Big names make progress at the Australian Open

Novak Djokovic made a confident return to grand slam tennis with victory over Donald Young at the Australian Open after six months sidelined by elbow problems.

Stan Wawrinka’s knee has kept him out for the same period and battling past Ricardas Berankis was a huge boost for the Swiss while Roger Federer began his title defence with a comfortable win over Aljaz Bedene.

Johanna Konta made a confident start to her campaign but Heather Watson is out, while there were wins for Maria Sharapova and world number one Simona Halep, who will hope a rolled ankle does not prove a hindrance to her title bid.

Maria Sharapova’s first-round match against Tatjana Maria caused much scoreboard confusion.

Dominic Thiem has set the standard with this outrageous tweener winner in his first-round match against Guido Pella.

Kristina Mladenovic probably did not consider her first-round win over Tatjana Maria in Washington last summer to be anything too remarkable. She almost certainly did not think that more than five months later, she would still be searching for her next victory. Mladenovic’s 6-3 6-2 loss to Ana Bogdan made it an unbelievable 15 consecutive losses for the world number 11.

Men: Roberto Bautista Agut (20), Milos Raonic (22), Mischa Zverev (32).
Women: Kristina Mladenovic (11), Petra Kvitova (27).

Kyle Edmund will look to follow up his brilliant defeat of Kevin Anderson by reaching the third round at Melbourne Park for the first time.

The British number two faces Uzbek Denis Istomin, who upset Djokovic at the same stage 12 months ago. Edmund’s section of the draw is the most open in the tournament, with all four seeds eliminated on day one.

Elsewhere, Rafael Nadal takes on Argentinian Leonardo Mayer, Denis Shapovalov will look to repeat his US Open victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga while Caroline Wozniacki, Elina Svitolina and Nick Kyrgios are also in action.