Daily Times

MELBOURNE: Top-ranked tennis star Andy Murray and female player Angelique Kerber fought their way into the second round of the Australian Open as tournament favourites struggled in hot conditions on day one of the tournament on Monday.

As temperatures touched 32 Celsius, Murray came through a two hours, 47 minutes match against Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko, which he won 7-5, 7-6 (7/5),  6-2. He fared better than women’s fourth seed Simona Halep, who was the tournament’s first major casualty, and Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic, who were both taken to five sets.

Angelique Kerber, defending a Grand Slam title for the first time, laboured past Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in an unconvincing performance in the evening session.

But Australian Nick Kyrgios wowed his home fans as he demolished Portugal’s Gastao Elias 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, despite needing a medical timeout for a nose bleed.

“I keep coming back to try,” said Murray, who has lost a record five Australian Open finals without ever lifting the trophy. He added, “I will keep doing that until I’m done. But I still feel like I got a few years left to try and do it. Hopefully it will be this year.”

Kerber was an early loser at both of her warm-up tournaments and she took time to settle against Tsurenko. But the German also started slowly last year, when she had to save a match point against Misaki Doi in the first round.

“The first round is always tough. I’m just trying to enjoy it and I’m so happy to be in the second round,” Kerber said.