Australian Open | Murray, Wawrinka and Federer win tough opening round matches

In a match that lasted two hours and 47 minutes, world No 1 Murray overcame a stern test in the opening round to beat Marchenko 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 on a hot afternoon.

The Brit committed three double faults in the first four minutes while also allowing Marchenko to level at 5-5 after taking an early 4-1 lead. However, Murray won the set 7-5 after the Ukrainian committed a string of unforced errors. Murray appeared frustrated in the second set as he allowed Marchenko to take a 3-1 lead before toiling hard to win the set in the tie-breaker. In the third set, Murray dominated his opponent, who is ranked 96 in the world, with a series of powerful forehands to wrap it up 6-2.

On his Grand Slam return after Wimbledon last year, Federer was taken to four sets by Austria's Jürgen Melzer that the former No 1 won 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Wawrinka also struggled in the scorching heat at the Rod Laver Arena, having to dig deep to get past Slovakia's Martin Klizan 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

Meanwhile, world No 5 Kei Nishikori also came unscathed in a five-set battle with Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov, while 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic downed Poland's Jerzy Janowicz 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

In women's singles, world No 4 Simona Halep crashed out in the first round for the second straight year after succumbing to a 6-3, 6-1 loss to 52nd-ranked American Shelby Rogers. In another match, Venus Williams had battle hard to win 7-6(5), 7-5 against 22-year-old Kateryna Kozlova.