| Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 16-29 January |
| Coverage: Commentary every day from 07:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra ‘Tennis Breakfast’ live from Melbourne, with selected live text commentaries and match reports on the BBC Sport website & app |
Neal Skupski, Joe Salisbury and Jamie Murray were among the Britons who advanced to round two as doubles action got under way at the Australian Open.
Skupski and his Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof, the world number one pair, cruised past Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan and Australia’s John-Patrick Smith 6-1 6-2.
Second seeds Joe Salisbury and American Rajeev Ram won 6-2 6-3 against Constant Lestienne of France and American Marcos Giron, while it was another straight-set win for Murray and Michael Venus.
Seeded 11th, Murray and his New Zealand partner defeated Colombia’s Cristian Rodriguez and American Hunter Reese 6-4 6-2.
All-British pairing Henry Patten and Julian Cash, who won a record 10 ATP Challenger titles together in 2022, won 6-4 6-3 on their Melbourne debut against Argentina’s Pedro Cachin and Guido Pella.
But the British success did not continue in the women’s doubles, as Heather Watson and her American partner Danielle Collins were knocked out in the first round with a 6-4 6-2 defeat by Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk and Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
The doubles had been scheduled to start on Wednesday but rain delays meant matches were pushed back a day.
Former world number one and two-time men’s doubles Grand Slam champion Murray had earlier said it was “unfair” to players that the schedule for Wednesday had been released so late, saying that it was published at 11.30pm on Tuesday, with players having to arrive at 8-8.30am for an 11am start.
“Just start matches later and give players more rest/prep time,” he tweeted. “You have lights!”
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