Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic eased through to the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday while Simona Halep gained revenge on Kaia Kanepi.

Kanepi defeated Halep in the opening round of the US Open and the world number one had not won a match since but she recovered from a set down to claim a gutsy 6-7 (2) 6-4 6-2 victory.

Johanna Konta became the third British player to reach the second round, winning a deciding tie-break to beat Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.

Picture of the day

Serena Williams' hair flies around her during a comprehensive win over Tatjana Maria
Serena Williams’ hair flies around her during a comprehensive win over Tatjana Maria (Kin Cheung/AP)

Tweet of the day

Andy Murray’s fitness trainer Matt Little adds his tribute.

Owning the stage

Who says the kid who flips the coin can’t be the star of the show?

Meeting your heroes

Denis Shapovalov celebrates his first-round win over Pablo Andujar
Denis Shapovalov celebrates his first-round win over Pablo Andujar (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Denis Shapovalov is tipped as one of the future superstars of the game and is already a top-30 player, but put him on court with Roger Federer and the 19-year-old Canadian turns into a wide-eyed fan.

“Every time I’m hitting with Roger, I’m in shock still,” he said. “Every time I’m talking to him. He’s honestly my hero.” As for how the practice session went? “He destroyed me.”

Fallen seeds

Women: Mihaela Buzarnescu (25), Dominika Cibulkova (26)
Men: Marco Cecchinato (17)

Who’s up next?

Dan Evans and Katie Boulter will look to pull off unlikely upsets when the second round gets under way on Wednesday.

Evans faces Roger Federer for the second time at a grand slam while Boulter takes on 11th seed Aryna Sabalenka, who is being hotly tipped as a title contender.

Defending women’s champion Caroline Wozniacki, Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova are also in action.