Novak Djokovic survived a scare before joining Roger Federer and Serena Williams in the Australian Open second round as heavy downpours caused chaos on Monday, forcing organisers to postpone a swathe of matches.
Defending champion Djokovic was made to sweat before beating Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in four sets on the first day, when fears over air pollution were replaced by disruption caused by rain.
Big backlog
While play continued at the three stadiums with retractable roofs, half of the 64 scheduled matches were postponed, ensuring a big backlog for Tuesday.
Wet conditions are unusual for the Australian Open, which is more used to extreme heat and was plagued by smog from bushfires during qualifying.
Air quality was rated ‘good’ as the first round began on Monday, but about four hours later play was suspended on outside courts when the heavens opened up.
World No. 3 Federer was briefly hauled off court while the roof was closed on Rod Laver Arena before returning to complete a routine 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over American Steve Johnson.
Serena, on the hunt for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title, won the first set against Anastasia Potapova in just 19 minutes as she cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win in less than an hour.
“I feel like I can still improve and get better throughout this tournament, for sure. This is a good stepping stone for right now,” Williams said.
Venus ousted
However, Serena’s elder sister Venus was ousted in stunning fashion by 15-year-old Coco Gauff, who won 7-6(5), 6-3 in a repeat of her first-round upset at Wimbledon last year.
In the late match, defending champion Djokovic dropped his first set since 2006 in the opening round before recovering to beat Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(5), 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.
“There is a lot of pressure and a lot of different emotions involved. I definitely try to remind myself to stay present and really enjoy,” said the seven-time Melbourne winner, who brought up his 900th Tour-level victory.
Stephens ousted
Former US Open champion Sloane Stephens was the biggest women's casualty on day one when she crashed out in three sets to Zhang Shuai of China — her fourth first-round exit here.
Defending champion Naomi Osaka was done much before the downpour as she dismissed Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4 in 80 minutes, smashing one powerful serve that broke a net fastening.
“It was really tough for me trying to control my nerves,” said Osaka. “It's tough to play someone you've never played before in the first round of a Grand Slam.”
Later on the covered centre court, Australian World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty recovered strongly from a set down to beat Lesia Tsurenko 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
In the men’s draw, Greek sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat Federer en route to last year’s semis, crushed Salvatore Caruso 6-0, 6-2, 6-3.
Code violation
In other results, Canadian 13th seed Denis Shapovalov argued furiously with the umpire over a code violation for throwing his racquet as he lost in four sets to Marton Fucsovics.
Croatian 25th seed Borna Coric was another first-round loser as he went down to experienced American Sam Querrey, while Australia’s Sam Stosur bombed out against Caty McNally.
But former champion Caroline Wozniacki, playing her last tournament before retiring, safely reached the second round as she beat Kristie Ahn 6-1, 6-3.
Prajnesh’s match rescheduled
India’s top-ranked player Prajnesh Gunneswaran’s first-round match against Japanese Tatsuma Ito had to be rescheduled for Tuesday due to rain.
Prajnesh, ranked World No. 122, entered the main draw of the men’s singles event as a lucky loser in the qualifiers and was slated to take on Ito, ranked 144th in the world on Monday.
A win for Prajnesh will pit him against World No. 2 Novak Djokovic in the second round.
