Coco Gauff and Daniil Medvedev progress at the Australian Open, while Novak Djokovic begins his quest for a record 25th Grand Slam title.
MELBOURNE: Coco Gauff and Daniil Medvedev navigated tricky opening matches to reach the Australian Open second round.
Their progress came ahead of Novak Djokovic’s night session opener as he begins his latest quest for a record 25th Grand Slam crown.
Gauff defeated Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 6-3 on centre court despite a performance with seven double faults and 31 unforced errors.
“I tried not to put too much pressure on myself,” said the American title contender.
Medvedev, a three-time finalist in Melbourne, ground out a 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) win over Dutchman Jesper de Jong after twice being broken when serving for the match.
“The most important is to win,” said the Russian 11th seed.
The tournament ended early for seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who retired with cramp against Portugal’s Nuno Borges.
Former champion Sofia Kenin also crashed out, losing 6-3, 6-2 to fellow American Peyton Stearns.
Djokovic faces Spain’s Pedro Martinez in the final match on Rod Laver Arena.
The Serbian great, who owns a record 10 Australian Open crowns, is tied with Margaret Court on 24 major titles.
“I know that when I’m healthy, when I’m able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together on a given day, I feel like I can beat anybody,” Djokovic said.
He added: “I like my chances always in any tournament, particularly here.”
Elsewhere, fourth seed Amanda Anisimova and sixth seed Jessica Pegula recorded straight-sets wins.
Men’s sixth seed Alex De Minaur was another comfortable winner on a bumper day two.
Second seed Iga Swiatek, who has never gone beyond the semi-finals in Melbourne, was also scheduled to play Chinese qualifier Yuan Yue.
