Rattled Djokovic survives at Australian Open as young rivals advance

Melbourne: Novak Djokovic overcame an early jolt to remain in the hunt for a record 25th Grand Slam title while his two young rivals Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz moved into the Australian Open second round with more emphatic victories on Monday.

An ailing Nick Kyrgios was unable to avoid falling through the trapdoor on his return to his home major, although the maverick Australian went down fighting like 2023 runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas on a blockbuster second day at the year's opening major.

Naomi Osaka prevented a repeat of her 2024 first-round loss to Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia as the twice Melbourne Park champion prevailed 6-3 3-6 6-3 to close out the action on the main showcourts.

The evening session began with a scare for Djokovic before the Serb beat American teenager Nishesh Basavareddy 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-2 to keep his quest for an 11th Australian Open title alive.

"I was impressed by him," Djokovic said.

"The whole stadium was. That's why he got a great round of applause and appreciation from the crowd. They saw what he did on court, the quality of tennis, the fighting spirit.

"I ended the match in good fashion. I think it's important. It counts mentally for me, for the rest of the tournament."

While Djokovic went to war at Rod Laver Arena, Alcaraz was cruising to a 6-1 7-5 6-1 victory over unseeded Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko on Margaret Court Arena, but the decision to schedule three marquee matches at the same time raised eyebrows.

Adding to the overlap of big-ticket matches was Kyrgios, whose first appearance in Melbourne Park in three years due to injury ended in a 7-6(3) 6-3 7-6(2) defeat by Jacob Fearnley.

Defeat cast doubt on Kyrgios' return to the tournament as a singles player and he did not sound optimistic.

"It's hard," said Kyrgios, who dealt with knee, foot and wrist issues before sustaining an abdominal injury last month.

"When you're competing for the biggest tournaments in the world and you're struggling to win sets physically, it's pretty tough. But I've still got a long year ahead."

DOPING IN FOCUS

Sinner, who has come under attack over the last few months from the outspoken Kyrgios over his two positive drug tests in March, began his title defence in bright sunshine with a win over Nicolas Jarry.

While the balmy weather was welcome after persistent rain chopped six hours of play out of the outer court schedule on day one but the dark cloud of doping refused to budge.

Jarry served an 11-month ban in 2020 after testing positive for ligandrol and stanozolol. The International Tennis Federation accepted his explanation that two banned substances were in his urine sample via vitamins made in Brazil and ruled that Jarry "bore no significant fault or negligence for his violation".

The big-serving Chilean contrasted his treatment with Sinner's avoidance of a suspension for failing his tests last year, after losing 7-6(2) 7-6(5) 6-1 to the Italian.

"It's tough for me to play him ... it's a difficult and delicate topic. What I can say is that I'd have liked the same treatment as the things that I went through," Jarry said.

"I don't think it was the same, so that's all."

Sinner, who could yet face a ban after an April hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, said he was unfamiliar with the details of Jarry's case.

"We got treated in the same way," he added. "There's the protocol. If the protocol has some issues or problem, it's not my fault, you know?"

Women's number two Iga Swiatek was also at the centre of allegations that tennis doping authorities were running a two-tier system favouring the top players after she served a one-month doping ban last year.

The 23-year-old five-times Grand Slam champion refused to let the controversy distract her as she defeated Czech Katerina Siniakova 6-3 6-4.

Third seed Coco Gauff, who like Swiatek can move to the top of the rankings if results go her way in Melbourne, closed out a routine 6-3 6-3 win over 2020 champion Sofia Kenin.

Tsitsipas fell at his first hurdle as American young gun Alex Michelsen earned a 7-5 6-3 2-6 6-4 victory, much to the disappointment of the local Greek community who arrived in numbers to support him.

The 11th seed could only blame himself for his jaded performance at the Grand Slam where he once beat both Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer in the same year.

"I had a fresher mind back then," the 26-year-old said.

Local fans had plenty to cheer with James Duckworth, Jordan Thompson, James McCabe, Aleksandar Vukic, Tristan Schoolkate and Thanasi Kokkinakis progressing on the men's side along with Ajla Tomljanovic, Destanee Aiava and Talia Gibson in the women's draw.