MELBOURNE: There was no easing into a title defence for Novak Djokovic, starting his Australian Open against the man who upset Rafael Nadal here last year in the first round.

Djokovic lifted when he most needed to Tuesday night, holding off Fernando Verdasco in a 71-minute, momentum-swinging second set before winning 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-2. There were glares, stares and frustrated outbursts from players who met in a tense semi-final earlier this month in Doha, where Djokovic saved five match points en route to victory.

“I’m very pleased with the first round, considering I had one of the toughest first-round draws, definitely considering his form, ” said Djokovic, who is aiming to be the first man to win seven Australian titles. “Just overall I’m feeling good about my performance.” Another six-time champion had a tough first round, with Serena Williams needing to produce some of her best tennis to get far enough ahead against Belinda Bencic that a late lapse wasn’t a real worry.

And after starting her quest for a record 23rd Grand Slam title with a 6-4, 6-3 first-round win, Serena walked into her news conference wearing a black shirt with the word “Equality” printed across the front.

It was still before midnight Monday in the US, where the holiday in honour of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was nearly ending.

“With today being Martin Luther King Day, it’s important to spread the message of equality,” Serena said. “Something he talked about a lot and he tried to spread a lot, is equality and rights for everyone.” Asked if she was concerned about the future of equality in the US, Serena declined to get into specifics but said the issue is “a concern for just everyone in general”.

Serena became engaged to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian during the holiday break, and he was in the crowd watching her play at Rod Laver Arena. Serena, 35, has been asked repeatedly about her wedding plans since arriving in Australia. She gave a clearer time frame for discussion on that.

“February I’ll start looking at the bigger picture of my life,” she said. “But right now I’m just so focused that this is kind of all I can think about.”

Serena played almost flawless tennis to take a 5-0 lead in the second set. Then came the rustiness that tends to follow a lengthy layoff.

But after three double faults including one on match point Serena held on to improve her record in the first round of majors to 65-1. She’ll next play Lucie Safarova, who saved nine match points before beating Yanina Wickmayer 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-1.

Nadal, also on the comeback from a couple of months on the sidelines following the US Open with an injured left wrist, had a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Florian Mayer to go one better than he did last year in Australia.

“I’m happy to do an interview with you last year, I didn’t have the chance!” Nadal said in his on-court interview.

In a 5-hour, 15-minute encounter on Court 19, 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic held off Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-7 (6), 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 22-20 in a match that set a record for most number of games (84) at the Australian Open in the tiebreak era. Karlovic also finished with a tournament-record 75 aces.

On a day when the temperature reached almost 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit), third-seeded Milos Raonic, who reached the semi-finals in Australia last year and the final at Wimbledon, beat Dustin Brown 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 and No. 11 David Goffin beat 19-year-old qualifier Reilly Opelka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Also advancing were No. 6 Gael Monfils, No. 8 Dominic Thiem, No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 15 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 18 Richard Gasquet, No. 24 Alexander Zverev, No. 25 Gilles Simon, and No. 32 Philipp Kohlschreiber.

In late women’s matches, third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska finished off her 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 win over Tsvetana Pironkova just before midnight and No. 22 Daria Gavrilova beat Naomi Broady 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova and last year’s Australian semi-finalist Johanna Konta, who won the titles in the main warm-up events in Brisbane and Sydney, advanced in straight sets.

No. 6 Dominika Cibulkova, former No 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki, No. 14 Elena Vesnina, No. 21 Caroline Garcia, No 28 Alize Cornet and No. 30 Ekaterina Makarova also advanced.

Heather Watson extended the 2011 US Open winner Sam Stosur’s drought at her home Grand Slam, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

First round: Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) bt Ivan Dodig (Croatia) 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 20-Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) bt Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) 6-7 (6-8), 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 22-20, 2-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2; 15-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) bt Christopher O’Connell (Australia) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, 6-3, Fabio Fognini (Italy) bt 28-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 7-5, 6-3, 7-5, Benoit Paire (France) bt Tommy Haas (Germany) 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 0-0 — Haas retired; 6-Gael Monfils (France) bt Jiri Vesely (Czech Republic) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2; Ernesto Escobedo (US) bt Daniil Medvedev (Russia) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5); 6-1 Jordan Thompson (Australia) bt Joao Sousa (Portugal) 6-7 (2-7), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1; Chung Hyeon (South Korea) bt Renzo Olivo (Argentina) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2; 21-David Ferrer (Spain) bt Omar Jasika (Australia) 6-3, 6-0, 6-2; Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) bt Borna Coric (Croatia) 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7); Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) bt Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 6-2, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3; 8-Dominic Thiem (Austria) bt Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3; 18-Richard Gasquet (France) bt Blake Mott (Australia) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2; Andrew Whittington (Australia) bt Adam Pavlasek (Czech Republic) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) bt Taylor Fritz (US) 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; 13-Roberto Bautista (Spain) bt Guido Pella (Argentina) 6-3, 6-1, 6-1; Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) bt Radu Albot (Moldova) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 7-6 (10-8); Kyle Edmund (Britain) bt Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) 6-2, 7-5, 6-3; 9-Rafa Nadal (Spain) bt Florian Mayer (Germany) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) bt Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 6-3, 3-0 — Youzhny retired; 30-Pablo Carreno (Spain) bt Peter Polansky (Canada) 6-0, 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 3-0 — Polansky retired; 11-David Goffin (Belgium) bt Reilly Opelka (US) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Frances Tiafoe (US) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan) 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-2; Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan) bt Alex Bolt (Australia) 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4; 3-Milos Raonic (Canada) bt Dustin Brown (Germany) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; Rogerio Dutra Silva (Brazil) bt Jared Donaldson (US) 3-6, 0-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4; 24-Alexander Zverev (Germany) bt Robin Haase (Netherlands) 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2; 32-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Nikoloz Basilashvili (Georgia) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4; Donald Young (US) bt Thomas Fabbiano (Italy) 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4; 25-Gilles Simon (France) bt Michael Mmoh (US) 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.

Women’s singles:

First round: 3-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 6-1, 4-6, 6-1; 22-Daria Gavrilova (Australia) bt Naomi Broady (Britain) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5; Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Croatia) bt Wang Qiang (China) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; 16-Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic) bt Elizaveta Kulichkova (Russia) 6-3, 6-2; Andrea Petkovic (Germany) bt Kayla Day (US) 6-3, 6-2; 12-Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) bt Camila Giorgi (Italy) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; Ana Konjuh (Croatia) bt Kristina Mladenovic (France) 6-4, 6-2; Danka Kovinic (Montenegro) bt Zheng Saisai (China) 6-0, 6-4; Jennifer Brady (US) bt Maryna Zanevska (Belgium) 6-3, 6-2; 17-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) bt Arina Rodionova (Australia) 6-1, 6-2; Mandy Minella (Luxembourg) bt Magda Linette (Poland) 7-5, 6-4; Heather Watson (Britain) bt 18-Samantha Stosur (Australia) 6-3, 3-6, 6-0; 6-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt Denisa Allertova (Czech Republic) 7-5 6-2; 31-Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) bt Lara Arruabarrena Vecino (Spain) 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (12-10); 28-Alize Cornet (France) bt Myrtille Georges (France) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1; Sara Errani (Italy) bt Risa Ozaki (Japan) 7-5, 6-1; Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) bt Zhu Lin (China) 6-4, 6-0; Maria Sakkari (Greece) bt Anett Kontaveit (Estonia) 6-0, 6-4; 14-Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt Ana Bogdan (Romania) 7-5, 6-2; Donna Vekic (Croatia) bt Lizette Cabrera (Australia) 7-5, 6-2; 2-Serena Williams (US) bt Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-3; Naomi Osaka (Japan) bt Luksika Kumkhum (Thailand) 6-7 (2-7) 6-4, 7-5; Oceane Dodin (France) bt Cagla Buyukakcay (Turkey) 7-5, 6-7 (1-7), 6-2; Anna Blinkova (Russia) bt Monica Niculescu (Romania) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) bt Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-1; Nicole Gibbs (US) bt 25-Timea Babos (Hungary) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; Irina Falconi (US) bt Han Xinyun (China) 6-1, 7-5; 9-Johanna Konta (Britain) bt Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) 7-5, 6-2; 21-Caroline Garcia (France) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; 30-Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) bt Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) 6-0, 4-6, 6-1; 5-Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) bt Sara Sorribes (Spain) 6-2, 6-0; Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan) bt Karin Knapp (Italy) 6-3, 2-0 — Knapp retired.

Published in Dawn January 18th, 2017