Just over six months after stunning the tennis world by defeating Venus Williams in the first round at Wimbledon, Coco Gauff has repeated the dose with a straight-sets victory and confirmed herself as one of the rising stars of the sport.
All eyes were going to be on this match-up once the fixture was revealed on Thursday evening to see if it could live up to the original as seen at the All England Club.
It did not disappoint, with the first set going to a tie break, which Gauff would claim by seven points to five in just over one hour.
The 15-year-old then went up 3-0 in the second set, and while Venus got herself back into the contest, Gauff held her nerve to secure her second win over the 39-year-old in three majors.
Afterwards, she thanked the crowd for their support saying that she thought it would only happen at the US Open, which came on the back of her having defeated someone nearly a quarter of a century her junior at SW19 last July.
(Photo by Jason Heidrich/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The youngest player in the main draw will next face Sorana Cirstea for a possible shot at Naomi Osaka in the third round.
Osaka got her title defence off to an impressive start, kicking off proceedings on Rod Laver Arena with a straight-forward victory over Marie Bouzkova, dropping just six games.
The Japanese player won the first set easily, but then fell behind 2-4 in the second. From there, however, she would rattle off the final four games to complete a straight-sets victory and progress to the second round where she will next face China’s Zheng Saisai.
Former champion Serena Williams also advanced to the last 64, dismissing Anastasia Potapova for the loss of just three games.
The American, who is aiming to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 major singles titles having been stranded on 23 for nearly three years, won the first set without dropping a game but then double-faulted in the third game of the second set to fall behind 1-2.
However, she would claim five of the last six games to maintain her record of never losing in the first round at Melbourne Park. Overall, she has suffered just one first-round loss at a major, that coming at the 2012 French Open.
Performing even better was last year’s beaten finalist, Petra Kvitova, who dropped just one game in defeating countrywoman Katerina Siniakova in just 51 minutes. Her next opponent is Paula Badosa, who was equally as impressive in defeating Johanna Larsson in straight sets.
On the men’s side, Roger Federer was ruthless as he defeated American Steve Johnson in straight sets as he began his bid for a men’s record 21st grand slam singles title.
Former semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov also advanced to the second round, coming from a set down to defeat Juan Ignacio Londero in four sets. He remains on track to face Federer in the fourth round, which would be one round earlier than their US Open quarter-final duel from last September.
(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Also through to the last 32 is last year’s semi-finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was brutal in defeating Italian Salvatore Caruso, dropping just five games as he looks to better his final four showing from 12 months ago, where he lost to Rafael Nadal in straight sets.
While the big names progressed under the roofs of Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and Melbourne Arena, a number of outside court matches have been left suspended due to the wet weather that lashed Melbourne on the opening day.
This will see a massive backlog of matches scheduled for today, including a match between Rebecca Peterson and Polona Hercog in which the winner will have to face Ashleigh Barty on Wednesday.
Johanna Konta and Madison Keys will also have to start their campaigns today after rain washed their respective matches out of Monday’s schedule, while Milos Raonic may only need about one minute on court to complete his match after being on the brink of victory when his tie was suspended.
All matches scheduled for the outside courts will start half an hour earlier at 10:30am, while play inside the three main courts will start at 11:00am as per usual.
Matches to watch on Day 2
Rod Laver Arena
Day session – play starts at 11:00am (all times AEDT)
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) vs [2] Karolina Pliskova (CZE)
[19] Donna Vekic (CRO) vs Maria Sharapova (RUS)
[1] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs Hugo Dellien (BOL)
Night session – play starts at 7:00pm
[4] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) vs Frances Tiafoe (USA)
Elisabetta Cocciaretto (ITA) vs [17] Angelique Kerber (GER)
Margaret Court Arena
Day session – play starts at 11:00am
[6] Belinda Bencic (SUI) vs Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK)
Adrian Mannarino (FRA) vs [5] Dominic Thiem (AUT)
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) vs [31] Anastasija Sevastova (LAT)
Night session – play starts at 7:00pm
Jennifer Brady (USA) vs [4] Simona Halep (ROU)
Marco Cecchinato (ITA) vs [7] Alexander Zverev (GER)
Melbourne Arena
Day session – play starts at 11:00am
Polona Hercog (SLO) vs Rebecca Peterson (SWE)
[10] Madison Keys (USA) vs Daria Kasatkina (RUS)
Damir Dzumhur (BIH) vs [15] Stan Wawrinka (SUI)
Not before 4:00pm
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) vs [28] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)
Not before 7:00pm
[23] Nick Kyrgios (AUS) vs Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)