Djokovic cruises to second round of Australian Open

Serena Williams might not have played in any tournaments since her U.S. Open loss, but that is not to say it was an uneventful past four months for her. She was named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year, the first woman to do so on an individual basis since 1983.

Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams raced into the Australian Open second round Monday as the year’s first Grand Slam was rocked by claims of widespread match-fixing in tennis.

“It’s an absolute pleasure to come back to Rod Laver Arena, it’s the most successful court in my career and there have been many memorable moments in the matches I’ve played here”, Djokovic said.

She dropped one service game in the match, while Giorgi struggled with 12 double-faults, including one on the decisive breakpoint in the 11th game of the second set.

Serbian Djokovic, who has won the Australian Open five times, beat the 19-year-old South Korean in the first round in an hour and 55 minutes, reports Efe.

Konta, who reached the fourth round of the US Open a year ago, enhanced her growing reputation further by thrashing the eighth-seed, dropping just six games in a 79-minute rout on Rod Laver Arena.

Konta’s copybook was blotted as Williams put up some resistance to break when her opponent was serving for the match, but as with the first set Konta came good at the second attempt.

Sharapova, champion in 2008, was dominant in a 6-1 6-3 beating of Nao Hibino, while Agnieszka Radwanska and Petra Kvitova beat Christina McHale and Luksika Kumkhum in straight sets.

Kvitova, who withdrew from a warm-up tournament in China because of a stomach virus, said her preparation was disrupted ahead of the rematch with Kumkhum.

“I’m definitely playing a lot better”, he said. “Definitely gives me a bit of a lift in confidence, you know, because this year I haven’t been able to play properly yet”.

“I have been going non-stop since the Olympics in London, and seeing that this is another Olympic year, I wanted to start the year out really fresh and really go at it again as hard as I can”.

The hours before the tournament began were overshadowed by news reports alleging match fixing that had gone unchecked.

However, former world number one Caroline Wozniacki was the highest profile of a number of seeds to fall at the first hurdle on Monday, including home favourite Sam Stosur.

But Chinese superstar Li, who made three Australian Open finals before finally winning in 2014, said few can touch Williams if she has her mind set on winning.

At a news conference at Melbourne Park, Kermode said officials “absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match-fixing has been suppressed for any reason, or isn’t being investigated”. “People are talking about names, guessing who these players are, guessing those names”.

Japanese star Nishikori powered past Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 to set up a second-round clash with long-time friend and training partner Austin Krajicek from the United States. Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil will face No. 14 Gilles Simon of France and Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., will meet unseeded Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia. Dominic Thiem and No 26 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.