Australian Open: Champ Serena Williams rolls into third round

“It all started here – this is where I played my first Grand Slam right on this court and I’m still going, it’s such an honour”, said Williams, who has a 70-9 win-loss record at Melbourne Park since her debut in 1998.

“I played two previous tournaments and I didn’t quite get the results I wanted but I have a very strong belief in the way I want to play out there and the way I way I want to be thinking, so I keep trying every day”.

The BBC and BuzzFeed reports said 16 players had been repeatedly flagged to tennis authorities for suspicious performances, including a Grand Slam victor, and half of them were at this year’s Australian Open.

Djokovic s main opponent was the 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) heat as, cooling himself with ice vests on the change-overs, the top seed dispatched Korean rising star Chung Hyeon 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Venus Williams has been knocked out of the first round 6-4, 6-2 by Britain’s Johanna Konta.

Delighted with her 6-4, 6-2 victory at the Rod Laver Arena, Konta said: “In terms of stages this was definitely the biggest stage I’ve won on”.

Madison Keys had a slow start in her return to Melbourne Park, but advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Zarina Diyas.

“It was a great match against Austin, we have known each other for a long time, so it wasn’t easy to play him, but he played well today”, Nishikori said.

Not against Konta, who closed out the first set with an ace before racing to a 5-0 lead in the second.

Konta, 24, admitted her lead-up form wasn’t the best, despite playing at two tournaments before here.

Sealing match point with a booming first serve, the 2008 champion next faces the victor of Lauren Davis and Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova.

The 21-time Grand Slam victor doesn’t like to dwell on weaknesses and did not want to discuss the inflammation in her left knee that forced her to withdraw from her season opener at the Hopman Cup.

Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza needed only an hour to advance through the first round, beating No. 85-ranked Anett Kontaveit 6-0, 6-4 in the opening match on Rod Laver Arena on day two.

Konta, born in Sydney, was making her first appearance in Melbourne but did not look out of place as she got stuck into Williams early on, absorbing the seven-time grand slam winner’s power and manoeuvring her around the court superbly.