Australian Open to record the most spectacular win of her career.
Konta did not have to wait long after her win before having to field the inevitable questions about her national allegiance.
No. 3 Garbine Muguruza needed exactly an hour to beat Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit 6-0, 6-4, No. 11 Timea Bacsinszky advanced over Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 7-5 and No. 15 Madison Keys, a semifinalist here previous year, had to save set points in the first before beating Zarina Diyas 7-6 (5), 6-1.
Second-seeded Simona Halep is the latest seed to fall at Melbourne Park, losing to Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-3 in just over an hour.
There were no such problems though for women’s fourth seed Agnieszka Radwańska of Poland, who showed no signs of her recent leg injury in overcoming the United States’ Christina McHale 6-2, 6-3. He had Amelie Mauresmo, a new mother, back in his coaching corner for the match and was happy not to get any mid-match news from home.
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The names of 16 players have been flagged repeatedly to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) over the last decade amid fears they have thrown matches, according to an investigation by the BBC and internet media company BuzzFeed.
