The Czech seventh seed pulled out of the warm-up Adelaide International last week with a hip injury and her court movement appeared to be impaired in Melbourne.

She lost her opening service game and never got back in the contest as 93rd-ranked Yastremska took control on John Cain Arena, surging through the first set in just 31 minutes.

Vondrousova, who beat Australian Open sixth seed Ons Jabeur for her breakthrough at the All England Club in July, was broken again at the start of the second set and there was no way back.

“Today was a really nice game,” said Yastremska, who hit 26 winners to Vondrousova’s five.

“I was a little bit nervous, but I just tried to enjoy myself. Today, I felt huge support from the crowd.”

It was her fourth career win over a top-10 player, most recently beating then world number three Barbora Krejcikova in Dubai in 2022.

Yastremska, whose best showing at Melbourne Park is a third-round appearance in 2019, will next play France’s Varvara Gracheva, who is unseeded.

2.00PM: POPYRIN MAKING MOVES TOWARDS NOVAK CLASH

Australian livewire Alexei Popyrin is eyeing off a showdown with world No.1 Novak Djokovic – and is gunning down a fellow Aussie to get there.

The big-hitting Sydney star took the first set against countryman Marc Polmans, with the pair currently duelling it out in the second set.

The reward will be a date with Djokovic, who had to drag himself through a gruelling four-hour slog on Sunday night.

Elsewhere on court men’s third seed Daniil Medvedev is in a tough showdown of his own, losing the first set to France’s Terence Atmane before fighting back to win the second and be up a break in the third.

1.30PM: TEEN STAR SMASHES THROUGH TO SECOND ROUND

– Rebecca Williams

Teenage star Coco Gauff’s first tournament as a grand slam champion has started in winning form after she advanced to the second round of the Australian Open in straight sets.

Casting aside her earlier displeasure over a USTA social media post, Gauff claimed a 6-3 6-0 win over Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in an hour on Rod Laver Arena.

The Australian Open is Gauff’s first major since she won her first grand slam at the US Open last year and is the No.4 seed at Melbourne Park.

Asked if she felt any difference returning to the Australian Open as a grand slam champion, Gauff said she was able to draw on her US Open experience to push through her opening round match.

“I think I am always nervous in the first rounds of slams and then, honestly, that gave me more confidence today,” Gauff said on court after her win.

“My first round at the US Open was a tough first round so I knew I could get through those tough moments in the match and I think that’s when I was able to buckle down at 3-3 and pretty much take off from there.

“Honestly, when I was nervous at 3-3, I just told myself, I literally said ‘I feel good, I look good’ so just have fun and that was able to relax me a little bit.

“That’s why I play tennis to have fun so I remind myself.”

Gauff has twice reached the fourth round at Melbourne Park, but is yet to play finals here.

12.55PM: ‘BLANKET FIX’ TO ERADICATE AUS OPEN FARCE

Australian Open officials were left embarrassed on the opening day of the event when an extended tournament – with an additional day added- and plans to eradicate obscene late-night finishes blew up in their faces.

And one particular shame, that defending champion Aryna Sabalenka was welcomed back to Melbourne Park by a sparsely populated Rod Laver Arena just before midnight, could so easily have been avoided.

In fact, there have been suggestions that a blanket rule should be in place to stop such a scenario happening at all.

In a lively discussion on The Tennis Podcast, it was suggested that Sabalenka’s match should’ve been played prior to the Novak Djokovic-Dino Prizmic epic. And that should be the new normal.

“I just think there should be a blanket policy that you can’t schedule any match after a best-of-five set match. You can’t have a second night session match after best-of-five,” said co-host Catherine Whitaker.

Co-host Matt Roberts noted the recently introduced ATP-WTA rules which prevent matches from starting after 11pm, which have been brought in to limit the number of farcical late finishes.

“The big one is they absolutely have to start with the women’s matches at night – it’s simply unacceptable for matches to be starting at 11.41,” Roberts said.

“That’s 41 minutes after the tours have just decided that is too late for matches to be starting.

“That is 71 minutes after that match would’ve been moved if it was on the tour – the new Tour policy is ‘10.30, we’re going to move to a new court’.

“The whole point is that that walking out moment onto court is the one chance you get as a defending champion to return to the court for the first time since you won it, and receive the applause and the ovation you deserve.

“That was simply taken away from Aryna Sabalenka tonight. She is never going to be a first-time defending Australian Open champion again.

“That was her moment, and it was barely a moment because there was barely anyone there to recognise it.

“No one is blaming any (members of the crowd who left) – it’s the scheduling.”

12.45PM: DOUBLES STAR LANDS $180K PAYDAY

– Rebecca Williams

Australian qualifier Storm Hunter has been guaranteed a $180,000 pay day after advancing to the second round of the Australian Open for the first time in her career.

The world No.1 doubles player, Hunter claimed a breakthrough singles victory at Melbourne Park after dispatching the higher-ranked Italian Sara Errani in straight sets.

In a sign of her singles ambitions for 2024, Hunter claimed a 6-4 6-3 win over the former world No.5 on Kia Arena.

The 29-year-old threw her arms in the air to celebrate the win before pointing to the crowd, describing the win as “perfect” and a “dream come true”.

Hunter reached the top of the world’s doubles rankings with Belgian Elise Mertens last year, but has made improving her singles ranking a priority this year.

The 29-year-old is ranked 179th in the world in singles, while Errani is ranked 101.

Players who reach the second round of the are guaranteed $180,000, while Hunter would have to reach the final of doubles at Melbourne Park to win more than $200,000.

Hunter has a packed schedule at the Open, playing singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

12.20PM: AUSSIE WILDCARD KNOCKED OUT

Australian wildcard Taylah Preston has suffered a first-round loss to Ukrainian seed Elina Svitolina.

The 18-year-old grand slam singles debut was over in under an hour as the No.19 seed powered to a 6-2 6-2 win.

Preston was earlier anointed as the next generation of Australian women’s players to watch out for by former Billie Jean Cup captain Alicia Molik.

Svitolina, a two-time quarter-finalist at the Australian Open, will face either American Kayla Day or Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova in the second round.

11.55AM: AUSSIE GUN TAKES FIRST SET AGAINST ITALIAN

The sun is shining at Melbourne Park, but there is a storm brewing on Kia Arena.

Australia’s world No.1 doubles player Storm Hunter holds the upper hand as she targets her first main-draw singles win at the Australian Open.

The Australian qualifier won her first set 6-4 against unseeded Italian former world No.5 Sara Errani.

Hunter reached the top of the world’s doubles rankings with Belgian Elise Mertens last year, but has made improving her singles ranking a priority this year.

The 29-year-old is ranked 179th in the world in singles, while Errani is ranked 101.

Hunter has featured in the main singles draw at the Australian Open five times previously, but has bowed out each time in the first round.

11.40AM: TEEN STAR HITS OUT AT ‘HIDEOUS’ DELETED POST

Teen tennis star Coco Gauff has hit out at a ‘hideous’ cartoon and since-deleted social media post from the USTA designed to promote American players at this year’s Australian Open.

The cartoon, done in the style of the 1990s Nickelodeon show the Wild Thornberrys, displayed seeded American stars such as Gauff and world No.5 Jessica Pegula, and men’s stars Sebastian Korba, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton in the Australian outback.

The finale of the show’s final season aired in June, 2004 – mere months after Gauff was born.

And the world No.4 Gauff was no fan of the caricature style, taking to social media to voice her displeasure.

“Worst thing I’ve ever seen,” Gauff said in an Instagram story.

“Like a caricature artist decided to make (us) all look like hideous looking people. The art style is cool for a cartoon show but not for a hype post. Foul.”

Gauff added on Twitter that it “makes us all look so ugly”.

11.15AM: ‘WHO KNOWS DOWN THE TRACK’: AUSSIE GREAT FUELS BARTY RUMOURS

Australian tennis great Ash Barty is back at Melbourne Park – and looks like she’s ready to go deep into the second week.

The only problem is the three-time grand slam champion, and new mum, is still happily retired.

But will that remain the case?

Barty retired shortly after winning the 2022 Australian Open and in July last year she gave birth to a son. But Australian tennis fans are forever hopeful that the 27-year-old’s competitive fires reignite.

And one comment from one-time Fed Cup teammate Alicia Molik raised eyebrows on Monday.

“She looks like she could be competing in this Australian Open,” Molik said as footage played of Barty spinning a racquet on her finger.

“Who knows down the track… It is wonderful we have the opportunity to see her.”

10.45AM: DJOKOVIC HITS OUT OPEN ORGANISERS OVER NEW RULE

– NCA Newswire

World No.1 Novak Djokovic has given a serve to Australian Open organisers about a new rule allowing fans to move around the stadium in between games, rather the traditional change of ends.

Djokovic said he wasn’t aware of the new rule which allowed for more fan movement and said it had a negative impact on his match and not the positive one tournament organisers were hoping for

“I did not know about that new policy or new rule,” he said

“Look, I mean, I understand the motive behind it is to enhance and improve the experience for fans, right? We do play for fans. We want fans to have a great, thrilling experience of being out on the court.

“It’s hard, I must say. I understand that and I support it to some extent, but at the same time all my career, all my life I’ve been used to some kind of atmosphere. When that changes, it kind of messes up, distracts you a bit.

“Today we lost quite a bit of time when they were letting people in to come to their seats, even though it was not a changeover. My opponent would wait for them to sit down. It dragged a lot.

“I don’t know if it’s really the best rule, but I do understand from a tournament and fan perspective it’s probably better because they don’t want to wait. They want to come out and enjoy every single point.

“I’m kind of divided between the two in a way”

10.30AM: HALF AN HOUR UNTIL DAY TWO GETS UNDERWAY

Live tennis is almost upon us – with seventh seed Marketa Vondrousova and fiery Ukranian Dayana Yastremska first up on John Cain Arena, which precedes an all-Australian clash between Alexei Popyrin and wildcard Marc Polmans.

In the day’s other early matches, Australian qualifier Storm Hunter has Italian veteran Sara Errani in her sights, and wildcard Taylah Preston could have her hands full against 19th seed Elina Svitolina.

9.50AM: FANS FUME AS AUSTRALIA ROBBED OF FIRST-ROUND EPIC

It was the five-set epic which should have given tennis fans the perfect start to their Australian Open experience – except that it was given a free-to-air blackout.

Australian Chris O’Connell’s gruelling four-hour victory over World No.88 Cristian Garin was a gripping encounter for those lucky enough to get to Court 3 to watch the pulsating encounter.

The gritty Aussie twice fought back, after dropping the first and third sets, to send the match to a deciding fifth set. Only fans were left scratching their heads about how to watch it.

The early portion of the match had been broadcast on Channel 9, before being switched to a secondary channel to accommodate for the news at 6pm.

However once the tennis coverage returned after the news, the focus was on previewing Novak Djokovic’s clash with rising star Dino Prizmic – while Australia’s Jason Kubler, who went down in five sets in his own first-round epic, was given priority over O’Connell on the back-up channel.

Meaning many fans missed out as O’Connell launched his Open campaign with a stirring fightback in the fifth set to win 3-6 7-5 4-6 6-1 7-5.

Viewers attempting to watch the conclusion of the match needed to stream it either on 9Now or the subscription service Stan Sport – however on social media fans vented their fury.

“Channel 9 waits till Chris O’Connell is into the 5th set, then makes him disappear. Just imagine how these morons will butcher the Olympics,” wrote Albie Patts on Twitter.

O’Connell will next face the winner of 16th seed Ben Shelton and Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut, who play later on Monday.

9.15AM: THE AUSSIE WHO CAN CASH IN ON NOVAK EPIC

Novak Djokovic’s gruelling four-hour first-round victory was an energy-sapping affair – but two Australians would’ve enjoyed it more than most.

Djokovic booked his place in the second round with his four-set victory over Croatia’s Dino Prizmic, and he’ll face an Australian, with Alexie Popyrin and Marc Polmans battling on Monday for the right to face the world No.1.

And when you’re up against the GOAT, you need to take every advantage at your disposal.

So the Australian pair would’ve been cheering every energy-sapping point Djokovic was dragged into.

“He’s the master of in-match management, of tournament management. But he is approaching 37 years old and that was not only an extraordinarily long match, but a physical, long match,” noted tennis journalist Catherine Whitaker.

“He was suffering out there, Novak Djokovic. Is that the sort of suffering he could feel in his legs later in the tournament?”

The general consensus among her colleagues on The Tennis Podcast was no, not really…. Unless, of course, he gets dragged into another dogfight.

“I think Popyrin is dangerous if he plays (Novak). That’s not ideal, in my view,” said David Law.

“(But) generally (Novak) going to win most of his matches quite efficiently from here.

“It is stating the obvious, but Father Time will get him eventually. And we’re all just fascinated to know when that will be. And in a way Djokovic is too – he’s fascinated about how long he can keep this going for.”

8.30AM: THE REST OF DAY TWO ACTION ANALYSED

In-form US Open champion and fourth seed Coco Gauff kicks off the day’s action on centre court, fresh from defending her Auckland Classic title in the lead-up.

The 19-year-old American faces Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and will be followed on court by seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, whose job became a lot easier when opponent Matteo Berrettini withdrew with a foot injury on Sunday.

Tsitsipas, who powered into the final last year but was no match for a dominant Novak Djokovic, was due to meet the former world No.6 Italian but will now face Belgian lucky loser Zizou Bergs.

In another standout match, dangerous Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime will spar with Austrian 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem on Margaret Court Arena.

The winner of that clash could face Daniil Medvedev in the third round, should the Russian get past French qualifier Terence Atmane.

Medvedev, a Melbourne finalist in 2021 and 2022, has pledged to be “more mature’ this year and cut out the tantrums that are a hallmark of his game.

“Hopefully I can achieve it this season, and we’re going to see a new Daniil Medvedev,” he said.

Other players in action on day two include five-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray, Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, and women’s sixth seed Ons Jabeur.

8.00AM – OSAKA RETURN HEADLINES DAY TWO

Naomi Osaka makes her comeback to grand slam tennis on day two of the Australian Open Monday.

New mum Osaka, 26, stepped away from the sport in September 2022, citing mental health concerns.

After giving birth to a baby girl, Shai, in July, the Japanese star decided to return for the 2024 season, but she has a huge first hurdle to clear in 16th-seeded Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia.

They will grace Rod Laver Arena in the evening session, following on from Australian 10th seed Alex de Minaur’s clash with big-serving Canadian veteran Milos Raonic.

“I have a much more positive mindset and a much more grateful mindset,” four-time grand slam champion Osaka said of returning to Melbourne, the scene of her title-winning exploits in 2019 and 2021.

“Super-excited to be back. It’s been really fun so far.”

Originally published as Australian Open 2024 day 2: Latest news, results and highlights from Melbourne Park