Melbourne: Novak Djokovic was dragged into a dogfight by talented teenager Dino Prizmic and had to dig deep to open his Australian Open title defence with a 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 victory in the first round on Sunday.
The Serbian, who played his first Australian Open a few months before the Croatian qualifier was born in August, 2005, initially looked in control of the contest on the Rod Laver Arena court where he has won 10 of his 24 Grand Slam titles.
Prizmic had already shown glimpses of the weapons he possesses and broke the top seed with a brilliant crosscourt winner early in the second set, forcing Djokovic to raise his game to break straight back.
The 18-year-old world No. 178, who need a medical timeout to get some strapping on his thigh early in the match, was a man transformed, however, and kept up his level to even up the contest in the tie-break with his third set point.
That merely set the tone for an enthralling third set in which 36-year-old Djokovic was put under intense pressure by his athletic opponent, making 20 unforced errors and facing six break points.
Djokovic broke Prizmic at the start but the teenager kept ripping huge forehands and stayed with the world number one in several rallies to put the match back on serve before breaking again for a 3-2 lead after a 15-minute battle of a game.
It had been six years and 28 matches since Djokovic last lost a match at the Australian Open and he was not going to put that record at risk easily.
He regrouped, changed his shirt and won the next four games to take the set, pumping his fist and letting out a huge roar in a tribute to the problems Prizmic had caused him.
More than three hours of playing with one of the best players of all time started to take its toll on Prizmic and Djokovic drove home his advantage to take his 90th win at the Australian Open in just over four hours.
The next challenge to Djokovic's bid for a record 25th Grand Slam singles title will come from one of two Australians, Alexei Popyrin or Marc Polmans.
Jannik Sinner picked up where he left off in 2023 by easing past Botic van de Zandschulp into the second round as the year's first Grand Slam got underway a day earlier than usual on Sunday.
The Italian fourth seed, the hottest player on the men's tour at the back end of last season with victories over Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev, was quickly back in his groove on Rod Laver Arena. Although far from perfect, he broke his Dutch opponent to open the contest and grabbed another break to serve for the second set before securing his place in the second round 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.
"It's my first match of the season and it means a lot to get a win," said Sinner, who was cheered on by the "Carota Boys", a band of fans dressed as carrots. "It's a tournament where I would like to play as good as possible ... hopefully I can show more as I go along. The first match is never easy, I think I can be happy."
Sinner is one of a band of young guns looking to dethrone Djokovic. At 26, Andrey Rublev is probably a bit old to be considered a young gun and the redheaded Russian had a much tougher time getting into round two, pushed all the way by debutant Thiago Seyboth Wild in his 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(6) win.
Czech Barbora Krejcikova was the only former women's Grand Slam winner playing in the day session and the ninth seed was soon in trouble against Japanese wildcard Mai Hontama on Margaret Court Arena.
Hontama, playing her first main draw match at Melbourne Park, took the first set and former French Open champion Krejcikova needed plenty of sideline coaching and a medical timeout for a foot injury before progressing 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
"It was a really difficult match, she was playing really well and it was tough but I always believed that I could get back into it," said Krejcikova, who emitted a huge roar after converting match point.
Leylah Fernandez still has a little stardust remaining from her fairytale run to the final of the 2021 US Open and the Canadian was another who made a hot start by breaking her opponent to love in the first game on John Cain Arena.
Czech qualifier Sara Bejlek fought her way back into the contest, however, and Fernandez, the women's 32nd seed, had to dig deep to run out a 7-6(5), 6-2 winner.
Matteo Arnaldi made it a good day for Italian 22-year-olds with a 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-4 win over Australian wildcard Adam Walton but his compatriot Lucia Bronzetti lost 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to experienced Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko.
As usual, big crowds flocked to the Melbourne Park precinct for the year's first Grand Slam.
