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Australian Open: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic through, Denis Shapovalov out


Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal to win the Australian Open title in 2019
2020 Australian Open
Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 20 January to 2 February
Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and online; Live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website and app.

Novak Djokovic began his Australian Open title defence with a four-set win over Jan-Lennard Struff, while six-time champion Roger Federer claimed a comfortable victory at Melbourne Park.

World number two Djokovic overcame a third set wobble to beat Germany’s Struff 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 2-6 6-1.

Djokovic is a seven-time champion in Melbourne and is bidding for his 17th Grand Slam title overall.

Swiss Federer earlier breezed past American Steve Johnson 6-3 6-2 6-2.

It is the first time that Djokovic has dropped a set in the opening round of the Australian Open since 2006.

However, he saw off a tiring Struff in two hours 20 minutes to set up a second-round meeting with either Japan’s Tatsuma Ito or Indian lucky loser Prajnesh Gunneswaran.

Umpire’s warning was terrible call – Shapovalov

Denis Shapovalov reached the third round of the Australian Open in 2019

Denis Shapovalov, 20, lost his cool in a 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 6-1 7-6 (7-3) defeat by Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics.

The Canadian 13th seed was warned by the umpire for throwing his racquet down and responded: “I’m not breaking any rules.

“It’s my racquet I can do whatever the hell I want with it. What are you talking about, I didn’t break it.

“If I broke it, give me a code, 100%. I didn’t break my racquet. It was a terrible call, do your job.”

The rules state