Williams injury-free in Melbourne

Chasing a record-equalling sixth Open title, the Serb burst out of the blocks on Monday to outclass rising South Korean star Hyeon Chung 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 55 minutes.

No. 12 Belinda Bencic had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Timea Babos and 92nd-ranked Kateryna Bondarenko earned one of her biggest wins since returning from retirement after having a baby in 2013, beating two-time major victor and No. 23-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 7-5.

Williams withdrew from a warm-up tournament because of inflammation in her left knee, so the win over Giorgi was her first completed match since her bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam ended in a semifinal loss at the U.S. Open.

With both players serving extremely well and reaching the peak of their service games, Williams and Giorgi held serve until the 11th game of the second set.

The two dominant players of previous year, Djokovic and Williams are no strangers to the heat of the Australian summer, of course, but sweltering conditions might help expose any flaws in their early season form or fitness.

“I haven’t played a competitive match in a really long time so it was good for me to come out here and get through it”, Williams said.

American Denis Kudla took the first two sets before his opponent retired in the third.

“I think in my life, it’s the best tennis”, she said.

“Happy, a little bit nervous, a little bit scared, because it was the main stadium”, he said, adding that he could hardly eat ahead of the match.

Sharapova, who pulled out of the Brisbane International with a left forearm injury, appeared to show no side effects from the ailment in her 73-minute win over the Japanese player.

Johanna Konta caused a huge upset in the Australian Open when she dumped Venus Williams in the first round by winning 6-4, 6-2. But the top seed got the job done on Rod Laver Arena, edging into the second round, 6-4, 7-5.

Williams gave a wave to the crowd and trudged off the court slowly before walking past a line of banners displaying photos of past Australian Open champions, her sister Serena among them.

But today in the Rod Laver Arena, Konta played the match of her life as the number eight seed, now 35, struggled under the unforgiving midday sun.

“From my knowledge and information about, you know, the match-fixing or anything similar, there is nothing happening on the top level”.

No. 2-ranked Murray, who opened with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 win over Alexander Zverev, answered questions about reports, published by the BBC and Buzzfeed News, that match-fixing had gone unchecked in tennis.

“I tried to keep my emotions inside and imagined I’m losing”, she said.