MELBOURNE, Australia — Madison Keys admitted she was “very nervous” after launching her Australian Open title defence with a shaky 7-6 (8/6), 6-1 win over Oleksandra Oliynykova on Tuesday, as Daniil Medvedev was forced to grind past Jesper de Jong and Iga Swiatek survived a scare against Chinese qualifier Yuan Yue to advance unconvincingly in her bid for a career Grand Slam.
Novak Djokovic had the big stage and a list of milestones that he needed to celebrate with his 100th win at the Australian Open. He delivered the kind of performance that showed his rivals and his fans he’s here with a single objective: a 25th Grand Slam title.
The 38-year-old Djokovic equaled two all-time tennis records by starting his 21st Australian Open and his 81st Grand Slam event, and he added another milestone with his 100th win at Melbourne Park.
Former Australian Open finalist Marin Cilic turned back the clock with a ruthless display to beat Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 6-0 6-0 7-6(3) in the first round at Melbourne Park.
The colourful Russian Medvedev stumbled home 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) on a hot Margaret Court Arena. But it was a less-than-convincing performance from the 29-year-old, who was twice broken serving for the match.
At least he was on his best behaviour, unlike last year when Medvedev was fined for mangling his racquet and a net camera in an epic temper tantrum at the same stage. “It was not easy. I mean, first match, Grand Slam,” he said.
“Happy to win in straight sets, even if some of them were kind of up and down, but the conditions felt slow, so we were both breaking each other’s serve a lot.
“The most important is to win. I’m playing better (than last year) and looking forward to this Australian Open,” Medvedev added according to AFP.
The Polish second seed Swiatek was pushed to the limit in the first set on Rod Laver Arena before prevailing 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 after more than two hours to set up a clash next with Czech player Marie Bouzkova.
“I was a bit rusty at the beginning, I didn’t really start well and she used the opportunity,” she said.
“But I knew if I could put the hard work in, I would play better. So that’s what I tried to do from the middle of the first set.
“I’m happy that it worked. For sure, many ups and downs, I have some stuff to work on, so I’ll just focus on that.”
Swiatek has won four French Opens, the US Open and Wimbledon, but a title at Melbourne Park has proved elusive.
The towering 37-year-old Cilic won the opening 12 games with minimum fuss to spark chatter of a rare Grand Slam main draw “triple bagel”, which has been achieved by only five players in the professional era, the last being Sergi Bruguera in the 1993 French Open.
Cilic, the 2018 runner-up at Melbourne Park, saved a breakpoint at the start of the third set to remain on track but Altmaier suddenly clicked into gear.
The German made it 1-1, and in doing so snapped a 25-game losing streak stretching back to his 6-3 6-0 defeat by Jaume Munar in the Adelaide International last week.
It was a much more evenly-contested match from there and Croatian Cilic had to rally from behind in the tiebreak to close out the win.
Fellow veteran and 2014 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka then joined Cilic in the second round, the Swiss battling from a set down to see off unseeded Serb Laslo Djere 5-7 6-3 6-4 7-6(4).
