Serena Williams wins first competitive match in four months at Australia Open

Britain’s Johanna Konta serves during her women’s singles match against Venus Williams of the USA on day two of the 2016 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Jan 19, 2016.

Tennis’ most dominant players entered the season’s first major after contrasting preparations, with Williams having to overcome a left knee problem that limited her court time and Djokovic warming up with a run to the title at Doha, Qatar.

Caroline Wozniacki suffered a similar fate at the hands of Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, losing 1-6 7-6(3) 6-4 while Sam Stosur, the former US Open champion, made her now traditional early exit from her home grand slam 6-4 7-6 (6).

Djokovic hopes to add in his record another Grand Slam title when he opens his 2016 Australian Open campaign against Hyeon Chung of South Korea on Monday.

It was one of the worst ever Grand Slam performances for Nadal, who also lost in the 2013 Wimbledon first round and has not won a major title since the 2014 French Open.

And Giorgi’s nerves were clearly jangling as she opened with a double fault with the heat hitting 32 Celsius on Rod Laver Arena. The top seed wasn’t blistering her fastest serves-in fact the 5-foot-6 Giorgi’s average second serve speed of 98 miles per hour was faster than Williams’ average second-serve speed of 95 mph-but the champion mixed it up effectively and served with more authority as the match progressed and her arm loosened up.

“I have played her a couple of times before, and just wanted to be as consistent as I could”, said Williams.

Sixth seed Petra Kvitova was the first player to win a match, beating Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum 6-3 6-1.

“I think I just needed a break”, she said. The memories from two years ago were a little bit hard.

While Djokovic is the runaway men s favourite, Williams arrives under an injury cloud after she pulled out of this month s Hopman Cup exhibition tournament with an inflamed left knee.

Williams, 34, has been handed a tough draw with Italy s Camila Giorgi, the highest ranked non-seed, waiting in the first round and Maria Sharapova potentially looming in the quarters.

Coming off a year in which he won 11 tournaments and three of the four majors, the 28-year-old Serbian ironman should safely negotiate his opening match whatever the weather. “But I think physically I was really good on the court”.

“To come back here and play my first match on Rod Laver is always very special as you always get those first little jitters out of the way”.

Joining Djokovic in the second round of the men’s competition is 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer as the Swiss inflicted a 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 demolition on Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili in one hour and 12 minutes. “She’s really good, a talented player”. “Every time I step on the court it feels special”.

Sharapova, who plays No. 56 Nao Hibino of Japan – they’ve never played each other – is just the opposite – “ultimately you know all the players that are competing here”.

“She definitely doesn’t really give you a lot of rhythm, so it’s definitely a different match”.