Andy Murray allowed himself a rare smile and a pat on the back after his gruelling first-round victory over 13th seed Matteo Berrettini at the Australian Open on Tuesday.

The unseeded Murray battled with Italy’s Berrettini for nearly five hours at Rod Laver Arena and even saved a match point in the final set before prevailing 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (10-6).

The 35-year-old Briton took pride in shutting down those who questioned whether he could still perform at the biggest events after multiple hip surgeries.

“I felt very proud of myself after the match. That’s not something that I generally felt over the years at the end of the tennis matches. I was impressed with myself, which again is not something... I’m hard on myself usually,” Murray said.

Novak’s masterclass

Novak Djokovic soaked up thunderous applause in his first match back here after last year’s deportation drama, as the nine-time champion outclassed Roberto Carballes Baena 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 in a flawless start to his title bid.

Djokovic saved three early break points to win the first set as fans sang his name. A heavily strapped left thigh due to a hamstring strain he suffered en route to the Adelaide title proved little hindrance for the 35-year-old.

Heat policy in play

Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz eased into the second round. Rublev whipped through his first-round contest against Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 before the tournament’s Extreme Heat Policy came into play and matches werer stopped as temperatures rose towards 36 degrees Celsius.

Eighth seed Fritz followed Rublev onto the John Cain Arena and, with closed roofs keeping play going on the three main showcourts, outlasting Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

Convincing show

Women’s seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Caroline Garcia enjoyed the relative cool of the earlier part of the day. Fifth seed Sabalenka won 6-1, 6-4 over Tereza Martincova.

Fourth seed Garcia was equally convincing with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Canadian qualifier Katherine Sebov.

The 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez beat Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-2 for her first win in the main draw at Melbourne Park.

Second seed Ons Jabeur lost the second set of her first round match against Tamara Zidansek, but managed to win 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 6-1.

In other matches that escaped the heat shutdown, Italian 21st seed Martina Trevisan went down 6-3, 6-2 to qualifier Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and twice grand slam finalist Karolina Pliskova beat Wang Xiyu 6-1 6-3.

Russia flags banned

Russian and Belarusian flags have been banned from the Melbourne Park precinct after a complaint from the Ukraine ambassador to the country. “I strongly condemn the public display of the Russian flag during the game of the Ukrainian tennis player Kateryna Baindl at the Australian Open today,” Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia wrote on Twitter. “I call on Tennis Australia to immediately enforce its ‘neutral flag’ policy.”

‘Fake’ certificate

Italian tennis player Camila Giorgi has denied allegations that she obtained a false Covid-19 vaccine certificate to allow her to travel. A doctor is under investigation in Italy for supplying false certificates and fake vaccines and Giorgi’s name was revealed in the list of people implicated by an Italian newspaper. On Tuesday after her win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Giorgi confirmed that she had visited the doctor but said she had done nothing wrong.

Reuters, AP/PTI