19 January 2016 | Tennis Queensland

Picture: Getty Images

After an epic couple of weeks of lead-in action across the country, the Australian Open is now underway.

In early January, Aussie No.1 Bernard Tomic reached the Brisbane International 2016 semifinal with his first victory over a top 10 player on home soil – Japan’s Kei Nishikori. Feeling the best he has felt on-court in his career, Tomic has now begun his Australian Open 2016 campaign, headlining a line-up of eight Queenslanders on show in Melbourne. He took on Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin in the first round and found himself battling hard from a set down before taking control and finishing the match 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4 6-4.

Brisbane dark horse John Millman is another Queenslander through to Round 2. Millman was beginning to find his form, winning the third set in a tiebreak, when his opponent, Diego Schwartzman (ARG) was forced to retire with cramps. Although the match ended sooner than expected, the highlight for local fans came after the match was complete, when Millman showed his true Aussie spirit to offer a hand to the cramping Schwartzman, ensuring he was okay before allowing himself to enjoy the realisation of winning the match.

After fighting hard in other epic match-ups, compatriots Sam Stosur, Ajla Tomljanovic, Kim Birrell and Priscilla Hon all fell victim to the first round. Although their singles campaigns may be over, each will return to the court later in the week in the women’s doubles draw. Joining them and completing the list of players featuring form the Sunshine State will be John-Patrick (JP) Smith and Naiktha Bains.

For full details on the singles and doubles draw, plus the Order of Play for each day, visit ausopen.com.