Here are the Australians playing on day one at Melbourne Park (all times AEDT)*:
* Play suspended on outside courts by rain
The Croatian 18th seed has support in her match against France’s Diane Parry.
Vekic won the first set and has a break in the second.
The 35-year-old Japanese veteran refuses to give in in a marathon third set, taking it 7-5 in over an hour to avoid being knocked out by Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro.
The first game of the set lasted 14-and-a-half minutes all on its own.
Nishikori fought off two match points at 4-5.
It keeps getting pushed back and now Australian Open organisers are saying we won’t see any play on uncovered courts for at least another 90 minutes.
It feels like a lifetime ago that Aussie Omar Jasika and Frenchman Hugo Gaston went off early in the second set on Court 3.
Momentum has completely swung against men’s sixth seed Casper Ruud n his contest with world number 61 Jaume Munar.
Ruud won the first set comfortably 6-3, but he’s dropped six straight games to lose the second 6-1 and go down a break to start the third.
Munar stepped up a level, ripping 13 winners and four aces, and showing off some phenomenal court coverage in that set.
Ruud has reached three major finals (two French and one US) in the past three years, but hasn’t ever been past the fourth round of the Australian Open. He only reached the round of 16 once, in 2021.
Women’s 18th seed Donna Vekic is up against France’s Diane Parry on Margaret Court Arena.
We’re still at least an hour away from play being allowed on the outside courts, although the rain has eased.
Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori has taken a lengthy comfort break after going behind two sets to love against Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 7-6(7/4).
He was gone long enough that Monteiro enquired as to the time, but it seems it was all above board.
Nishikori, who reached the 2014 US Open final, is 35 years of age and playing his first Australian Open since 2021.
Meanwhile, on centre court, sixth seed Casper Ruud has won the first set against Jaume Munar 6-3.
Tennis players are renowned for being creatures of habit and Mirra Andreeva is no different.
Meeting with reporters after her straight-sets win over Marie Bouzková, 17-year-old Andreeva admitted her coach Conchita Martinez has tried to curb her superstitions.
But according to the good-natured Andreeva, Martinez herself is guilty of having a superstitious side.
At the Brisbane International, there was a moment [after] I won my first match and she was doing the recovery shake for me, and she spilled the powder all over the players’ desk.
Since then she was coming there after each match I won and she was spilling the powder. I didn’t know about this.
So, the girl from the players’ desk told me, and I was like, ‘OK, but you (Martinez) told me [we need to] stop this and you do it by yourself’.
So, I guess the moment to stop is not here yet. We’re going to continue. Maybe next year we try to avoid it. But not for now.
Andreeva revealed her superstitions dictate her diet during a tournament.
If I start the tournament eating chicken and rice, well, I cannot change after.
I cannot take pasta or I cannot take anything else. I will always take chicken and rice.
I have a pretty special thing. I like to eat rice with a bit of parmesan cheese on top. I don’t know. I have never seen anyone doing that, but I really like it.
If I start like this, I’ve got to continue like this. Even if I’m tired, I have no choice, but I have to eat it.
Twenty-year-old 20th seed Arthur Fils is into the second round after a four-set win over Finland’s Otto Virtanen, but it wasn’t easy.
The Frenchman was shocked when Virtanen, playing his first Australian Open, won the first set 6-3 and served for the second at 6-5.
But Fils fought back to win a second-set tie-break and went on to take the final sets 6-4, 6-4.
He said he went back to basics after a less than desirable start.
“I was playing like shit,” Fils says on court.
“It was really tough. I just tried to put the ball inside the court and tried to run. I’m really happy about the way I did it.”
Fils says his next game is supposed to be on Wednesday.
“I have some days to recover and practice. I think I need some practice.”
No great news if you’ve got a ground pass: there’ll be no action on the outside courts before 4pm AEDT, the Aus Open just announced.
Meanwhile, the roofed arenas are packed with people out in masses, drinks in hand, to watch sixth seed Casper Ruud on Rod Laver Arena against Jaume Munar and Arthur Fils and Otto Virtanen on Margaret Court Arena.
Navigating between arenas is no easy task with fans all harbouring indoors.
As we wait for the rain to stop to let the outside courts dry off, he’s who’s on court under the roofs:
The Chinese Olympic gold medallist gets into a groove in the second set of her opening Australian Open match against Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni and moves into the second round with a 7-6(7/3), 6-1 victory in near enough to two hours.
I’m sure it was a trickier match than Qinwen Zheng was expecting, but it’s always good to get a genuine contest under your belt in these long tournaments.
Coming off her run to the 2024 final in Melbourne, the fifth seed hasn’t played since the WTA Finals in early November.
Next up is American Hailey Baptise or Germany’s Laura Siegemund.
Is it just me or is the Open a few days earlier this year?
– Alex
G’day Alex,
The Australian Open started a day early this year and last year in order to alleviate some concerns about the compressed schedule and to overloading players if matches run long or the weather intervenes.
Having the extra day means players shouldn’t be put in situations where they finish a match in the wee hours of the morning and then are back on court later that night.
The 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz and 23-year-old Jannik Sinner split the 2024 grand slams 2-2 in a year that truly marked the arrival of generation next.
Today they’re side by side training out of the rain at Melbourne Park.
Russian 14th seed Mirra Andreeva shed some light on her relationship with coach and 1994 Wimbledon winner Conchita Martinez, saying she’s definitely not a “chill” presence.
“It depends on her mood, to be honest, and it depends if I work well,” she said on court after beating Marie Bouzkova 6-3, 6-3 to become the first player through to the second round.
Andreeva described the Spaniard as an “OK coach” before quickly catching herself.
“Oh my god, I’m in trouble guys,” she said.
The 17-year-old did say Martinez — who reached world number two and played three slam finals, including her 1994 Wimbledon win — has taught her to be more aggressive in her play.
“I would say with her I kind of became closer to fearless. For example, before I would never go to play a volley on a match point … [but today] I just decided to go for it and it worked.”
And as for what the teenager has taught her coach:
“Now she has a better sense of humour. Before I would say it was not so good, it was OK, and now she’s with me everyone’s always laughing at her jokes thanks to me.”
The Romanian qualifier is getting treatment on court on a hip or lower back injury.
She’s currently down 0-3 in the second set after dropping the first against Qinwen Zheng.
After dropping the first set to world number 92 Otto Virtanen, French 20th seed Arthur Fils looked set to go down two sets when he was broken to love and Virtanen served for the set at 5-4.
But Fils broke straight back and both players held to love to send the second set to a tie-break, which Fils won 7-4.
We initially were told there would be no play on the uncovered courts before 2pm at the earliest, but that’s been revised back another hour as the heavy rain continues.
I expect we’ll start seeing some of those available slots under roofs on Laver, Court and Cain will be filled pretty soon.
The 2024 runner-up converts her second set point at 6-3 as a looping forehand drops just in and takes the back of the baseline.
Zheng let three set points slip on serve at 5-4 but eventually converts in the breaker.
Qualifier Anca Todoni, after battling so hard to force the tie-break, now has to start again against the Olympic gold medallist under the roof on Rod Laver Arena.
Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni has three set points on Qinwen Zheng‘s serves at 5-6 in the first set on Rod Laver Arena, but the fifth seed fights back to force the tie-break.
The 2024 runner-up is in Australia without Spanish coach Pere Riba, who is recovering from hip surgery. Interestingly, we saw Carlos Alcaraz surprisingly struggle at last year’s Australian Open without his own Spanish mentor, Juan Carlos Ferrero.
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