Sinner, Alcaraz and Djokovic debut with victories at the Australian Open

Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic began their journey at the Australian Open with victories. The Spanish tennis player - who is looking to win the only Grand Slam title he has not yet won - got rid of the Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko in three sets (6-1, 7-5, 6-1), while the Serbian had to come from behind against the young American Nishesh Basavareddy (4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2).

Alcaraz, ranked No. 3 in the ATP rankings, hardly struggled against Shevchenko. Only in the second set, which went to the twelfth game. The Spaniard, who has four Grand Slams to his name - U.S. Open, Wimbledon (2) and Roland Garros - will face Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka in the next round.

The game began in the worst possible way for a Djokovic who showed his usual strength and technique and ended up taking the victory. The next opponent the Serb will face to further extend his legendary record - Australian Open (10), Roland Garros (3), Wimbledon (7) and US Open (4) - is Portugal's Jaime Faria.

Italian top seed Jannik Sinner avoided disaster against the Chilean Nicolás Jarry (7-6, 7-6, 6-1), who managed to take the first two sets to a tie break. Other tennis players who achieved victory in the first round were Americans Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda, Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime and Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

The first round left three surprising defeats. Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov -number 10- withdrew from the Australian Open in the second set of his duel against Italian Francesco Passaro. The Australian and always controversial Nick Kyrgios said goodbye to his public by losing to British Jacob Fearnley, while Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas was beaten by American Alex Michelsen.

Favorites advance in Australia

In the women's draw at the Australian Open, the tennis players favored to lift the title advanced to the next round. The number 1, Aryna Sabalenka -who beat Sloane Stephens on Sunday- was joined by the number 2, Iga Swiatek, and the number 3, Coco Gauff.

The Polish player did not suffer to defeat the Czech Katerina Siniakova in two sets (6-3 and 6-4). For her part, the American overcame her compatriot Sofia Kenin without difficulty (6-3 and 6-3).

Jessica Pegula -number 6- swept the local player Maya Joint (6-3 and 6-0) and the Chinese Qinwen Zheng -number 5- won against the Romanian Anca Alexia Todoni (7-6 and 6-1). Other players who made it to the next round are Spain's Paula Badosa and American Danielle Collins.