Marathon man Andy Murray bounces out Matteo Berrettini

MELBOURNE: A vintage Andy Murray weathered a gallant fightback from Matteo Berrettini before dumping the 13th seeded Italian out of the Australian Open first round with an epic 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(7), 7-6 (10-6) win on Tuesday.

With the crowd largely in the palm of his hand, the 35-year-old Scot raced out of the blocks to take the first two sets under the roof of a muggy Rod Laver Arena.

Fifth seed Andrey Rublev brought an end to the Australian Open campaign of former Grand Slam champion Dominic Thiem in the opening round when he overpowered the Austrian 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on a sweltering John Cain Arena.

Thiem, a finalist at Melbourne Park and US Open champion in 2020, is on the comeback trail after a wrist injury and was able to compete only to a certain extent against the power of the rangy Russian.

Top women's seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Caroline Garcia spent as little time as possible on Rod Laver Arena in their opening matches at the year's first Grand Slam.

Fifth seed Sabalenka, who opened the year by winning the Adelaide International 1 title without losing a set, kept up her fine form with an emphatic 6-1, 6-4 victory over Tereza Martincova.

Fourth seed Garcia, who won the WTA Finals last season, was equally convincing with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Canadian qualifier Katherine Sebov in just over an hour.

Garcia will next face another Canadian in 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, who came from an early break down to beat Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-2.

Italian Martina Trevisan was the first seed to fall on Tuesday. The 21st seed went down 6-3, 6-2 to Slovakian qualifier Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

In other action at the Margaret Court Arena, former World No.1 Karolina Pliskova from the Czech Republic breezed through a 6-1, 6-3 win over China's Wang Xiyu.

Second seed Ons Jabeur's quest for a maiden Grand Slam title began with a shaky 7-6 (8), 4-6, 6-1 victory over Tamara Zidansek littered with unforced errors. The Tunisian was runner-up at both Wimbledon and the US Open last year but had to grind past the Slovenian world number 98 under the roof on Rod Laver Arena in a 2hr 17min battle.

American Taylor Fritz, in his first Grand Slam campaign as a top-eight seed, made a strong start to his 2023 Australian Open campaign with a 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win against Nikoloz Basilashvili.

Danish ninth seed Holger Rune and German 12th seed Alexander Zverev -- contesting his first major since Roland Garros last year -- posted contrasting victories.

The 19-year-old Rune needed just two hours and three minutes to complete the 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win over Filip Krajinovic.

In his first Grand Slam outing since he suffered a horror ankle injury in his semifinal against Rafael Nadal at last year's Roland Garros, former world No.3 Zverev put his body to the test in a four-hour and six-minute thriller against Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas.

Trailing by two sets to one, the German rose to the occasion, rallying past the World No. 103 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-4 to earn his first tour-level win of the season.

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