Australian tennis fans had plenty to cheer for at night two of the Australian Open, with home grown stars scattered across Melbourne Park completing their first round matches.
Main draw Nick Kyrgios lit up John Cain Arena with his clash against Liam Broady, with the big-serving Canberrian whipping the crowd into a frenzy in his straight sets victory.
Across at Margaret Court Arena, it wasn’t as easy for Australia’s top ranked men’s player Alex de Minaur, who had to fight back from a set down to get the better of Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti.
After going down 6-3 in the first set, the 22-year-old Aussie rallied to claim the final three sets 3-6, 0-6, 3-6 to run out a comfortable winner. He’ll next face Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak in the second round.
Fan favourite Alexei Popyrin gave fans a night to remember on Court 3, with his battle against Adelaide International finalist Arthur Rinderknech going the full five sets.
The Aussie and the Frenchman swapped set for set throughout with Popyrin unfortunately falling in the last. The final score of that bout read 5-7, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6.
Alex Bolt was another first round casualty for Australia, losing 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, in his straight sets loss to Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
In the women’s draw, Aussie world no. 132 Storm Sanders gave second seed Aryna Sabalenka a huge fright on Rod Laver Arena, winning the first set to raise hopes of the most unlikeliest of upsets.
Unfortunately though, the Belarusian would fight back to claim the match 7-5, 2-6, 2-6.
Ash Sharma, Daria Gavrilova and Priscilla Hon all fell in straight sets in their first round clashes, leaving Ash Barty, Sam Stosur and Maddison Inglis as the only Aussies left in round two.
World no. 1 Barty is the main attraction for Australian fans on Wednesday, with her second round clash set for centre court’s day session against Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti.