By: Aaron Xiong

Day 1 of the Australian Open saw several matches take to the courts of Melbourne Park as the first major of the year is underway in the Down Under. Among the big names making it to the second round are defending champion and world number 1 Novak Djokovic, as well as 2019 Champion Naomi Osaka and tennis legend Serena Williams.

Djokovic began his 2021 Australian Open campaign with a straight sets victory over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. Novak finished the match with dominance as he made 9 aces as well as 90% of his first serves. He flew by the Frenchman in three sets (6-3, 6-1, 6-2).

2019 Champion and world number 3 Naomi Osaka seemingly dominated her opponent Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a straight sets victory as well. The young star from Japan only conceded 13 points on serve and won 12 out of the 15 games played to win (6-1, 6-2).

Tennis legend and sports icon Serena Williams was also on court today for day 1 action. Williams defeated young German Laura Siegemund in dominating fashion. The 23 time Grand Slam champ finished with four aces and only lost 9 points on serve in a (6-1, 6-1) win. In hopes to bring home yet another major title, Serena Williams is looking to make a deep run at this year’s open.

Other matches on day 1 saw young stars Denis Shapovalov from Canada and Jannik Sinner from Italy face off. The world number 12 Shapovalov prevailed after almost 4 hours on court. Although Sinner did play a match the day before in the warm-up tournament for the Australian Open, Shapovalov deserves a ton of credit for taking out the young Italian sensation. He won the match (3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4).

Among other action on day 1, 5 Australians are onto the second round including home favorite Nick Kyrgios. Americans also are looking forward to second round success as there are 6 through to the next round.

Day 2 action starts tonight around 6:00pm CST.