Big guns afloat, Raonic bows out

Melbourne: Defending champion Roger Federer got quickly into his majestic stride with a straight-sets win over Slovenian Aljaz Bedene in his opening match at the Australian Open on Tuesday.  The 36-year-old Swiss turned the evening clash on Rod Laver Arena into an exhibition as he breezed past Bedene with consummate ease 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

A single break in each set was enough for Federer who looked in total control from beginning to end. The world number two, bidding for a 20th Grand Slam title after claiming his 18th last year and 19th at Wimbledon, broke Bedene's serve in the fourth game of the first set in which he conceded only three points on his serve.

Federer pounced immediately at the start of the second to gain another break and cantered through the rest of the match against a player who he had never played before. Novak Djokovic celebrated his long-awaited return to the Grand Slam stage with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 demolition of American Donald Young to reach the second round.

Wearing a compression sleeve on his serving arm, Djokovic showed no signs of the elbow trouble that cut short his 2017 season. He swung freely to amass 33 winners during the one hour and 51 minute rout at a sunbathed Margaret Court Arena.

Djokovic was playing his first match since he retired during his Wimbledon quarter-final, and despite landing barely half of his first serves with his newly modified action, it was an impressive performance from the six-times Melbourne Park champion.

Former champion Maria Sharapova enjoyed a winning return to the Australian Open as she wore down Germany's Tatjana Maria 6-1, 6-4 on Tuesday to take her place in the second round. The 30-year-old Russian, who served a 15-month doping ban last year after testing positive for banned substance meldonium after her Melbourne defeat by Serena Williams in 2016, met some rugged resistance but had too much power for Maria.

There was plenty of support for 47th ranked five-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova with regular shouts of "C'mon Masha, we've missed you" around the Margaret Court Arena. Her opponent was actually one place higher on the WTA rankings and the same age as Sharapova. However, there was a vast difference in pedigree with the German never having gone beyond the third round in 22 previous Grand Slams.

World number one Simona Halep flirted with another early exit from the Australian Open before rallying to reach the second round with a 7-6(5), 6-1 victory over local teenager Destanee Aiava. Former world number three Milos Raonic was sent tumbling out of the Australian Open first round by Lukas Lacko, the Canadian's earliest Grand Slam exit since the 2011 French Open.

On the comeback trail after a 2017 season disrupted by injury, Raonic looked off the pace as he was picked apart 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(4) by the 86th ranked Slovak on show court two. Stanislas Wawrinka feels great to be back after his first-round victory at the Australian Open but is still experiencing pain in the left knee that required surgery last season.

The Swiss former champion, seeded ninth, beat Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(2) in his first competitive match for six months to set up a second-round clash with American Tennys Sandgren. Twice Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova's return to the Australian Open a year after being attacked by an intruder at her home ended in disappointment with a marathon 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 first-round loss to German Andrea Petkovic.

Johanna Konta skipped past Madison Brengle into the second round of the Australian Open, the Briton overpowering her American opponent 6-3, 6-1 in 66 minutes on Hisense Arena. Canadian Eugenie Bouchard ended a six-match losing run on the tour by beating France's Oceane Dodin 6-3, 7-6(5). Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, a semi-finalist in 2009, recorded 41 winners to upset 20th-seeded compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 7-5, 7-5.