Tennis-Australian Open day one

MELBOURNE, Jan 18 (Reuters) – Highlights of the first day at the Australian Open on Sunday (times GMT):

0040 – PLAY STARTS ON THE MAIN SHOWCOURTS

Play started on the main showcourts in bright sunshine at Melbourne Park with Italian seventh seed Jasmine Paolini kicking off her bid for a first Grand Slam title against Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Rod Laver Arena’s centre court.

Greece’s Maria Sakkari was up against Frenchwoman Leolia Jeanjean on Margaret Court Arena while men’s 20th seed Flavio Cobolli was playing Briton Arthur Fery at John Cain Arena.

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ORDER OF PLAY ON SUNDAY (Prefix number denotes seeding)

ROD LAVER ARENA (0030 GMT/1130 AEDT)

Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Belarus) v 7-Jasmine Paolini (Italy)

3-Alexander Zverev (Germany) v Gabriel Diallo (Canada)

1-Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) v Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah (France)

1-Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) v Adam Walton (Australia)

MARGARET COURT ARENA (0030 GMT/1130 AEDT)

Day session 

Maria Sakkari (Greece) v Leolia Jeanjean (France)

18-Francisco Cerundolo (Argentina) v Zhang Zhizhen (China)

10-Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan) v Jenson Brooksby (U.S.)

Mananchaya Sawangkaew (Thailand) v 28-Emma Raducanu (Britain)

JOHN CAIN ARENA (0000 GMT/1100 AEDT)

Arthur Fery (Britain) v 20-Flavio Cobolli (Italy)

12-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) v Cristina Bucsa (Spain)

29-Frances Tiafoe (U.S.) v Jason Kubler (Australia)

Olga Danilovic (Serbia) v Venus Williams (U.S.)

(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)