Naomi pulled it together quickly in a swirling breeze on Margaret Court Arena, though, and beat Zheng Saisai 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the third round of the Australian Open.
Nick Kyrgios promised to donate $1,000 to the bush fire recovery effort for every set the Aussie player wins at the Australian Open.
The top-ranked Nadal is chasing his 20th major singles title, aiming to equal Roger Federer's men's record. He's also aiming to complete a collection by winning each of the four Grand Slam titles at least twice.
Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Garbine Muguruza, Karolina Pliskova all moved to round two of Australian Open 2020 while Mari Sharapova was eliminated in her opener.
What he insists is not on his mind is the number 20 — as in Roger Federer's record 20 Grand Slam singles titles, which Nadal would equal by claiming the trophy at Melbourne Park.
Roger Federer plays his second-round match at Melbourne Park and, according to his line of thinking, the first few matches he plays in a Grand Slam tournament are as important as the ones at the pointy end.
Might this have been her last trip to the Australian Open, a tournament she won in 2008 as part of a career Grand Slam?
Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova faced a first-round defeat to Croatia's Donna Vekic.
India's top-ranked tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran missed out on a clash with Novak Djokovic after he was knocked out in the opening round of Australian Open.
Top-ranked Ash Barty lost the first set of her first-round match at the Australian Open, where she's aiming to be the first homegrown winner in more than 40 years, before recovering to beat Leisa Tsurenko 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
Roger Federer defeated Steve Johnson 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 while defending champion Novak Djokovic went past Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in the first round of Australian Open.
Nadal plays his first-round match against Hugo Dellien. Chances are Nadal won't have too many tough moments with Dellien, whose highest ranking has been 74 and who has never gone past the second round in four previous Grand Slams
Nine matches were suspended in progress in the afternoon on smaller courts and will resume Tuesday, while 23 others never got started Monday at all.
Just like at the All England Club, the youngest woman in the field got the better of the oldest woman in the field, with Gauff beating Williams 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Monday.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran will take on Japan's Tatsuma Ito in the first round of the Australian Open.
Entering the Australian Open, scheduled to begin Monday in Melbourne (Sunday EST), Federer leads the list with 20 majors, followed by Nadal with 19, then Djokovic with 16.
The 38-year-old Williams had lost her previous five finals, including four at Slams -- at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2019.
Djokovic, 32, already owns four major titles since he turned 30, the same number as Federer. Only one man has won more often at that stage of his career in the professional era: Nadal, 33, has five such championships.
Federer and Nadal both said they marched themselves down to the tournament referee's office to understand what was going on when local news reports were saying people should stay indoors, yet qualifying rounds were taking place
The French Open champion had reached finals in Australia before, finishing runner-up twice at the Sydney International after losses to Angelique Kerber in 2018 and to Petra Kvitova last year.
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