The Australian Open is well underway in Melbourne, with qualifying for the main draw and the brand-new 1 Point Slam.
There were plenty of shocks on day one of the Australian Open, with former top 20 star Nicolas Jarry losing in the first round in Melbourne.
Jannik Sinner’s coach Simone Vagnozzi made a surprise tennis return to play in the 1 Point Slam, where he beat Luke Saville to progress to the next round.
On a headline-making day at the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open smashed an attendance record on day one.
The Australian Open quadruples their crowd size during record-breaking day
There is always plenty of buzz surrounding the opening days of the Australian Open, as it feels like the tennis season is well and truly underway.
Fans came out in their thousands to watch the opening day of action, as several hometown heroes made their way through the event.
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29,261 fans flocked to the Melbourne site to watch day one of the qualifying matches, which is far and away a tournament record.
The previous record for day one of the tournament was 7,543, meaning the Australian Open has quadrupled its record already.
The event is set to run until the men’s singles final on 1 February, with the main draw beginning on 18 January.
The Australian Open qualifying throws up plenty of surprises
Jarry was not the only former ATP Tour top-20 player to succumb to the difficulties of Grand Slam qualifying.
Nikoloz Basilashvili, who has previously been ranked as high as world number 16, was knocked out in the first round by Gonzalo Bueno.
Dan Evans was also dispatched by Rei Sakamoto, which saw the former British number one win just three games against the 19-year-old.
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In the women’s draw, former World No. 31 Mayar Sherif, who was the third seed in qualifying, was knocked out in the first round by Guiomar Maristany.
There are nine British stars in the Australian Open men’s qualifying, with Jay Clarke, Jack Pinnington-Jones, and Oliver Crawford also out along with Evans.
In the women’s qualifying, Mimi Xu and Harriet Dart are representing Great Britain, but they are yet to play.
