Mitch Freeley

Day two of the Australian saw seeded stars given a tough time in order to progress to the second round. Ninth seed Stan Wawrinka survived a fightback from Ričardas Berankis of Lithuania to win in four sets on his return to the Australian Open. Wawrinka was playing his first match since knee surgery after his first-round exit from Wimbledon.

It all looked so easy for the Swiss star, who won the opening sets with relative ease before losing seven straight games as Berankis grabbed the third set. The Lithuanian also went 3-0 up in the fourth set, however, 2014 Australian open winner recovered to take the tiebreak and win 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2).

Novak Djokovic impressed on his first competitive appearance since Wimbledon. The Serbian, who is ranked as the 14^th seed in the competition wore a sleeve on his right arm to protect his injured elbow but it proved to be little hindrance for the six-time winner, who dispatched with American  Donald Young 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 on Margaret Court Arena.

2017 winner Rodger Federer breezed past Aljaž Bedene of Slovenia with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory to seal his place in the second round of the seventeenth consecutive year.  The 36-year old is one of the favourites for the Australian Open crown and this showing under the lights at Rod Laver Arena certainly shows that the Swiss Superstar is more than capable of lifting his 20^th ever grand slam title. A second-round match against German Jan-Lennard Struff awaits for Federer.

In the women’s draw number one seed Simona Halep survived a scare against local teenager Destanee Aiava to book her place in round two. Wildcard Aiava impressed in the first set and took a commanding 5-2 lead. Just as she was about to serve for the set, Aiava needed some off-court treatment for a chest complaint. After returning, the 17-year old didn’t look the same with Halep eventually battling back to take the first set in a tiebreak.  Whilst in the second set the experienced Halep, who has yet to win a major proved to be too good for Aiavia, eventually winning the match 7-6 (7-5) 6-1.

Petra Kvitova was knocked out by Andrea Petkovic after an 88-minute final set. The Czech 27th seed twice served for the match, at 6-5 and 8-7, while Petkovic could not convert three match points when serving for the match herself at 5-4. However, a Kvitova double fault eventually handed victory to the 30-year-old German, 6-3 4-6 10-8.

British number one Johanna Konta moved into the second round with ease following a 6-3,6-1 victory over American Madison Brengle. The 26-year-old had previously lost three of their previous encounters against Brengle, yet showed plenty of composure to get the better of her opponent in two sets. Konta will now take on American Bernarda Pera in the next round.

Men's singles

1st round

Jiri Vesely (CZE) bt Vaclav Safranek (CZE) 6-4, 6-3, 6-3
Adrian Mannarino (FRA x26) bt Matteo Berrettini (ITA) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) bt Roberto Bautista (ESP x20) 6-1, 7-5, 7-5
Maximilian Marterer (GER) bt Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (GER) 6-0, 6-3, 6-4
Julien Benneteau (FRA) bt Taro Daniel (JPN) 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/0), 6-4, 6-1
Sam Querrey (USA x13) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
Marton Fucsovics (HUN) bt Radu Albot (MDA) 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
Nicolas Kicker (ARG) bt Jordan Thompson (AUS) 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3
Lukas Lacko (SVK) bt Milos Raonic (CAN x22) 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5)
Stan Wawrinka (SUI x9) bt Ricardas Berankis (LTU) 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/2)
Albert Ramos (ESP x21) bt Jared Donaldson (USA) 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
Peter Gojowczyk (GER) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 6-3, 6-3, 6-1
Alexander Zverev (GER x4) bt Thomas Fabbiano (ITA) 6-1, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5
David Goffin (BEL x7) bt Matthias Bachinger (GER) 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) bt Florian Mayer (GER) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) bt Robin Haase (NED) 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (6/8), 7-5
Novak Djokovic (SRB x14) bt Donald Young (USA) 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) bt Kwon Soon-woo (KOR) 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
Denis Kudla (USA) bt Steve Johnson (USA) 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2
Tennys Sandgren (USA) bt Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2
Fabio Fognini (ITA x25) bt Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 6-4, 6-4, 7-5
Gael Monfils (FRA) bt Jaume Munar (ESP) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4
Tim Smyczek (USA) bt Alexei Popyrin (AUS) 6-3, 6-7 (14/16), 6-3, 6-3
Chung Hyeon (KOR) bt Mischa Zverev (GER x32) 6-2, 4-1 ret
Richard Gasquet (FRA x29) bt Blaz Kavcic (SLO) 6-1, 6-4, 7-5
Daniil Medvedev (RUS) bt Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (10/8), 6-4
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) bt Benoit Paire (FRA) 6-0, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-4
Karen Khachanov (RUS) bt Peter Polansky (CAN) 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2), 6-4
Roger Federer (SUI x2) bt Aljaz Bedene (GBR) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
Tomas Berdych (CZE x19) bt Alex de Minaur (AUS) 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-1
Dominic Thiem (AUT x5) bt Guido Pella (ARG) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Juan Martin Del Potro (ARGx12) bt Frances Tiafoe (USA) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
                  
Women's singles

1st round

Johanna Konta (GBR x9) bt Madison Brengle (USA) 6-3, 6-1
Bernarda Pera (USA) bt Anna Blinkova (RUS) 6-2, 6-2
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE x20) bt Kristie Ahn (USA) 6-1, 7-5
Lara Arruabarrena (ESP) bt Richel Hogenkamp (NED) 6-1, 6-2
Lucie Safarova (CZE x29) bt Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO) 7-5, 6-3
Karolina Pliskova (CZE x6) bt Veronica Cepede (PAR) 6-3, 6-4
Angelique Kerber (GER x21) bt Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER) 6-0, 6-4
Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) bt Kurumi Nara (JPN) 7-5, 6-4
Caroline Garcia (FRA x8) bt Carina Witthoeft (GER) 7-5, 6-3
Elena Vesnina (RUS x16) bt Ons Jabeur (TUN) 6-3, 6-4
Maria Sharapova (RUS) bt Tatjana Malek (GER) 6-1, 6-4
Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) bt Christina McHale (USA) 6-3, 6-2
Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) bt Oceane Dodin (FRA) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5)
Sorana Cirstea (ROM) bt Zarina Diyas (KAZ) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA) bt Lizette Cabrera (AUS) 7-6 (7/3), 6-4
Donna Vekic (CRO) bt Nao Hibino (JPN) 7-5, 6-3
Madison Keys (USA x17) bt Qiang Wang (CHN) 6-1, 7-5
Simona Halep (ROM x1) bt Destanee Aiava (AUS) 7-6 (7/5), 6-1
Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) bt Polona Hercog (SLO) 7-6 (7/2), 6-4
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO x28) bt Shelby Rogers (USA) 7-6 (8/6), 5-7, 6-2
Anastasija Sevastova (LAT x14) bt Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Naomi Osaka (JPN) bt Kristina Kucova (SVK) 7-5, 6-2
Lesya Tsurenko (UKR) bt Natalia Vikhlyantseva (RUS) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Camila Giorgi (ITA) bt Anna Kalinskaya (RUS) 6-4, 6-3
Lauren Davis (USA) bt Jana Cepelova (SVK) 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-1
Andrea Petkovic (GER) bt Petra Kvitova (CZE x27) 6-3, 4-6, 10-8
Hsieh Su-wei (TPE) bt Zhu Lin (CHN) 0-6, 6-0, 8-6
Ana Bogdan (ROM) bt Kristina Mladenovic (FRA x11) 6-3, 6-2
Garbine Muguruza (ESP x3) bt Jessika Ponchet (FRA) 6-4, 6-3
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x26) bt Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) bt Heather Watson (GBR) 7-5, 7-6 (8/6)
Ashleigh Barty (AUS x18) bt Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4