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Novak Djokovic acknowledged that he was far from his best after being pushed all the way by Croatian teenager Dino Prižmić on the first day of the Australian Open.
The defending champion was dragged into a gruelling battle that lasted a minute over over four hours, eventually prevailing 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.
It was his longest ever first round match at a grand slam.
"He [Prižmić] deserved every applause, every credit that he got tonight," Djokovic said on Rod Laver Arena.
"He's amazing player … so mature for his age.
"This is his moment, honestly. He could have easily been his match as well.
"He fought, he showed great mentality, resilience.
"He made me really run for my money for sure, tonight. That's for sure."
Novak Djokovic lost a second set tie breaker and then was broken twice at the start of the third set.(AP Photo: Andy Wong)
Djokovic hit 49 unforced errors to 40 winners and was broken four times in the match in an uncharacteristically weary performance.
"The reality hits hard tonight," 36-year-old Djokovic said, joking that he did well considering he was playing someone half his age.
"Obviously I struggled in many, many different moments tonight.
"But, you know, it was credit to him due to his incredible game plan.
"I had good moments. Some moments I wish I could have played better.
"It's been a very short off-season. So physically I'm still finding myself out there on the court but now I have a couple of days to my next match so hopefully I will be at my best for the next match."
There were no such worries for women's champion Aryna Sabalenka though, who despite taking to the court at 11:30pm AEDT, made short work of her 18-year-old opponent, qualifier Ella Seidel, inflicting a devastating 6-0, 6-1 thrashing in just 53 minutes.
Aryna Sabalenka needed just 53 minutes to win her first round clash.(AP Photo: Andy Wong)
The German qualifier was reduced to tears in the second set such was the ferocity of Sabalenka's stroke play, with the Belarusian sending a clear message to the rest of the field.
Christopher O'Connell was upset with the chair umpire in the third set.(AAP Image: Joel Carrett)
Earlier, Chris O'Connell was the only Australian to win on the opening day, overcoming tough Chilean Cristian Garin 3-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 in a five-set epic that lasted four hours 21 minutes.
Dane Sweeny and Jason Kubler both went down in tough five-set battles against Francisco Cerundolo and Daniel Galan respectively, after the first local hope, 24-year-old wildcard Adam Walton, was knocked out in straight sets by 41st-ranked Italian Matteo Arnaldi.
Earlier, number four seed Jannik Sinner made short work of Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-6, 7-5, 6-3.
But it was a different case for world number five Andry Rublev, who was pushed all the way by Brazil's Thiago Seyboth Wild, the Russian prevailing 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6).
Look back on how all the action unfolded on day one in our live blog..
We're happy to be back too
Anyway, that's where we'll leave things tonight.
I hope you enjoyed today's action as much as Andre Agassi appeared to.
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Thanks for being with us all day for the first day's action from the Australian Open.
We'll have plenty more to come over the next two weeks, including a couple of pieces in the morning from our man on the ground Luke Pentony and yours truly.
Jon Healy will be back tomorrow morning to take you through all the action, including Alex de Minaur's bow tomorrow night.
Good bye!
Sabalenka happy to be back
Here's the defending champion.
"[I'm] Super happy to be back in Melbourne," she says.
"Last time I had incredible memories from here unforgettable memories. It feels so great to be back and feel all the support and atmosphere.
"I
know you guys have been cheering for her, but anyway, thank you so much for staying so late and supporting us.
"It is really important. Thank you."
Sabalenka brutal in victory
(Getty Images)
The smiles remain, but the match did not last too much longer.
Just 53 minutes of action, Seidel seemed to get her confidence after winning that game and saved three match points in that game.
But Sabalenka was too big and too strong and the German youngster will have learned a brutal lesson about what it's like to play at the top level.
Both women are smiling though, and that's the most important thing.
(Getty Images)
And she's on the board!
Well done Ella Seibel!
Great fight and, with her first game point of the match, removes the prospect of being bageled in the 12th game.
And now she's smiling and, frankly, that warms the heart.
Great support from the crowd too.
Number 17 seed Frances Tiafoe is through
(Getty Images)
No mistake from the American when serving for the match.
A three-hour 28-minute four-set victory, 6-3, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3.
Seidel is in tears...
She's just been broken to love and her dream moment, making the grand slam main draw for the first time, is turning into a nightmare.
Sabalenka has the air of someone who has been told to discipline a puppy out there at the moment, winning, but taking little joy in it.
She won't take her foot off the gas though.
Meanwhile, on Margaret Court Arena...
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Three hours and 23 minutes in to this first round clash and Frances Tiafoe has just broken Borna Ćorić to lead 5-3 in the fourth and is now serving for the match.
You can't hide...
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You can't blame Ella Seidel for wanting to duck out of this contest.
It's her first time in a main draw at a grand slam - obviously her first time in a major arena at a grand slam as well - and she's being completely battered out there.
There have been nine games in this match and it's only taken Sabalenka 35 minutes to win all of them. Comfortably.
Sabalenka speeding through this one
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What was I saying about late starts? Seems that Sabalenka is in a hurry.
The world number two has taken just 22 minutes to speed past the qualifier, who is ranked 172 and being made to look like it at the moment, 6-0 in the first set.
At this rate the Belarusian will be in bed before 1am.
Four games in 14 minutes
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Aryna Sabalenka is one of the most powerful players on the planet.
And she is smashing Ella Seidel half way to Saturn at the moment.
Four games, two breaks of serve, and we're not even quarter of an hour into this one.
Seidel has only won five points, by the way.
The German teenager is going to have to find something here or risk being completely blown away.
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Borna Ćorić wins the third
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At a canter too - 6-2 the score as the Croatian number one gets himself back into the contest against the hard-hitting American.
The American has some work to do as the match enters its fourth hour and the clock ticks closer to midnight.
We're not done here, by the way
Hey, so remember when the Australian Open said they'd play an extra day to make sure players weren't forced onto the court too late?
Well, at past 11:30pm AEDT, Qualifier Ella Seidel is about to march onto the court to take on defending women's champion Aryna Sabalenka.
Frances Tiafoe
and Borna Ćorić are also still going on Margaret Court Arena, in a third set which the Croatian has earned a break or serve.
So still plenty of action to come.
Is Djokovic feeling his age?
(Getty Images)
"Well, I started off very well for a 36-year-old guy," Djokovic says with a laugh.
"But, geez, when you think about it, I'm double his age!
"The reality hits hard tonight."
Djokovic is joking, I think, but there's almost a little bit of a hint of acknowledgement that perhaps he was not finding it as easy against the youngster today.
"No,
look, I'm really trying to enjoy every moment on the court," Djokovic says.
"Obviously I struggled in many, many different moments tonight.
"But, you know, it was credit to him due to his incredible game plan.
"He just had an answer for everything. He was very physical.
"I had good moments. Some moments I wish I could have played better. They made me more aggressive but I haven't played
here in a year.
"It's been a very short off-season. So physically I'm still finding myself out there on the court but now I have a couple of days to my next match so hopefully I will be at my best for the next match."
Djokovic praises 'mature' teenage star
Novak Djokovic says that he was made to run for his money today by a very impressive player.
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"I mean, he [Dino Prižmić] deserved every applause, every credit that he got tonight. He's amazing player, I must say, so mature for his age," the world number one says.
"He handled himself on the court
incredibly well. This is his moment, honestly. He could have easily been his match as well.
"He was a break up in the third. He fought even though he was 4-0 down and a break point down from 5-0, he fought, he showed great mentality, resilience.
"He made me really run for my money for sure,
tonight. That's for sure.
"And honestly I have many, many praises for him, many compliments."
Djokovic wins!
Oh my word what a match that was.
Djokovic wins it with a powerful cross court winner that brave Dino Prižmić can't enough on to send back over the net.
What a battle.
Djokovic wins 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
That's Djokovic's longest ever first round match at a grand slam at four hours and one minute - beating his previous longest, from all the way back in 2005 at the US Open, by four minutes.
Meanwhile, Djokovic is serving for the match
He's already had four break/match points in Prižmić's last service game, but the Croatian just would not lie down.
Djokovic has three more match points.
He misses the first thanks to a Prižmić forehand winner.
Now Djokovic sends the next shot he has long!
Kubler knocked out in fifth set tiebreak
This is to decide the match, first to 10 in a decider like this.
Galan 1-0 Kubler - Galan win the first point with a forehand winner
Galan 1-1 Kubler - ACE for Kubler!
Galan 2-1 Kubler - Not so great this time, a forehand error from Kubler to surrender the minibreak
Galan 3-1 Kubler - Now Kubler misses with a backhand
Galan 3-2 Kubler - Backhand winner for the Aussie and the crowd rises with him to celebrate that!
Galan 4-2 Kubler - the backhand lets him down now though again with an unforced error
Galan 5-2 Kubler - Galan is half way there, an unforced forehand error from Kubler as the pressure builds
Galan 6-2 Kubler - Now the backhand, it's getting tough for Kubler now
Galan 7-2 Kubler - Ace for Galan
Galan 7-3 Kubler - a first error of the breaker for Galan - it is time for Kubler to make a run?
Galan 7-4 Kubler - So far so good, a forehand winner for the Aussie
Galan 7-5 Kubler - Unforced error from the Colombian! Pressure mounting!
Galan 7-6 Kubler - What a fightback from Kubler! A brilliant backhand gets him back to within a point in this breaker!
Galan 7-7 Kubler - The Kia Arena explodes! A backhand error from Galan, who looked gone a few moments ago!
Galan 8-7 Kubler - Kubler misses with the forehand, sending the ball long!
Galan 9-7 Kubler - One point away for Galan! A big serve out wide and the backhand of Kubler can't get the ball back
Galan 9-8 Kubler - A second serve from Galan, and an unforced error from Galan off the return!
Galan wins the tiebreaker 10-8! Devastation for Kubler!
Four hours and 53 minutes of brutal action on Kia Arena, but it's Colombia's Daniel Galan who wins, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6.
Tiafoe wins second set tie break
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Just coming up to the two hour mark on Margaret Court Arena as Frances Tiafoe goes 6-3, 7-6 (7) up in sets against Borna Ćorić.
Ćorić fought hard in the back half of the breaker, bringing it back to 7-7, buy Tiafoe prevailed 9-7.
Prižmić breaks back!
Surely not?
Well, Dino is not going away, that's for sure - hitting a sublime backhand cross court winner in the midst of that game to earn two break points.
(Getty Images)
But the kicker was the deciding point, which took a wicket net cord for which the youngster apologised.
Lucky? Sure. But you make your own luck.
It's 4-2 in the fourth set, Prižmić to serve.
Galan breaks back against Kubler
We're back on serve at Kia Arena, with Kubler making an error with a backhand to hand over the game and his break of serve back to the Colombian.
4-4 in the deciding fifth set.
(Getty Images)
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