HIGHLIGHTS-Tennis-Australian Open day one

U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka played Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the opening match on the main showcourt, Rod Laver Arena.

Highlights of day one of the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park on Monday. Times local (GMT +11): 1309 RAONIC EASES PAST CORIA

Canada's Milos Raonic moved into round two with a 6-3 6-3 6-2 win over Argentine Federico Coria. Raonic, who is seeded 14th, struck 51 winners compared to just nine from his opponent and wrapped up the match in 95 minutes.

1300 VENUS BEATS FLIPKENS IN STRAIGHT SETS Venus Williams beat Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 7-5 6-2 to reach the second round in front of about 200 fans on Margaret Court Arena.

Flipkens made 30 unforced errors compared to just 13 by Williams, who also won more than 80% of her first-serve points. READ MORE:

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1224 U.S. OPEN CHAMPION NAOMI OSAKA THROUGH Third seed Naomi Osaka was the first player through to the second round after a 6-1 6-2 thrashing of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

"I'm just really happy to see people in the stands. It's been a bit lonely in New York, so thank you guys," Osaka told a small crowd at Rod Laver Arena. 1109 PLAY GETS UNDERWAY AT 109TH AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Play got underway on time under leaden skies at Melbourne Park with the temperature hovering around the 17 degrees Celsius mark. There was one locally acquired case of COVID-19 reported in the state of Victoria on Monday, a worker at a quarantine hotel not associated with the tennis.

The championships were delayed by three weeks to allow all players arriving from abroad to quarantine for two weeks. U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka played Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the opening match on the main showcourt, Rod Laver Arena.