And that’s all from me for today. Details of tomorrow’s fun and frolics, including a British kind-of-takeover of the Margaret Court Arena, are all here. Bye!
Unflattering match face of the day
And Bryan Armen Graham on Serena Williams, who’s second up on the Rod Laver arena tomorrow.
You can no longer watch tennis, but you can certainly read about it: here’s Russell Jackson on Kerber’s nervy opener:
Eugenie Bouchard beats Louisa Chirico 6-0, 6-4
Chirico hits a forehand long, and today is over! Well, today’s tennis is over, anyway.
Updated
Bouchard is hanging in here, against a massively improved Louisa Chirico. The American misses a couple of passing opportunities at 30-30, though, and Bouchard eventually finds a volleyed winner to earn match point.
And she’s done it as well. It’s 4-5 now, and Bouchard will have to serve for victory.
That leaves only one match still in progress, and Chirico is serving to stay in that one, at 3-5 in the second.
Federer speaks:
It’s nice to be playing tennis again, on a centre court like this. It was a long road but I made it. I’m in the draw, which is a beautiful thing. I just hope I can stick around for a bit. Any match is a good match. Even if I’d lost today it would have been good, because I’m back on the court. I’ve been living something of a normal life, having really good times, catching up with friends and family.
Roger Federer beats Jurgen Melzer 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
The No17 seed isn’t playing like a No17 seed, that’s for sure. Noah Rubin of the USA is next in his sights.
Updated
Melzer, trying to chase down a lob, tries to hit the ball back through his legs, fails, and it’s match point.
Federer now leads 5-2 in the fourth set, and Melzer is serving to stay in the competition.
She did win it, as well! It’s 4-2, and she’s back with a vague sniff of a gentle, quiet shout here!
Chiroco has improved immeasurably in the second set: no double faults, compared with two in set one, 74% of first serves have gone in, compared with 69%, and 17 points have been won, compared with seven. She’s even got a break point. She needs to win it, though: she’s 4-1 down in the second set.
And Federer follows that by breaking Melzer’s serve, and is starting to disappear off into the distance.
Talking of 2-1 leads, Federer has one of those in the fourth set of his match against Melzer. He’s been helped by some ridiculous serving: there have already been six aces in the set, three in each of his service games so far.
Now Chirico has taken her next service game to deuce. She’s won as many points in her first two service games of set two as she did in the entirety of set one. She’s still lost one of them, though, and Bouchard leads 2-1.
Chirico has won a game! The dreaded double-bagel has been avoided, and she’s actually winning the second set. For now. 1-0.
And as I type that, the second point of the second set is won by Chirico on her second serve. So that’s something.
Meanwhile, Bouchard has wrapped up the first set 6-0 in just 18 minutes, Chirico winning a total of seven points, four on her own serve, three against the Bouchard serve. She has yet to win a point on her own second serve, in five attempts.
Federer’s back! He really is! This is beautiful stuff, and Melzer has no answer to it, as with the Austrian serving to stay in the third set the former No1 streaks into a 0-30 lead, and then narrowly misses a ludicrous attempted backhand half-volley lob. A short masterclass in variety and accuracy later, it’s two sets to one.
Melzer saves a break point, holds serve but remains 2-4 down in the third set.
Eugenie Bouchard has started her match in a hurry, winning the first three games, two of them on Chiroco’s serve. Chiroco has won four points so far.
Updated
Surprisingly, given that they’re both 35 and have an awful lot of tennis under their belts, and that they played three times in 2010 alone, Melzer and Federer have met only four times in all. Melzer has won once, in their most recent meeting, in the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters in 2011. All their previous meetings were won in straight sets.
Melzer earns a set point, only for Federer to save it with a gorgeous backhand. He earns another, and this time the Swiss overcooks his backhand, and it’s a set apiece: 5-7, 6-3.
Melzer, meanwhile, hasn’t just broken back, he’s double-broken-back. From 3-1 down in the second set he currently leads 5-3, and is serving to draw level at a set apiece.
Today’s final match, featuring the former world No5 and current No47 Eugenie Bouchard and America’s Louisa Chirico, the world No65, will soon be under way on the Margaret Court Arena.
That Wawrinka missile in full:
#Wawrinka #Klizan #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/CrahzeeEYx
— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) January 16, 2017
That was brilliantly entertaining stuff. Klizan was very, very close to an upset, and trudges off after three hours and 24 minutes of very impressive but ultimately futile effort wondering about ifs, buts and maybes. He hit some absolutely wondrous forehands in that match.
Wawrinka beats Klizan 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 6-5
Klizan slams a forehand into the net, and Wawrinka makes it into round two!
Updated
Wawrinka lands a crosscourt backhand on the line. Klizan reviews, but it was good, and Wawrinka has a match point.
Wawrinka holds serve, and Klizan now has to serve to stay in the match at 4-5.
Ouch! A lengthy and vicious rally ends with Klizan at the net, hitting a weak half-volley to midcourt. Wawrinka steams in and absolutely thrashes the ball straight into his opponent, who has given up on the point and is just standing there watching, only to get struck just above the knee by a bullet forehand.
Wawrinka breaks back! It’s 4-4!
From 40-15 at my last update, Wawrinka has won three points in a row and now holds break point. This is super stuff.
Federer, meanwhile, breaks in the first game of the second set, and then holds with ease to go 2-0 up.
That’s a great rally, won by Klizan with a forehand of unsurprising power but beautiful depth, and Wawrink digs it out but can’t get it in. 40-15.
The drama is coming on the Margaret Court Arena, where Klizan lets out a roar as he hits a brutal crosscourt forehand to break serve and take a 4-3 lead over Wawrinka in the final set.
Federer won the last 12 points of the set. He’s back.
Federer takes the first set 7-5, with another stonking service game, held to love.
Updated
Darcis has indeed wrapped up the win on Court 8, and goes through to play Diego Schwartzman in round two. The winner of that match, for fans of long-term planning, plays the winner of Seppi v Kyrgios in the third round, and the winner of that one is seeded to face Wawrinka in the fourth, though of course Klizan (and various others) might have something to say about that.
The last match outside the two main showcourts looks like it’s about to end, with Australia’s Sam Groth staring defeat very much in the face. Steve Darcis leads 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 5-2 and is serving for the match.
Updated
And now it’s 4-4, Federer winning his service game to love in a matter of seconds - 71 of them, apparently.
And Melzer nets a straightforward forehand volley, allowing Federer to break straight back. Melzer leads 4-3.
There’s been a break in the Federer match, meanwhile, and it’s gone to Melzer! He leads 4-2, but is labouring a bit in his next service game, which is at deuce.
Bang! At 40-0 on the Wawrinka serve, Klizan nails a thunderbolt down-the-line forehand return winner. Phwoar! He kisses his racket in semi-comic gratitude.
And Klizan serves it out, with Wawrinka moaning about someone in the crowd shouting at a vital moment with the score 15-15. From there it’s over pretty quickly, with an ace - Wawrinka challenges, forlornly - and a smashed winner.
The first few games of the Federer match are all terribly brief and go with serve. Meanwhile on Margaret Court, Klizan is serving for the fourth set.
Federer won the toss and chose to receive.
Wawrinka has just been broken in the fourth set of his match against Martin Klizan. He’s two sets to one up, but 3-4 down in this one.
Federer is on court and about to get his Grand Slam return under way. He’s the No17 seed for this tournament, and says of his ranking that “I try to see it as being worse for the other guys there than it is bad for me”.
Next up on the Rod Laver Arena: Roger Federer against Jurgen Melzer.
In the second round she’ll play Carina Witthoeft, who has completed a 7-5, 7-6 win over Eri Hozumi.
Angelique Kerber wins 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
Not without a worrying mid-match wobble, but comfortable enough in the end.
Updated
Meanwhile on Margaret Court Wawrinka pulled a perfectly-timed break out of the bag to take the third set, and now leads, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 1-0 against Martin Klizan.
Kerber is screaming to victory here now, rolling out a procession of winners. She stands 0-30 up, 5-2 up, in set two.
And Kerber then breaks the next game, with Tsurenko suffering inconveniently-timed mid-game finger-cramp.
Kerber holds serve for 2-2, but not without drama. She had to save a break point, and Tsurenko nailed her return as well, only for Kerber to send a do-or-die, all-or-nothing down-the-line backhand just over the net for a winner.
Hozumi saved that game, and it’s back at 5-5 in the second set.
That’s a brilliant point from Kerber, though: Tsurenko hits the baseline with a shot that Kerber only just gets back, and then sends the ball rocketing towards the corner. Kerber hoists up an excellent defensive lob, forces Tsurenko to scurry back, and then pummels her next shot deep and wide for a winner. That should get the juices flowing.
The winner of the Kerber/Tsurenko match will play whoever comes through the match currently on Court 5. Carina Witthoeft of Germany is very close to sealing that spot, leading Eri Hozumi as she does 7-6, 5-4. Hozumi is serving to stayin the match, and it’s currently match point at 30-40.
Tsurenko is playing fabulously at the moment, momentum having swung heavily in her favour. Suddenly she’s looking relaxed, swinging freely, and hitting lines. She served at the start of the deciding set, and held well.
Nick Rubin has indeed wrapped up victory over Bjorn Fratangelo, 6-7, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. He’s seeded to play Roger Federer, who’s next on Rod Laver, in round two.
And here’s our own Russell Jackson on Nick Kyrgios’s demolition of Gastão Elias.
Here’s the Press Association’s report on Dan Evans’ victory:
Britain’s Dan Evans booked an Australian Open showdown with Marin Cilic after he beat Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis to reach the second round. Evans saved three set points against Bagnis before taking the opening set in a tie-break and he never looked back as the British number three sealed an impressive 7-6 (10-8), 6-3, 6-1 victory.
He will now face Cilic, the seventh seed in Melbourne, who earlier on Monday had come from two sets down to beat Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz. Evans has never faced Cilic before in his career but the world number 51 has form for upsetting a big name. He defeated Kei Nishikori in straight sets at the 2013 US Open and stretched Stan Wawrinka to five sets at Flushing Meadows last year. Wawrinka saved match point against Evans and went on to win the title.
Evans is also on an upward curve, after reaching his first ATP final last week in Sydney via a quarter-final victory over world No8 Dominic Thiem.
Bagnis, ranked 65th in the world, has far less pedigree but the Argentinian put Evans in trouble at the end of the first set, when he led 6-3 in the tie-break. A superb backhand pass, however, sparked an Evans comeback as he won four points in a row before finally clinching the set.
The turnaround seemed to knock the stuffing out of Bagnis, who was never the same thereafter. Evans claimed two breaks in both the second and third sets to confirm a convincing victory after an hour and 56 minutes.
Klizan is a break up in the third set against Wawrinka, though it’s still early days (it’s 2-1 in that third set). Still, both of these show-court matches are showing some upset potential.
Just a few minutes ago Kerber was 5-3 up in the second set, and had the match in her grasp. She just lost the set. It’s been quite the wobble - the set has been absolutely littered with unforced errors from the world No1 - and we now have a game on our hands.
Sam Groth is the last Australian on court today, but his match against Steve Darcis on Court 8 has a long way to go: the 29-year-old from Melbourne has just taken the first set 6-3.
That match could of course end in a hurry, but failing that the next to end will be the all-American encounter on Court 10, where Noah Rubin is 4-0 up in the final set against Bjorn Fratangelo.
Kerber is finding her second set much tougher than the first: having wooshed to a 6-2 success in the opening set against Lesia Tsurenko, the second is currently tied at 5-5.
Stan Wawrinka has drawn level at one set apiece, and has started to look dominant in his match against Martin Klizan.
And then there were five. Dudi Sela has just completed a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 win against Marcel Granollers, for whom every set was more miserable than the last, and only five matches are still on court.
Kyrgios on his nose:
I’ve got bad sinuses so I get it a lot. They put something up it that makes me sneeze. It stops the bleeding
Kyrgios plays Andreas Seppi in round two, the Italian having seen of Paul-Henri Mathieu in four tightish sets.
Nick Kyrgios wins 6-1, 6-2, 6-2!
Well that was impressive. Poor Gastao Elias was played off the court there. The match lasted an hour and 24 minutes, a blood nose making that statistic seem less embarrassing than it otherwise might.
Also into round two is Jack Sock, the American 23rd seed, who has beaten Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 7-6, 6-3.
Here’s Kevin Mitchell’s report on Andy Murray’s first-round victory:
Tsonga beats Monteiro 6-1, 6-3, 6-7, 6-2
It’s all over on court three, where Tsonga won three sets very comfortably (Monteiro winning six games in all of them put together) and lost the other on a tie break.
Updated
Kerber is a break up in the second set, and looks to be heading towards round two at double-quick speed.
Steve Johnson of America has wrapped up an apparently humdrum straight-sets win over Federico Delbonis, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Tsonga is about to serve for the match against Monteiro, leading as he does 5-2 in the fourth set.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Australia, a little catching practice:
WHAT. A. CATCH! #BBL06 pic.twitter.com/RnqXTNGgXD
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 16, 2017
Martin Klizan is making things interesting on Margaret Court, winning the first set against Stan Wawrinka 6-4. It’s currently 2-1 in the second, on serve.
Tsong hasn’t let the loss of the third set get him down: he leads 4-1 in the fourth, having broken twice.
The first game of the third set of Kyrgios v Elias featured something that wasn’t witnessed in either of the first two sets: a deuce. And it then ended in Kyrgios being actually broken. And now game four has also gone to deuce.
With all these actually somewhat-contested games and a few longer rallies, Kyrgios’s sprint to victory has become more of a gentle stroll. This fourth game of the third set should have been over much quicker - Kyrgios was 0-40 up - but he eventually won his sixth break point of the game to level the set at 2-2.
Dan Evans update: he’s screamed to victory in his first-round match over Facundo Bagnis in three increasingly straightforward sets, winning 7-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Kerber, having won the first set 6-2, has an interesting start to the second, challenging three consecutive points - the first two successfully - in the opening game. And it’s still only 15-15.
The battle goes on for Tsonga, who has lost that third-set tie break 7-5.
The American No23 seed Jack Sock is rocking Court 7, winning the second set against Pierre-Hugues Herbert on a tie break to go 2-0 up.
Updated
Kyrgios takes the second set 6-2, and the match has so far taken 45 minutes, including a lengthy medical time-out.
Tsonga is potentially on the verge of victory on Court No3, where his match against Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro has gone to a third-set tie break. The Frenchman is already two sets to the good.
Shuai Peng has completed her victory over Daria Kasatkina in two contrasting sets, 6-0, 7-6. So the No23 becomes the fifth seed to get knocked out of the women’s singles draw so far. Shelby Rogers is the current holder of the shock-of-the-day prize, for her 6-3, 6-1 win over the No4 seed Simona Halep.
As Kyrgios hogs local attention the Hisense Arena is a lot more full than the Rod Laver Arena, but at least Rod Laver is there, watching Kerber. Who’s just broken to take a 3-2 lead in the first set.
Kyrgios resumes, after an eight-minute medical time out.
Kerber just held to love, and looks to be getting into her stride.
Kyrgios’s momentum has been halted, though it’s not Elias doing the halting, it’s a blood nose.
Dan Evans update: he’s now two sets up against Bagnis, and a game up (on serve) in the third, thus leading 7-6, 6-3, 1-0.
Angelique Kerber has had an awkward start to the year, winning one match in two tournaments, losing to Elina Svitolina in Brisbane and Daria Kasatkina in Syndey. It’s very early days in this match, but Tsurenko has won her two service games quite handsomely, and Kerber struggled a bit to win hers, but it’s 2-1, and on serve.
Then Elias wins the third game of the set to love.
This is going to be brief: Kyrgios is already a break up in set two, leading it as he does 2-0.
6-1. Nineteen minutes. 10pts dropped. Hot damn. That was something, Kyrgios... #NKsprinting
— Michael Beattie (@michaeljbeattie) January 16, 2017
Hold it, the comeback’s off again: that’s the first set, wrapped up by Kyrgios inside 19 minutes, 6-1.
Elias has won a game! It’s 5-1 now, and the comeback is on! Um, kind of.
It’s taken Kyrgios less than 15 minutes to race into a 5-0 first-set lead. It’s the first time he’s ever played Elias, and the Portuguese isn’t enjoying it very much.
The Hisense Arena looks like the place to be:
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is also looking strong. He’s won the first two sets against Thiago Monteiro of Brazil, 6-1, 6-3, and it’s currently 2-1 on serve in the third.
Kyrgios has started ominously, racing into a 3-0 lead in the first set.
Kyrgios and Elias are now on court, and their match will get under way very shortly, in front of an absolutely packed house.
Evans has won that first set, despite at one stage needing to save three consecutive set points, 10-8 in the tie break.
The first set of Evans v Bagnis has gone to a tie-break. Less close, so far at least, is the No23 seed Daria Kasatkina’s match against Shuai Peng. The Chinese world No83 won the first set 6-0, though Kasatkina has got on the board in the first game of the second set.
Before that, Marin Cilic has placed his towel on the comeback-of-the-round sunlounger with a 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win over Jerzy Janowicz.
The evening session on the two main show courts starts in half an hour, with Angelique Kerber, the top seed and champion, getting her competition under way against Lesia Tsurenko in the Rod Laver Arena, while Stan Wawrinka takes on Martin Klizan in the Margaret Court Arena.
There is more British interest today: Dan Evans is on Court 14 as I type, where he’s playing Argentina’s world No55 Facundo Bagnis. It’s currently 5-5 in the first set.
Svetlana Kuznetsova, the No8 seed, is safely through to round two, wrapping up a 6-0, 6-1 win over the Columbian Mariana Duque-Mariño, straightforward enough even if she needed four match points to do it. This was on the Hisense Arena, so Nick Kyrgios is up next.
Andrey Rublev, the 19-year-old Russian world No156, awaits in round two for Murray.
Murray beats Marchenko 7-5, 7-6, 6-2
And with an ace, a fine angled forehand crosscourt winner from deep behind the baseline and a service winner that Marchenko optimistically but forlornly challenges, Murray sets up match point. Then, a short rally ends with the Ukrainian overhitting a forehand, and that’s it!
Updated
Murray leads 7-5, 7-6, 5-2, so has two chances to do this, not that it looks like he’ll need them both.
Hello world!
No time for preambles - you join me with Andy Murray about to serve for victory over Illya Marchenko!
Hello. Simon will be here shortly. Until then, here’s who to watch out for in both singles draws:
