After Roger Federer, Andy Murray (ok, Sir Andy Murray) and Angelique Kerber took the spotlight on the opening day of the Australian Open 2017, it will be the turn of Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal to turn up the Melbourne heat come day two of the first Grand Slam of the year.
There were a few upsets on the first day of action, chief of them being the women's singles No.4 seed Simona Halep, who was beaten by Shelby Rogers of the USA.
There is plenty of scope for an upset on Tuesday:
Nadal, Djokovic and Serena will not want to be in the upset side of the opening round, but they will need to be close to their best to make sure they don't make an early exit.
Serena will be the first of the big players in action. After US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova opens up play at the Rod Laver Arena against Sara Sarribes Tormo, Serena begins her quest for a record Grand Slam win with a match against Swiss Belinda Bencic.
Having faded a little in the second half of 2016, after winning Wimbledon, it is difficult to guess what Serena we will get to see, but the No.2 seed should have enough ammunition to go through to the next round.
The Serena vs Bencic match will be followed by Rafael Nadal vs Florian Mayer. Nadal had another injury-hit year in 2016, but the Spaniard comes into this Australian Open confident of playing well. If he stays pain and injury free, he should be able to make a deep run in the tournament.
Djokovic is a part of the first match of the evening session, with the world number two playing the dangerous Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. Looking for his seventh Australian Open title, Djokovic made a strong start to 2017 by beating Murray in the final of the Qatar Open, and the Serbian will want to put his best foot forward in this opening round Aus Open match as well.
The other top seeded players in action will be Agnieszka Radwanska, who plays the final match of the evening session at the Rod Laver Arena, Johanna Konta, Milos Raonic, Dominic Thiem, Gael Monfils and Dominika Cibulkova.
Order of Play for Day 2: First round:
Rod Laver Arena: Morning session: 11am local time (5.30am IST, 12am GMT, 7pm ET): Women's singles: 5-Karolina Pliskova (CZE) vs Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP)
Followed by
Women's singles: Belinda Bencic (SUI) vs 2-Serena Williams (USA)
Followed by
Men's singles: Florian Mayer (GER) vs 9-Rafael Nadal (ESP)
Evening session: 7pm local time (1.30pm IST, 8am GMT, 3am ET):
Men's singles: Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs 2-Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Followed by
Women's singles: Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) vs 3-Agnieszka Radwanska (POL).
Margaret Court Arena: Morning session: 11am local time (5.30am IST, 12am GMT, 7pm ET):
Women's Singles: Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) vs 9-Johanna Konta (GBR)
Followed by
Men's singles: Dustin Brown (GER) vs 3-Milos Raonic (CAN)
Followed by
Women's singles: Heather Watson (GBR) vs 18-Samantha Stosur (AUS).
Evening session: 7pm local time (1.30pm IST, 8am GMT, 3am ET):
Men's Singles: 15-Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) vs Christopher O'Connell (Aus)
Women's singles: 22-Daria Gavrilova (AUS) vs Naomi Broady (GBR).
For the complete schedule of Day 2, click HERE
