We continue our daily round up on the first Grand Slam of the year. Day 2 recorded less of the upsets as the usual suspects advanced to the second round except for Milos Raonic and Petra Kvitova.
It was an easy task for Roger Federer who started his title defense with a commanding victory over Aljaz Bedene in the Australian Open first round. The 19th Grand Slam champion cruised to a 6-3 6-4 6-3 victory.
Novak Djokovic made a return to competitive tennis with a 6-1 6-2 6-4 demolishing of Donald Young. The Serb had not played a proper match since his quarter-final exit at Wimbledon last June after missing the second half of 2017 in a bid to recover from an elbow injury.
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Juan Martin del Potro started his Australian Open campaign with a 6-3 6-4 6-3 win over Frances Tiafoe.
Ninth seed Stan Wawrinka dug deep to beat world number 136 Ricardas Berankis. The Swiss came through 6-3 6-4 2-6 7-6(2).
20 year old Alexander Zverev cruised to a straight-set victory over Thomas Fabbiano. The German won 6-1 7-6(5) 7-5, to make the second round of the Australian Open.
Milos Raonic continues his wait for a Grand Slam title after losing in the first round to Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, 6-7(5) 7-5 6-4 7-6(5)
In the women’s event, top seed Simona Halep avoided an early scare to beat teenage wild card Destanee Aiava and then suffered a nasty injury before recovering to win 7-6(5) 6-1 in the first round of the Australian Open.
British number one Johanna Konta outclassed Madison Brengle 6-3 6-1 in the opening match on Hisense Arena, hitting 37 winners and eight aces to dispatch.
Maria Sharapova cruised into the second round of the Australian Open with a 6-1 6-4 win over Tatjana Maria of Germany on Margaret Court Arena. The Russian was making her first appearance at the Australian Open since 2016 having served a ban for a doping violation.
Two time- Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has been thrown out of the Australian Open by Andrea Petkovic. Petkovic won 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 after just under three hours.
Kvitova missed this tournament a year ago following the horrific knife attack on her in home in the Czech Republic at the end of 2016, in which she suffered terrible hand injuries.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza cruised into the Australian Open second round with a 6-4 6-3 win over France’s Jessika Ponchet.
Former world number one Angelique Kerber demolished fellow German Anna-Lena Friedsam a 6-0 6-4.
Images: abc.net
