Venus Williams of the US celebrating her victory against Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu during their women's singles match on day two of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Tuesday — AFP MELBOURNE, Jan 15 (AFP): Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams turned back the clock to stage a stirring come-from-behind victory and reach the second round of the Australian Open Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Japanese fourth seed Naomi Osaka overcame a nervous start to ease into the Australian Open second round Tuesday with a straight sets win over Magda Linette of Poland.
In another match, World number one Simona Halep battled through to the Australian Open second round Tuesday with a come-from-behind win over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.
Meanwhile, big-serving sixth seed Elina Svitolina blasted into the Australian Open second round with a 6-1, 6-2 win over qualifier Viktorija Golubic on Tuesday.
In another match, Novak Djokovic began his bid for a record seventh Australian Open title in easy fashion Tuesday, beating 230th-ranked Mitchell Krueger 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in 2hr 3min minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Meanwhile, South Korea's Chung Hyeon beat Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev en route to a semi-final last year but was within a whisker of failing to get past the Australian Open first round on Tuesday.
Cheered on by massed ranks of Korean supporters on Court 8, the 24th seed mounted an epic fightback from two sets down against American Bradley Klahn to win 6-7 (5/7), 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev has been tipped as a potential Grand Slam winner and lived up to his billing Tuesday by sweeping into the second round of the Australian Open in straight sets.
The 21-year-old world number four cruised past Aljaz Bedene 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 in 1hr 55min on Rod Laver Arena after coolly overcoming a minor first set blip when he lost his serve to the Slovenian world number 67.
The German next faces Jeremy Chardy or Ugo Humbert who face off later Tuesday in an all-French clash.
In another match, Kei Nishikori survived a dramatic Australian Open first-round match Tuesday after his Polish qualifier opponent retired with cramp in the searing Melbourne heat having raced to a shock two-set lead.
Eighth seed Nishikori of Japan won 3-6, 6-7 (6/8), 6-0, 6-2, 3-0 but the scoreline fails to tell the story of world number 176 Kamil Majchrzak's torrid end to the match.
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