Melbourne (AFP) World number one tennis player Novak Djokovic and aptly named Simona Halep have moved to the second round of the Australian Open tennis tournament with clear victories.

Djokovic won in Melbourne against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in just 91 minutes 6: 3, 6: 1, 6: 2. The 33-year-old Serbian is the record holder with eight titles (2008, 2011 to 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020. In his first Grand Slam tournament this season. Romanian Halep, seeded second seed, Lisette Cabrera from Australia, did not give any chance at 6: 2, 6: 1.

In addition to American Serena Williams, who defeated DFB Cup player Laura Siegmund, Japanese third-place winner Naomi Osaka and the Polish-French Open, Iga Swiatik, also qualified for the second round.

Canadian Bianca Andreescu made a successful comeback over 15 months after injury. The 2019 US Open winner beat Mihaela Pozarnesko from Romania, 6: 2, 4: 6, 6: 3.

Young Italian tennis star Yannick Sener barely missed a surprise in a five-set match. One day after winning the championship in the Great Ocean Road Open, the 19-year-old had to beat Canadian 11th seed Denis Shapovalov with 6: 3, 3: 6, 2: 6, 6: 4, 4: give 6 defeats .

Senner also won his second career title in Melbourne on Sunday, building on his strong performances the previous year. At the French Open last year, Sener beat Hamburg’s Alexander Zverev in the Round of 16.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210208-99-349502/3