Serena Williams returned to winning ways against Camila Giorgi in a close two set win for the world number one as she beat the Italian 6-4 7-5. In her first tour match since her US Open defeat to Roberta Vinci, Williams went into the match having had injury issues recently. However, the American slowly got into it and was rarely troubled in a match which Williams will see as a perfect introduction on the road to reclaiming her title that she won last year.

Maria Sharapova also saw her Australian Open campaign kick off with a straight sets win as she beat Nao Hibino 6-1 6-3. The Russian’s win was never in doubt as she won the first set in just 33 minutes. Looking to win her second slam since the 2014 French Open, the world number 4 will be encouraged with the ease in which she brushed aside Hibino.

Heather Watson bowed out in a thrilling encounter against Timea Babos, eventually losing 6-7(4) 7-5 7-5.  In a tight first set it was the Brit who managed to win the first set tie-break. However the big hitting Hungarian fought back in the next two sets winning them 7-5 to book her place in the second round of the draw.

Home favourite Sam Stosur also went out as she lost in straight sets to Kristyna Pliskova. After losing the first set 6-4 Stosur struggled to keep in tuoch in the second set as Plsikova served for the match. However Stosur managed to take the set to a tie-break, unfortunately for her and the crowd though, Pliskova won it sending the Australian packing.

Caroline Wozniacki's poor form continued (Source: ESPN tennis)
Caroline Wozniacki's poor form continued (Source: ESPN tennis)

There were a few shocks early on as Caroline Wozniacki lost in three sets against Kazakhstani Yulia Putintseva. It appeared that it was going to be a routine win for Wozniacki as she won the first set 6-1, however Putintseva fought back in the second set, winning the tie-break to take the match to a final set before closing out the match 6-4. Sloane Stephens also surprisingly went out in straight sets to qualifier Qiang Wang of China. In a match where the American’s game had a plethora of errors, it was to be one of those matches which has proved all too common throughout Stephens’ career as she bowed out. Elsewhere saw a loss for Sara Errani against up and comer Margarita Gasparyan as the Italian lost in three sets.

Best of the rest

Eugenie Bouchard started her tournament with a straight sets win 6-3 6-4 against Aleksandra Krunic as she looks to recover from a troublesome 2015. Ana Konjuh completed a remarkable comeback from 6-0 3-0 down to beat Urszula Radwanska in three sets. Belinda Bencic advanced to the second round as she beat Alison Riske in straight sets. Former Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova lost in straight sets to Kristina Mladenovic whilst her fellow Slovakian Anna Schmiedlova also lost to Daria Kasatkina in straight sets.

Other Results

Daria Gavrilova def. Lucie Hradecka 7-6(3) 6-4

Petra Kvitova def. Luksika Kumkhum 6-3 6-1

Carla Suarez-Navarro def. Viktorija Golubic 7-5 6-4

Anna-Lena Friedsam def. Lourdes Dominguez Lino 7-6(3) 2-6 6-1

Nicole Gibbs def. Klara Koukalova 6-2 2-6 6-1

Magdalena Rybarikova def. Yanina Wickmayer 3-6 6-3 7-5

Maria Sakkari def. Yafan Wang 6-4 1-6 6-3

Su-Wei Hsieh def. Jelena Ostapenko 3-6 7-5 6-1

Lauren Davis def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 1-6 6-3 6-4

Kurumi Nara def. Oceane Dodin 7-6(2) 6-2

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Christina McHale 6-2 6-3

Xin-Yun Han def. Mariana Duque-Marino 6-2 2-1 (RET)

Roberta Vinci def. Tamira Paszek 6-4 6-2

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Daniela Hantuchova 6-0 6-2

Irina Falconi def Anna Tatishvili 6-4 3-6 8-6

Aliaksandra Sasnovich def. Evgeniya Rodina 6-3 7-6(2)

Katerina Bondarenko def. Alja Tomljanovic 7-6(2) 603

Monica Niculescu def. Teliana Pereira 6-2 6-1

Monica Puig def. Magda Linette 6-3 6-0

Elizaveta Kulichkova def. Andrea Petkovic 7-5 6-4

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