Novak Djokovic makes winning return

Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka progressed to the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday, while Milos Raonic crashed out.

Six-time champion Djokovic had been sidelined for six months because of an elbow injury, but was still too strong for Donald Young, winning 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

The Serb broke the American’s serve six times, hitting 33 winners and conceding only 27 unforced errors.

‘It’s been a long period without any official matches but I spent as much quality time as I could with my family,’ said Djokovic.

‘I wanted to start with the right intensity, which I have. I played perfect tennis in the first couple of sets and Donald came back in the third set.’

Meanwhile, defending champion Roger Federer cruised to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Aljaz Bedene.

The Swiss legend is looking to win his 20th career Grand Slam, at the age of 36.

‘My dream was always to play a long time on tour and we had a few guys playing a long time and I think that inspired me,’ he said. ‘I’m loving it and hopefully I can play for a little longer.’

Wawrinka won his first match since knee surgery in July when he beat Ricardas Berankis 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(2), while former world No 3 Milos Raonic suffered his earliest Grand Slam exit since the 2011 French Open when he lost 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(4) to the 86th ranked Lukas Lacko.

In the women’s singles, Maria Sharapova beat Tatjana Maria 6-1, 6-4 in her first Australian Open match in two years. The Russian returned from a 15-month doping ban last April.

‘I felt like I have got a lot of things out of the way physically and emotionally and mentally last year,’ said Sharapova.

‘[In 2017] there was a lot of firsts again for me, playing the first tournament, first Grand Slam, and just different feelings and what it would be routinely. But it felt pretty routine today, just really happy to be back here.’