Novak Djokovic safely negotiated the first hurdle in his quest for a 25th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open on Monday as women's title challengers Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff also eased into the second round on day two of the championships.

The 10-time Australian Open champion starts Monday in a night match on Rod Laver Arena against No. 71-ranked Pedro Martinez of Spain. Seeded fourth, he's in the same half of the draw as top-ranked Alcaraz. That means they can only meet in the semifinals here.

Novak has achieved that at three Majors, standing as a proud centurion in Melbourne, Paris and London. If he achieves that in New York this year or in the next two, the Serb will provide an unthinkable record that will take some beating in the future.

The 2026 Australian Open is now firmly underway and today is the day the defending champions return to court. Madison Keys made her return to Melbourne and claimed a hard-fought victory over Oleksandra Oliynykova, while last year's men's champion Jannik Sinner is also set to take on Hugo Gaston.

Novak Djokovic secured a comfortable straight-sets victory against Pedro Martinez to progress to the second round of the Australian Open for the 19th time in his glittering career

Djokovic has lost just six matches at the Australian Open in 19 years. If he's going to break the majors record, this would be the time.

Aussie tennis great Wally Masur has been slammed for a “disgusting” on-air remark about Novak Djokovic after joking the only way his opponent could defeat the Serbian was by tearing a muscle.