Gauff advances in Melbourne as Auger-Aliassime makes pained exit

MELBOURNE, Jan 19 : Coco Gauff kicked off her bid for a maiden Australian Open title with a thumping first-round win on Monday but men's contender Felix Auger-Aliassime exited abruptly with a bout of cramp on a hot afternoon at Melbourne Park.

After record crowds crammed into Melbourne Park on the opening day on Sunday, the venue was heaving again under cloudy skies, with home fans buzzing as local hero Alex de Minaur motored into the second round.

There was also an encouraging win for three-times finalist Daniil Medvedev, while the high-seeded American duo of Amanda Anisimova and Jessica Pegula breezed through to the second round.

With Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic headlining in the evening, twice Grand Slam champion Gauff had top billing during the day and lived up to it with a 6-2 6-3 win over Kamilla Rakhimova at Rod Laver Arena.

After racking up 431 double-faults in 2025, by far the most of any player on the women's tour, third seed Gauff sent down seven against world number 93 Rakhimova and was broken as she served for the match.

However, Gauff was otherwise in fine form as she set up a second-round encounter against Serbian lefthander Olga Danilovic, who knocked out Venus Williams on day one.

Rakhimova switched nationality to Uzbekistan in December, joining a slew of Russian players competing for other nations.

Russian and Belarusian tennis players have been banned from competing under their own flags following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, for which Belarus has been a staging ground.

Gauff said Rakhimova's switch had taken her by surprise, months after beating her in Beijing in September.

"It did catch my eye, because I didn't realise she changed until my coach sent the schedule screen-shot, and I saw she had a