She had to earn her maiden grand slam win the hard way, rallying from a set and 3-0 down, as well as saving consecutive match points in the third set.

Destanee Aiava of Australia.Getty Images

Aiava did it the only way she knows how - with fearless, aggressive hitting that was rewarded.

She was once the world’s best 14-year-old, and a decade later is re-emerging and eyeing the top 100.

Aiava will play 2022 Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins in the second round.

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1.44am on Jan 14, 2025

That’s all we have for now

What an enormous day of tennis. I can’t recall a day where this many superstars played within such a short time of each other and I’ve been covering this event for quite a few years now.

It’s hard to recap after so much has happened but here are some of the major stories:

Last hurrah? Kyrgios unlikely to play singles at Australian Open again after loss to Scottish battler

With an old foe in his corner, Djokovic dodges disaster as other big names fall

Sinner gets warm reception from tennis fans after drug travails, opens title defence in style

‘Anything he needs from me, I’m here’: How SBW became this rising star’s hype man

We will have more stories to come including more on Australian woman Destanee Aviava’s uplifting first-round win earlier in the evening.

Please joins us in the morning for our day three live blog and thanks to everyone who took part in today’s one.

Many thanks and bye for now.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia embraces Nishesh Basavareddy of the United States after their match on Monday night.Getty Images

1.43am on Jan 14, 2025

‘I won’t go back immediately’: Osaka unsure when she will return home to LA

By Roy Ward

Naomi Osaka is a proud Los Angeles resident but she isn’t sure when she will head back to her LA home which was almost consumed by the LA fires.

Osaka had a friend rush to her home and retrieve her daughter’s birth certificate and she has been regularly checking the fire maps while playing in Auckland and now Melbourne.

But Osaka said she wouldn’t return to her home until she was sure everything was safe for her and her family.

“It’s really difficult. I also feel like in a way it’s tough because I don’t think I’ll go back to L.A. immediately after,” Osaka said after her first round win over Caroline Garcia on day two of the Australian Open.

“I don’t feel like it’s safe enough to go back there. It’s kind of a little bit in a limbo, but also motivating me to hopefully stay here as long as I can.”

Osaka wore an LA hat and LA Lakers NBA jersey to her post match press conference.

“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve been doing the greatest keeping focus, but obviously I won so I think it’s an acceptable job,” Osaka said.

“It’s tougher now because I find now my home is more of a home because I have memories with my daughter. There’s so many things, keepsakes and stuff like that. Obviously you can’t hoard them all when you’re asking them to go to your house and just grab stuff.

So it is really tough in that sense. I’m not there, so I don’t know how bad it is or how bad it’s going to get. But I think the biggest thing that I am grateful for is that everyone in my family is safe.”

1.01am on Jan 14, 2025

In pictures: Day two at the Australian Open

Click here for our picture gallery from a jam-packed day two of the 2025 Australian Open.

Polina Kudermetova watches the ball closely.Getty Images

12.56am on Jan 14, 2025

With an old foe in his corner, Djokovic dodges disaster as other big names fall

By Marc McGowan

Novak Djokovic has brushed off a scare from a precocious teenager at the Australian Open for the second straight year to dodge disaster on Monday night.

On a day when Nick Kyrgios, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Grigor Dimitrov exited the event, a Djokovic loss to 19-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy would have been the greatest shock of all.

American wildcard Basavareddy dreamed of playing Djokovic, then had the dream start before eventually losing 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to the super Serb.

“He was the better player for a set-and-a-half, and he deserved every bit of applause he got when he was exiting the court,” Djokovic said.

12.48am on Jan 14, 2025

US star survives fifth-set scare from O’Connell

US No.12 seed Tommy Paul has scrambled his way into the second round after winning a pulsating fifth set over Australian Chris O’Connell.

The Kia Arena crowd was screaming for O’Connell when he forced the final set to 5-5 but he couldn’t hang on dropping the last two games as Paul made sure he remained in the tournament.

Paul won 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7, 7-5 in four hours on court.

12.31am on Jan 14, 2025

Osaka reveals LA fires came within blocks of her home

By Roy Ward

Naomi Osaka has revealed the Los Angeles fires came within blocks of her home.

Osaka won her first round match tonight and sent her love to all those people coming to the terms with the destruction of the fires, several of which continue to burn.

“I was watching the fire map and it was three blocks from my home,” Osaka said in her on court interview following her win over Caroline Garcia.

“We had someone go to the house and get my daughter’s birth certificate. I didn’t know what I would do if I lost that.

“You see fires but I didn’t realise how much destruction they can cause. I’m sending all my love to everyone back home.”

Osaka also admitted she didn’t expect to get to play on Rod Laver Arena.

“Just being able to play so many matches in New Zealand and coming here helped,” Osaka said.

“I had to pull out of the final injured and didn’t serve too much coming in but I found a way.

“I was just grateful to play on Rod Laver again, I was a little shocked when I saw the draw.

“I hope I get to play in front of you again.”

12.24am on Jan 14, 2025

Osaka wins

Naomi Osaka did it the long way but she has won her way into the second round of the Australian Open.

The two-time women’s singles champion beat France’s Caroline Garcia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a little under two hours.

Osaka lost the second set but earned an early break in the third.

She pumped her fist towards her support box after match point and received a huge ovation from the crowd.

Osaka, now 27, still has something to say at this level but how far she can go remains to be seen.

But you can never count her out.

12.20am on Jan 14, 2025

Osaka is one game away

Osaka again held her nerve and her serve to take a 5-3 lead in the deciding third set against Carolina Garcia.

The Frenchwoman is now serving to stay in the match.

12.13am on Jan 14, 2025

Osaka fights off three break points

Garcia is a canny player and she jumped Osaka’s service game to take a 40-15 lead and have two break points.

But Osaka, who was having issues with her ball toss, forced the game to deuce.

She battled off another advantage and then powered down two excellent serves, the second an ace, to win the game and make it 4-2 in the third set.

Osaka really wants this match but Garcia is forcing her to bring out something special each game.

12.01am on Jan 14, 2025

Osaka winning over the fans

Garcia has several pockets of French fans urging her on with cries of “Allez Caro” but Osaka brought much of the stadium to her corner after some brilliant strokes in this third set.

This is such a high quality match - how in the world is this only the first round?

Australian Open 2025 as it happened: Kyrgios fears singles career at Melbourne Park could be over; Djokovic wins through to second round

Key Posts

Destanee makes it nine Aussie winners today

Latest Posts

That’s all we have for now

‘I won’t go back immediately’: Osaka unsure when she will return home to LA

In pictures: Day two at the Australian Open

With an old foe in his corner, Djokovic dodges disaster as other big names fall

US star survives fifth-set scare from O’Connell

Osaka reveals LA fires came within blocks of her home

Osaka wins

Osaka is one game away

Osaka fights off three break points

Osaka winning over the fans

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