Australian Open: Winning starts for Djokovic, Wawrinka, Nishikori

Melbourne Novak Djokovic led a trail of the top mens seeds into the second round at the Australian Open on Tuesday as Stan Wawrinka made a successful return to his lifechanging courtWorld number one Djokovic fighting off the effects of a virus put paid to Aljaz Bedene in straight sets as he begun his quest for a fifth title at Melbourne Park The Serb top seed ousted the 116thranked Slovenian 63 62 64 in 1hr 49min on Rod Laver Arena and will next play either Russian Andrey Kuznetsov or Spains Albert RamosVinolasNovak Djokovic celebrates after victory in his mens singles match against Slovenias Aljaz Bedene on day two of the 2015 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Tuesday PicAFPDjokovic who crashed out to eventual winner Wawrinka in the quarterfinals of last years event has been dogged by illness in the leadup to the years first major tournament But after encountering early problems from the 116thranked Bedene he went on to secure passage into the next round Its fading away It hasnt been an ideal couple of weeks in terms of health and preparation Djokovic said But I fought my way through Now its behind me Im only looking forwardThe seventime Grand Slam champion broke Bedenes service four times and only had three break points against his serve in the match For a first round performance it was pretty good obviously I still need to work on a few things Im still developing my game Djokovic saidWawrinka returned to Rod Laver Arena where his life changed completely last year to get his title defence off to the right start The Swiss fourth seed who upset Rafael Nadal in the 2014 final ripped through Turkeys Marsel Ilhan 61 64 62 to safely negotiate the first hurdleWawrinka had few problems breaking the 100thranked Ilhans serve five times and will play Romanian Marius Copil next up The bigserving Swiss has now not lost in the first round in 10 appearances at the Australian Open It was great to be back on Rod Laver Arena again it brings back so many memories from last year Wawrinka said It was such an amazing two weeks so it was great to come back here and I am pleased with my game in general and Im excited to start againBut Wawrinka said he was not getting too far ahead of himself with a potential quarterfinal against Japanese star Kei Nishikori and beyond that a semifinal with Djokovic Close to next level Nishikori took the first steps he hopes will lead to Grand Slam glory with a hardfought opening win over Spaniard Nicolas AlmagroNishikori who lost to Marin Cilic in last years US Open final won a 2hr 7min dogfight with the former world number nine before prevailing 64 76 71 62 on Margaret Court Arena The Japanese fifth seed had a battle with Almagro before winning a pivotal secondset tiebreaker and sweeping through the third and final set for passage into the second round Im getting close to next level Obviously it was a really tough first match he saidNicolas could be seeded player and I know he was injured but I was getting more balls especially third set and I played a much better third set Another of the new breed Canadas boomserving Milos Raonic was taken to two tiebreak sets before overcoming Ukraine qualifier Illya Marchaneko Other seeded winners Tuesday included Spanish pair David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez Frenchman Gilles Simon and American John Isner