The opening day of doubles action at Melbourne Park on Wednesday was headlined by the return of six-time Australian Open champions Bob and Mike Bryan, who took on alternates Marton Fucsovics of Hungary and Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
The unlikely duo was more than up for the fight however, and were never in awe of their opponents, the most successful doubles team in history.
The Bryans were made to work extremely hard for their opening victory of the tournament, rallying from a set behind to claim a 5-7 7-5 6-1 win in just under two hours.
MORE: All the latest scores and results
“It’s not getting easier that’s for sure, but we still like to get out here and have a chance to win these tournaments,” said Mike Bryan. “The bodies are still feeling good, we’re eager and we train hard. We definitely feel like we can still do it. The goals are still the same. Be No.1 and win slams.”
Struggling to find a breakthrough in the opening set, the Bryans were left stunned as their underdog opponents claimed the decisive break, and the lead.
The twins were not to be outdone however, claiming a tight second set before steamrolling through the third in just 20 minutes to move into the second round in Melbourne for the 17th year in a row.
“You come out with some nerves and you’re playing a team you should beat, but it’s not happening,” Bryan said. “It took a little while to dial in, and it wasn’t looking good for a while, but we were finally able to break the match open. Then in the third set we were able to play freer.”
Ninth seeds Feliciano and Marc Lopez also progressed over the Romanian/Serbian pairing of Florin Mergea and Nenad Zimonjic, as did 11th seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah from Colombia.
The only seeds to fall were Mexican Santiago Gonzalez and his Chilean partner, Julio Peralta, who were upset by the all-French team of Benoit Paire and Hugo Nys 6-4 0-6 6-2.
On the women’s side, 2017 champion Lucie Safarova teamed up with fellow Czech Barbora Strycova as the fourth seeds for this year’s event.
Safarova has been paired with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands for the past three years, winning four majors, including the Australian Open and Roland Garros last year. But Mattek-Sands suffered a horrific knee injury in singles action at Wimbledon last season; she has returned to Melbourne this year in the commentary box for ESPN.
MORE: The women’s doubles draw
Meanwhile, Safarova and Strycova have found strong form, reaching the semifinals in the only three events they played last year in Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open, along with another semifinal in Sydney last week.
The pair began their Australian Open campaign with a 6-2 6-1 win over British pairing of Naomi Broady and Anna Smith in just 51 minutes.
Elsewhere in the women’s draw, second seeds and reigning Wimbledon champions Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova were too strong for the Canadian/American pairing of Eugenie Bouchard and Sloane Stephens, winning 6-4 6-4.
Eighth seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng also progressed, defeating the Romanian/Argentinean team of Mihaela Buzarnescu and Maria Irigoyen 6-3 7-5, while 14th seeds Hao-Ching Chan and Katarina Srebotnik also made it through to the second round.
Swiss/Serbian pairing of Victorija Golubic and Nina Stojanovic created an upset, defeating ninth seeds Andreja Klepac and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3 6-3.