Angelique Kerber struggled to find any rhythm in her opening encounter of the Australian Open. Photo / AP
Angelique Kerber struggled to find any rhythm in her opening encounter of the Australian Open. Photo / AP
Welcome to day one of the 2021 Australian Open. On a day of blockbuster first-round matches, the very different Open started in drama with yet another hotel quarantine furore.
The on-court action promises to be just as dramatic when the action kicks off from 1pm (NZ time). You can seethe latest updates below and watch the action live on Sky Sport, or stream it via Sky Sport Now.
7:30pm: Huge upset in Melbourne
Former world No. 1 and three-time grand slam champion Angelique Kerber was knocked out of the Open in the first round in a major upset.
Unseeded Bernarda Pera, ranked 149th in the world, hammered the German 23rd seed 6-0 6-4 to progress to the second round.
Kerber won the Australian Open in 2016 but was woefully out of form as two weeks in quarantine took their toll.
"You feel it, especially if you play a real match where it counts and you play the first matches in a grand slam, also against an opponent who doesn't stay in the hard lockdown," she said.
"Of course, you feel it if you are not hitting balls for two weeks and you are not in the rhythm."
Kerber admitted she was not prepared for two weeks in quarantine and said had she known that's what was required, she would have thought twice about coming to Australia at all.
With Millman leading two sets to one, Moutet slumped down on his courtside seat and appeared to take a little nap before the fourth set.
Despite self destructing during his ongoing dispute with the chair umpire, the 21-year-old pulled himself together in the fourth set to send the match to a deciding fifth set.
Moutet had a running battle with the chair and was heard at one point asking if the umpire felt "proud" about hitting him with an unsportsmanlike code violation.
World no.80 Corentin Moutet from France. Photo / Photosport
The drama spiked again in the third set, won by Millman, when the Aussie flirted with the net cord as he won a crucial point.
Millman scurried to meet a ball that dropped over his side of the net and a desperate lunge ended up bobbling over the net for a clear winner.
However, Millman had to try and slam the breaks on before crashing into the net while his ball was still live.
Millman showed incredible athleticism and balance to tip-toe away from the net while his weight and torso leaned over his opponent's side of the net.
Despite Moutet complaining, Millman won the point and captured the third set just a few minutes later.
However, Moutet showed incredible fight to secure the crucial break in the fifth set and walked away with an exhausting 6-4 6-7 3-6 6-2 6-3 win after almost four hours on court.
2pm: Crowd goes cold on Open
Weird photos of the crowd at Melbourne Park have shown a very different Australian Open.
With crowds capped at 30,000 and masked spectators forced to segregate in isolated areas across Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Caine Arena, the usual buzzing festival atmosphere outside the courts has been replaced by a quiet, unnerving atmosphere.
The Victorian Government confirmed last week masks would be mandatory at venues considered to be classified as indoor stadiums, meaning fans will have to wear masks when moving around Rod Laver Arena when the roof is closed. They will not have to mask up when sitting in their designated seat.
Despite the excitement about the first grand slam of the year going ahead against the extraordinary challenge of creating a Covid-19 safe major event, there has reportedly been a cold response from Melbourne locals.
Channel 7 reporter Nick McCullum posted on Twitter Monday that ticket sales have been "slow for day one".
Spectators watch the women's singles first-round match between Naomi Osaka and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Photo / Getty Images
1pm: Open star's angry swipe
Australian Open star Paula Badosa has taken a fresh swipe at the hotel quarantine program following her positive test for Covid-19 in hard lockdown.
The Spanish star claims she was treated like a "criminal" by Australian authorities and described the experience as a "nightmare" and horrible.
The incredible claims come just days after Badosa apologised for her earlier complaints about the conditions she was enduring in lockdown in Melbourne.
She became the first female tennis player on the tournament's roster to have a confirmed positive test and did not emerge from her period of isolation until Thursday, just four days before the start of the Open.
She's now backflipped again, complaining about how she was treated after testing positive.
'It was a nightmare. They treated me as if I were a criminal, they transferred me from one hotel to another escorted by police officers," she told Spanish publication El Pais.
She said officials should have had a better back-up plan for the tennis players and officials that tested positive in lockdown.
"They should have raised better conditions to attend to the cases' knowing some players and support staff would test positive," she said.
Spanish player Paula Badosa claims she was treated like a criminal by hotel staff in Melbourne. Photo / Getty Images
Badosa earlier claimed tournament officials changed the rules on players after they had already arrived in Australia, after she was on one of the flights that included one passenger that tested positive upon landing in Australia.
"At the beginning the rule was the positive section of the plane who was with that person had to quarantine. Not the whole plane," she wrote in a tweet that was later deleted. "Not fair to change the rules at the last moment. And to have to stay in a room with no windows and no air."
World No 1 Novak Djokovic said Sunday he had little respect for Nick Kyrgios's off-court antics after the polarising Australian recently called him "a tool".
Kyrgios has waged a running battle with the Serb in recent times, sparked by Djokovic's ill-fated Adria Tour exhibition series last year as the coronavirus pandemic raged.
After lashing his "stupidity" when several players who took part contracted Covid-19, Kyrgios also quickly weighed in when Djokovic was sensationally disqualified from the US Open for hitting a woman line judge in the throat with a ball.
Djokovic said he had mixed views on the combustible Kyrgios.
"Off the court, I don't have much respect for him, to be honest," he told reporters before he starts his campaign at Melbourne Park on Monday.
"That's where I'll close it. I really don't have any further comments for him, his own comments for me or anything else he's trying to do."
Andy Murray claims he and his family contracted coronavirus due to lax Covid-19 protocols – ruining his Australian Open before he could even travel to Australia.
In a furious blast at tennis officials in Britain, the "p***ed off" double Wimbledon champion accused Wimbledon's Lawn Tennis Association of "putting people in serious danger" with relaxed Covid-19 biosecurity measures.
The Sun reports Murray is furious after at least one member of his family also tested positive to the virus.
"I couldn't have picked it up anywhere else. I hadn't left my house or the NTC for ten weeks. And obviously there were some positives cases there," he said.
Andy Murray has expressed his frustration. Photo / Getty Images
"I stuck to all of the protocols. I was very careful because it's not just for tennis reasons. None of my team got it.
"I was the only one to pick it up and none of my family had it before me. "So how we were behaving there suggests we weren't behaving badly otherwise I'd imagine one of them would have caught it from me. I'm very comfortable with how I conducted myself."
