Men's top seed Novak Djokovic was among the opening day winners at the Australian Open in Melbourne ©Getty Images

Men’s world number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia was among the winners on the opening day of the Australian Open Tennis Championships at Melbourne Park.

The top seed dispatched France’s Jeremy Chardy for the loss of just six games – 6-3 6-1 6-2 during the night session on the Rod Laver Arena.

It was a good day for the majority of seeded players on the men’s side with third seed Dominic Thiem of Austria also a straight sets winner on the Rod Laver Arena, as he overcame Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 7-6 6-2 6-3.

Sixth seed Alex Zverev of Germany recovered from losing the first set on a tie-break on the Margaret Court Arena, as he came from behind to beat Marcos Giron of the United States 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-2.

Eighth seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina needed four sets to get past qualifier Elias Ymer of Sweden, winning 7-6 6-4 2-6 6-2.

The biggest upset of the day on the men’s side came on Court 13 when tenth seed Gael Monfils of France was beaten 3-6 6-4 7-5 3-6 6-3 by Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori.

Meanwhile, 11th seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada came out on the right side of a late-night thriller over five sets as he beat Italy’s Jannik Sinner 3-6 6-3 6-2 4-6 6-4 in a contest that finished at 12.50am local time.

Serena Williams required less an hour to book her place in the second round of the Australian Open ©Getty Images
Serena Williams required less an hour to book her place in the second round of the Australian Open ©Getty Images

On the women’s side, the highest-ranked player in action was Romania’s Simona Halep, the second seed.

She needed just 59 minutes to sweep aside Australian wildcard Lizette Cabrera 6-2 6-1.

Third seed Naomi Osaka of Japan was also a comfortable winner, dropping just three games to beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 6-2 in the first match of the day on the Rod Laver Arena.

All of the top ten seeded women that were in action on the first day won, with seventh seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus beating Viktoria Kuzmova of Russia 6-0 6-4 and eighth seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada defeating Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2 4-6 6-3.

Ninth seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic defeated Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen 6-3 6-4 while tenth seed Serena Williams of the United States needed only 56 minutes to overcome Laura Siegemund of Germany for the loss of just two games – 6-1 6-1.

The highest seed on the women’s side to be eliminated on day one was Germany’s Angelique Kerber, with the 23rd seed comprehensively defeated by Bernarda Pera of the United States 6-0 6-4.

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, action is taking place in front of a reduced crowd at Melbourne.

Organisers reported that 17,922 visitors passed through the doors today, compared to 64,387 on the first day last year.

All players have been forced to quarantine for two weeks in the build-up to the tournament, while 72 of the participants were unable to leave their hotel rooms to train during that period after flying in on planes where positives cases were later detected.