HIGHLIGHTS-Tennis-Day one at the Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Jan 16 (Reuters) - News from the opening day of the Australian Open tennis championships on Monday. 1256 BOUCHARD CRUISES THROUGH WITH WIN OVER CHIRICO Canada's Eugenie Bouchard, a 2014 semi-finalist, moved into the second round with a 6-0 6-4 win over American Louisa Chirico in the late match at Margaret Court Arena, wrapping up action on day one at Melbourne Park. 1245 FEDERER VICTORIOUS ON RETURN FROM SIX-MONTH BREAK Swiss 17-times grand slam champion Roger Federer, seeded 17th after six months out of the game to recover from a knee injury, returned to the court with a 7-5 3-6 6-2 6-2 win over Austrian qualifier Juergen Melzer in the late match at Rod Laver Arena. 1137 WAWRINKA WOBBLES BUT WINS FIVE-SET DUEL AGAINST KLIZAN Fourth seed and 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka suffered a huge scare against Slovak Martin Klizan but the Swiss three-times grand slam champion battled through to win 4-6 6-4 7-5 4-6 6-4 on Margaret Court Arena. 1030 KYRGIOS WON'T NOT LET KNEE PROBLEM HARM TITLE PROSPECTS "Definitely, definitely. I don't even think it's about the knee. In general, if you happen to go deep, it gets pretty tiring. "So you just want to reserve that mental energy and other parts of your body as well. The quicker you can get it done, the better it is for deeper in the week." 1020 KERBER BATTLES NERVES TO BEAT TSURENKO Defending champion and top seed Angelique Kerber battles her nerves and falters badly with victory in sight before finally overcoming Lesia Tsurenko 6-2 5-7 6-2 to reach the second round, where she will face German compatriot Carina Witthoeft. 0925 KYRGIOS DOWNS ELIAS TO ADVANCE Australian Nick Kyrgios does little wrong against Gastao Elias, beating the Portuguese 6-1 6-2 6-2 in an hour and 25 minutes in the first round. The 14th seed faces Italian Andreas Seppi in the next round. 0914 TSONGA EASES PAST MONTEIRO TO PROGRESS Former Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga books his spot in the second round with a four-set win over Brazil's Thiago Monteiro to set up a showdown with Serbia's Dusan Lajovic. 0856 MURRAY JOINS NISHIKORI IN CALL FOR DAVIS CUP CHANGES "I do think it needs to change. If the top players aren't playing, the event loses value. So, yeah, we'll see what happens in the next 18 months or so, see if there's anything we can do to make it better." 0830 BUBLIK STUNS POUILLE TO PROGRESS Kazakhstan's 19-year-old Alexander Bublik scores a major upset against Lucas Pouille, beating the French 16th seed 6-0 3-6 6-3 6-4 in an hour and 43 minutes to advance to the second round, where he will face Tunisia's Malek Jaziri. 0810 NAVARRO ROMPS THROUGH TO SECOND ROUND Spanish 10th seed Carla Suarez Navarro makes quick work of Jana Cepelova, beating the Slovak 6-2 6-2 in just over an hour in the first round. Navarro will face Romania's Sorana Cirstea in the next round 0740 BARTY ON HER RETURN COURT FOLLOWING A SPELL IN CRICKET "Just think they're both different. Cricket is obviously semi-professional for women, so it's different to a full schedule with tennis. "But it's certainly working on different things. Tennis is a lot quicker, sort of reactive, sort of making quick decisions. With cricket it depends which skill you're trying to master, I suppose." 0715 MURRAY LEARNS FROM LOSSES "I have had to learn from my losses against Roger, Rafa and Novak to improve. It's been tough but I finally got there [to No.1]. I've lost in the final a few times here and I hope I can go one better this year." 0708 MURRAY PERSEVERES, MOVES PAST MARCHENKO World number one Andy Murray is made to work by Ukraine's Illya Marchenko but the Briton's superior fitness and array of shots results in a 7-5 7-6(5) 6-2 victory. He faces 19-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev in the next round. 0635 CILIC SCRAPS THROUGH TO SECOND ROUND Seventh seed Marin Cilic comes back from two sets down to beat Poland's Jerzy Janowicz 4-6 4-6 6-2 6-2 6-3 and the big-hitting Croat next faces Daniel Evans of Britain. 0545 VANDEWEGHE BEATS VINCI Robeta Vinci is the latest high-ranking player to fall in the first round, the Italian 15th seed beaten 6-1 7-6(3) by Coco Vandeweghe. 0520 NISHIKORI CALLS FOR CHANGES TO DAVIS CUP "I hope they can make some changes. Right now I think it's way too much to play three times or maybe four. I think that has to change to make it shorter. I think all the players, I don't know if all, but I think most of them are hoping to change." 0455 VENUS KEEN NOT TO JUST MAKE UP THE NUMBERS "I have put in a ton of work. I'm not coming all the way to Australia for kicks and giggles. I'm here as a competitor. Yeah, that's pretty much what it is... Every player who is here wants to be here. "Each player in the draw has an unbelievable ability to play tennis. There are some that have won more champions than others, but it's because we know how to play this game, and it's pretty serious stuff for us." 0436 ZHANG COMFORTABLY THROUGH TO SECOND ROUND Zhang Shuai, the highest ranked Chinese player, makes quick work of Aliaksandra Sasnovich, beating the Belarusian qualifier 6-0 6-3 in the first round. 0400 AIAVA REVEALS SERENA'S WORDS OF WISDOM Australian Destanee Aiava, 16, who became the first player born this century to contest a main draw match at a grand slam, bows out 6-3 7-6(4) to Germany's Mona Barthel. "She (Serena Williams) told me to dream big and you'll achieve big. Yeah, she's quite a nice person. It was a really good experience to get to hit with her." 0355 VENUS DOWNS KOZLOVA TO ADVANCE Venus Williams is pushed to the limits by Kateryna Kozlova but the 13th seeded American holds on to beat the Ukrainian 7-6(5) 7-5. 0350 NISHIKORI SURVIVES SCARE TO PROGRESS Kei Nishikori was made to work to progress to the second round by Andrey Kuznetsov as the Japanese fifth seed beat the Russian 5-7 6-1 6-4 6-7(6) 6-2 in three hours and 34 minutes. Nishikori will face Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the next round. 0318 HALEP SET FOR SPELL ON SIDELINES WITH TENDINITIS "I have tendinitis. The tendon (on the left knee). No, no, surgery. Not that bad. I need MRI again, and just maybe take some rest and physiotherapy to get it well. "Can be, but I'm not sure now... But, yeah, probably need some time off to get it well, recovered, because it's difficult to play with the pain, and the knees are dangerous. So I have to take care." 0304 TROICKI CLINCHES FIVE-SET THRILLER AGAINST DZUMHUR Serbia's Viktor Troicki beat Ukrainian Damir Dzumhur 6-4 6-4 2-6 2-6 6-3 in two hours and 47 minutes to progress to the second round, where he will face Italian Paolo Lorenzi. 0245 BERDYCH THROUGH AFTER INJURED VANNI RETIRES Tomas Berdych is through to the second round as his Italian opponent Luca Vanni retired with a hip problem shortly after the Czech 10th seed took the first set 6-1. The 31-year-old faces American Ryan Harrison in the next round. 0228 LEPCHENKO STUNS BERTENS TO PROGRESS American Varvara Lepchenko scores an upset win over last year's French Open semi-finalist Kiki Bertens, beating the Belgian 19th seed 7-5 7-6(5) in the first round. Lepchenko will face China's Duan Yingying in the next round. 0211 CRAWFORD BEATS DAVIS TO SET UP MUGURUZA CLASH Samantha Crawford comes back from a set down to beat fellow unseeded American Lauren Davis 4-6 6-3 6-0 and progress to the second round, where she will get a shot at seventh seed Garbine Muguruza. 0159 MUGURUZA ON VICTORY AFTER FIGHTING THROUGH LEG INJURY "It was very tough. Suddenly you're playing and you start to feel pain and you forget not to be nervous. You have to be calm and fight for the match." 0151 MUGURUZA SAFELY THROUGH TO SECOND ROUND French Open champion Garbine Muguruza overcomes some shaky moments in her first-round clash on Margaret Court Arena to beat New Zealand's Marina Erakovic 7-5 6-4. Muguruza fought back from a 4-1 deficit in the second set before advancing to the second round. 0135 SHELBY ROGERS ON HER VICTORY OVER HALEP "There are no easy matches at this level and some are definitely tougher than others but I'm happy to get through and will take some confidence from what I was doing." Rogers faces Australian wildcard Ashleigh Barty in the second round. 0130 FOURTH SEED SIMONA HALEP KNOCKED OUT Romanian fourth seed Simona Halep crashes out in the first round for the second year in a row, losing 6-3 6-1 to American Shelby Rogers on Rod Laver Arena. 0125 OLYMPIC CHAMPION PUIG WINS CONVINCINGLY Rio Olympic champion Monica Puig wins the first completed match at the tournament with a 6-0 6-1 victory over Romania's Patricia Tig in 53 minutes. The 29th-seed faces Germany's Mona Barthel in the second round. 0050 CHARDY THROUGH AFTER ALMAGRO RETIRES France's Jeremy Chardy becomes the first player through to the second round after Spain's Nicolas Almagro retired while trailing 4-0 in the first set. Chardy, a quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2013, next faces Kei Nishikori in the second round. 0010 PLAY UNDERWAY AT YEAR'S FIRST GRAND SLAM Play got underway as scheduled under sunny skies with a cooling breeze blowing across Melbourne Park. The temperature was 21 degrees Celsius but is forecast to hit 30 degrees in mid-afternoon. ORDER OF PLAY ROD LAVER ARENA 4-Simona Halep (Romania) v Shelby Rogers (U.S.) Kateryna Kozlova (Ukraine) v 13-Venus Williams (U.S.) 1-Andy Murray (Britain) v Illya Marchenko (Ukraine) Not before 0800 GMT: 1-Angelique Kerber (Germany) v Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) Jurgen Melzer (Austria) v 17-Roger Federer (Switzerland) MARGARET COURT ARENA Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) v 7-Garbine Muguruza (Spain) 27-Bernard Tomic (Australia) v Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil) Coco Vandeweghe (U.S.) v 15-Roberta Vinci (Italy) Not before 0800 GMT: 4-Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) v Martin Klizan (Slovakia) Louisa Chirico (U.S.) v Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) HISENSE ARENA Andrey Kuznetsov (Russia) v 5-Kei Nishikori (Japan) Ashleigh Barty (Australia) v Annika Beck (Germany) Mariana Duque-Marino (Colombia) v 8-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) Not before 0730 GMT: Gastao Elias (Portugal) v 14-Nick Kyrgios (Australia) READ MORE Nishikori to miss Davis Cup, Murray moans Top seed Kerber overcomes nerves to advance Big Bash to big stage, Barty back with Beck win Knight in rusty armour Murray battles through I didn't come here for the $50k, says Almagro Olympic champion Puig hopes for golden form Halep first seed out of Australian Open 'Sir Andy' seeks end to Australian Open agony It's still all about Serena at Melbourne Park Melbourne king Djokovic wary of over-confidence Staying top harder than getting there -- Kerber Serena defers engagement to focus on Melbourne Murray confidence sky high despite failures Pain a constant companion for Nadal First round the focus for Wawrinka Raonic counts on Krajicek for forward momentum Kerber an inspiration for WTA's bridesmaids Australia set for Kyrgios roller-coaster ride Dark horse Konta keeping it all in perspective Comeback king Haas readies for Melbourne return (Compiled by Nick Mulvenney and Shravanth Vijayakumar; Editing by John O'Brien and Ed Osmond)