SNAPSHOT FROM DAY ONE AT THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN
PLAYER OF THE DAY: Belinda Bencic - the 20-year-old Swiss backed up her Hopman Cup triumph with Swiss superstar Roger Federer to send 2017 runner-up Venus Williams crashing out with a 6-3 7-5 victory.
STAT OF THE DAY: With Serena unable to defend her crown following the birth last September of her first child, Venus's early exit means there will be no Williams sibling in the second round for the first time in 21 years.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "In women's tennis, anything can happen when there is no Serena Williams." - Hungarian Timea Babos after adding to the American carnage with her 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 win over 10th seed CoCo Vandeweghe that consigned US women to a dire none-from-eight start to the tournament.
KEY MOMENT: Samantha Stosur will rue not converting a match point in the second-set tiebreaker after suffering a 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 loss to reigning Olympic champion Monica Puig to continue her infamous run of outs at her home grand slam.
TOURNAMENT SUMMARY: French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko survived a day of upsets in the women's draw to safely advance to the second round alongside Australian wildcard Olivia Rogowska, while the men's event also featured some first-day boilovers. US Open finalist Kevin Anderson and 16th seed John Isner crashed out - the latter at the hands of inspired Australian No.2 Matthew Ebden - but world No.3 Grigor Dimitrov marched into the second round with a comfortable straight-sets win.
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