Tomas Berdych booked his spot in the Australian Open second round, needing just one hour and 45 minutes to secure a 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 victory over top Indian Yuki Bhambri on Monday.

The sixth seed launched 35 winners, including 13 aces, and converted an efficient six of eight break chances. He won 35 of 39 first serve points, kicking off his bid to reach the semi-finals down under for a third straight year. Making his 13th straight appearance, Berdych owns 35 match wins in Melbourne Park, the most at any Grand Slam.

Berdych will next face qualifier Mirza Basic, a 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-4 winner over Robin Haase. Basic became the second player representing Bosnia & Herzegovina to win a Grand Slam match, joining Damir Dzumhur. Making his major debut, he overcame 17 aces from his Dutch opponent, while staving off 11 of 12 break points faced.

Dzumhur, meanwhile, survived his first Grand Slam five-setter, edging Kyle Edmund 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. The Sarajevo native was the first Bosnian to qualify for a major and win a match, reaching the third round at the Australian Open in 2014.

AUSSIES IN THE DRAW

There are nine local players in the draw (four direct entries and five wild cards). Lleyton Hewitt is playing this tournament a record 20^th consecutive year (31-19 record). There are two Aussies seeded (No. 16 Bernard Tomic, No. 29 Nick Kyrgios) at the Australian Open for the first time since 2004 (No. 10 Mark Philippoussis, No. 15 Hewitt). Tomic finished 2015 as the top-ranked Australian player at No. 18, followed by Kyrgios, who reached the QF last year, at No. 30.

MAIN COACHING UPDATES

Borna Coric coached by Miles Maclagan

Alex Dolgopolov coached by Felix Mantilla

Roger Federer added coach Ivan Ljubicic to his team

Illya Marchenko coached by Tibor Toth

Andy Murray rejoined forces with Amelie Mauresmo

Milos Raonic added coach Carlos Moya to his team

Jiri Vesely coached by Tomas Krupa

Elias Ymer coached by Fredrik Rosengren

COUNTRY COUNT

There are 41 countries represented in the main draw with Spain (15) leading the way followed by the U.S. (14), France (13) and Australia (nine).

For the second straight season, there were a record 39 countries represented in the Top 100 of the year-end Emirates ATP Rankings (Spain led with 15 players followed by France with 10 and the United States with seven)

WILD CARDS

Four of the eight wild cards were awarded to James Duckworth (winner of the Australian Wild Card Play-off), Quentin Halys (FFT discretionary wild card), Yoshihito Nishioka (winner of the Asia Pacific Wild Card Play-off), Noah Rubin (winner of the USTA Pro Circuit Australian Open Wild Card Challenge). The other four wild cards were awarded by Tennis Australia to Australians Matthew Ebden, Lleyton Hewitt, Omar Jasika and Jordan Thompson.

EMIRATES ATP RANKINGS

Novak Djokovic has been No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for a total of 182 weeks (as of Jan. 18) and every week since his Wimbledon title in 2014 (81 straight weeks). His reign at No. 1 is fifth-most in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings (since Aug. 23, 1973). Roger Federer has been ranked No. 1 a record 302 weeks during his career.

WITHDRAWALS

Players on the main draw entry list who have withdrawn from the Australian Open are:

Richard Gasquet (back)

Tommy Haas (shoulder)

Andreas Haider-Maurer (leg)

Thanasi Kokkinakis (shoulder)

Yen-Hsun Lu (elbow)

Juan Monaco (wrist)

Janko Tipsarevic (knee)

A LOOK AT THE TOP EIGHT SEEDS IN 2016

The Big Four have won 39 of the past 43 Grand Slam tournaments (beginning with 2005 Roland Garros) and 42 of the past 45 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events (beginning with 2011 Indian Wells)…

Federer (five times), Djokovic (four) and Nadal (three) have been the ATP year-end No. 1 players in the last 12 years (2004-15)…

First time in history three players are in a Grand Slam event with at least 10 major titles: Federer (17), Nadal (14), Djokovic (10)…

Murray is the only Top eight seed who did not play an ATP World Tour event leading into Australian Open

PLAYER                                 2016 RESULTS

(1) Novak Djokovic                 Doha Champion

Won 60^th career title (T9 w/Agassi) in Doha (d. Nadal) and has reached final in 16 consecutive events, third-most in Open Era behind Lendl (18) and Federer (17)…Over past 52 weeks, has compiled an 85-5 match record…Five-time Australian Open champion is seeded No. 1 for four time in last five years. (except 2013)…Trying to tie Roy Emerson’s all-time record by winning his sixth Australian Open title

(2) Andy Murray                                

Practiced in Dubai with Kyle Edmund… Played in Hopman Cup (d. De Schepper, l. to Kyrgios, d. A. Zverev)…Four-time Australian Open finalist is seeded No. 2 for 3^rd time in a major (2009 US Open 4R, 2013 Wimbledon Champion)…He and wife, Kim Sears, are expected to become parents in next month…Voted BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year for 2015

(3) Roger Federer                   Brisbane Runner-Up

Practiced with Robin Haase and Lucas Pouille in Dubai…Fell short of defending Brisbane title (l. to Raonic)…Playing in a record 65^th consecutive Grand Slam main draw (streak started at 2000 Australian Open)…Lost to Seppi in 3R last year, ending streak of 11 consecutive Australian Open semi-finals…Seeded in Top 3 in 12 of last 13 years (except 2013 – No. 6)…Three wins shy of 300 career victories in Grand Slam play

(4) Stan Wawrinka                  Chennai Champion

Won Chennai Open (d. Coric) for third straight year and fourth time in his career…Named Swiss Sportsman of the Year in 2015…2014 Australian Open champion seeded in Top 5 for 7^th time in last eight Grand Slam events…Won both majors as eighth seed (also 2015 Roland Garros)…Played exhibition in Abu Dhabi and took fourth place (Bye, l. to Raonic and Ferrer)

(5) Rafael Nadal                     Doha Runner-Up

Played exhibition in Abu Dhabi and won title (Bye, d. Ferrer and Raonic) …Opened season with runner-up in Doha (l. to Djokovic)…Trying to win first hard court title since 2014 Doha (d. Monfils)…Finished 2015 with a 17-5 record post-US Open and two finals (Beijing and Basel)…Looking to become only the 3rd player to win each Grand Slam event twice (after Roy Emerson and Rod Laver)

(6) Tomas Berdych                 Doha Semi-finalist

Opened with SF in Doha (l. to Djokovic)…New clothing sponsor is adidas…Playing in 50^th consecutive Grand Slam event…Reached Australian Open SFs in 2014-15 after advancing to QFs in 2011-13

(7) Kei Nishikori                      Brisbane Quarter-finalist

Reached Brisbane QF, losing to Tomic in three sets… Played 1 match in Kooyong Classic (d. Jasika 61 67 10-4)…Eighth straight major seeded in Top 10…Reached Australian Open QFs in 2012 and 2015

(8) David Ferrer                      Doha 1st Round, Auckland Semi-finalist

Opened season with 1R in Doha (l. to Marchenko in 3 sets) and took WC into Auckland, reaching SF (l. to Sock in 3 sets)…Now 0-2 in decisive sets this season after going 15-2 in 2015…Played exhibition in Abu Dhabi and earned 3^rd place (d. Tsonga, l. to Nadal, d. Wawrinka)

QUALIFIERS

The youngest and oldest players in the singles draw are two of the 16 qualifiers. Taylor Fritz (18) is the youngest and Radek Stepanek (37) is the oldest in the field

Five of the six players making their Grand Slam debuts at the Australian Open are qualifiers: Fritz, Jozef Kovalik, Mirza Basic and Argentines Marco Trungelliti and Renzo Olivo. The other is local wild card Omar Jasika

Here are the countries with the most qualifiers: U.S. (3), Argentina, France and Japan (2 each).

Biggest comebacks: Fritz rallied from 0-4 in third set to defeat Mischa Zverev 63 67 64 and Ryan Harrison saved 4 MPs in 2^nd set to beat Aleksandr Nedovyesov 67 76 63.

YOUNG ONES TO WATCH

Four teenagers finished in the Top 100 last year (Borna Coric at No. 44, Hyeon Chung at No. 51, Thanasi Kokkinakis at No. 80, Alexander Zverev at No. 83), which is the most since 2007 (Marin Cilic, Juan Martin del Potro, Ernests Gulbis, Evgeny Korolev, Donald Young). There were also 10 teenagers in the Top 200.

Coric, who is the youngest player in the Top 50, opened the season by reaching his first ATP World Tour final in Chennai (l. to Wawrinka). He was the first teenager in an ATP World Tour final since his countryman Cilic won New Haven in 2008.

There are seven teenagers in the main draw (most since 7 in 2008): Chung (19), Coric (19), Fritz (18), Halys (19), Jasika (18), Rubin (19), Zverev (18).

DOUBLES

The top seeds for the first time in a Grand Slam event are last year’s No. 1 team Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. The Wimbledon champs capped their season by winning the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

The Bryans are not seeded No. 1 in Melbourne for the first time since 2009. They finished No. 2 last year in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings. They have finished No. 1 in 10 of the last 13 years. They have won this event 6 times and hold the all-time team record of 16 Grand Slam titles.

Daniel Nestor is making his 22^nd appearance in the last 23 years (except 2000). He became the first player in the Open Era to win 1,000 doubles matches this past week in Sydney.

Among the new teams in 2016 are J. Murray/Soares (Sydney), Lopez/Lopez (Doha), Kontinen/Peers (Brisbane) and Kubot/Matkowski. The first 3 teams already have won titles in the first  2 weeks of the season.

In Case You Missed It

Viktor Troicki edged Grigor Dimitrov in a third-set tie-break in Sydney. Read

Roberto Bautista Agut prevailed in Auckland over Jack Sock. Read

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares started their year with a doubles title in Sydney. Read

Hometown hero Michael Venus and partner Mate Pavic triumphed in Auckland. Read

Birthdays

January 20 – Malek Jaziri (32)

January 21 – Nicolas Mahut (34)

January 23 – Pablo Andujar (30)

In the midst of arguably one of the greatest runs in ATP World Tour history, Novak Djokovic enters the 2016 Australian Open on top of the tennis world. But even with all his recent success, Djokovic appreciates how far he’s come, reflecting on his breakthrough victory down under in 2008.

“Every time I go back to Rod Laver Arena, I have these memories come back to me from the first win back in 2008, of course, some of the epic matches I’ve played on that court,” five-time champion Djokovic said. “I’ll try my best, as anybody else. I’m here to start from the very beginning, to start from the scratch, and see where it takes me.

“I think most of the players really enjoy being here in Australia, in Melbourne. It’s a country and city that nurtures sport’s values. Whether it’s professional athletes you see along the way, the sports facilities that are magnificent around here, or just the regular people that jog, spend a lot of time outdoors and take care of themselves.

“When you’re in an environment like this, you feel motivated, you feel inspired to be here, to actually perform at your best. This being one of the four most important and prestigious tournaments we have in this sport, of course it always does in a way extract the best out of each player. In my case, this has been the most successful Grand Slam tournament, and probably one of my two, three most successful tournaments of my career. I won it five times.”

Djokovic, who owns an Open Era record five Australian Open titles, is bidding to draw level with all-time record holder Roy Emerson. The Serb lifted his first trophy in 2008, completed a three-peat from 2011-13 and won once again in 2015. It is one of four tournaments he has won at least five times, along with the China Open in Beijing (6), Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (5) and the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami (5).

“I’m here to focus on Australian Open. As all the players taking part in this year’s first Grand Slam, I would like to do the best as I can and fight for the trophy.

“Hopefully I can play many matches. That means that I would do well. If I am able to do the same or better, like in 2015, I’m not sure. Honestly, as I said, it’s just the beginning. I try to take one tournament at a time.”

Djokovic opens his 12th Australian Open campaign against a dangerous opponent: 19-year-old Korean Hyeon Chung. One of four teens in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, World No. 51 Chung is coming off a breakout 2015 season which included match wins in seven tour-level events and four ATP Challenger Tour titles.

“He’s one of the rising stars of the tennis world,” Djokovic added. “I haven’t seen him play too much, honestly. I know that he’s a tall fellow. He hits pretty solid from back of the court. He doesn’t have maybe as powerful of a serve as you would expect for his height. But I’m going to do a little bit more analysis and research there and get myself ready.

“We talk about the pre-tournament, pre-season kind of mindset and approach each year. Especially having an opponent who is this young, who has nothing to lose, he wants to show to the world that he deserves to be there. Of course, that makes it even trickier for me. I need to try to be going out on the court with the right intensity from the very beginning.”

Djokovic faces Chung on Monday afternoon, third on Rod Laver Arena.

South Korean teenager Hyeon Chung was voted by his ATP World Tour peers as last year’s most improved player. On Monday at the Australian Open, we may just find out why.

Chung, who took up tennis as a young child for the purpose of improving his eyesight, will take on World No. 1 and hot Australian Open favourite Novak Djokovic on Rod Laver Arena. It will be Chung’s first meeting against the 10-time Grand Slam champion and his main draw debut at the year’s first major.

Despite the grand stage, don’t expect Chung to show too many nerves. After all, this is a guy who played – and won – the doubles final at the Asian Games in 2014 when the prize awaiting the champions was an exemption from South Korea’s compulsory two-year military service.

“At the beginning of the Games I didn’t think too much about it, but as I started getting closer to the final I started to get a little nervous as I knew I would get the exemption,” Chung told ATPWorldTour.com in Brisbane earlier this month.

Instead of a two-year military commitment, which would have severely impacted his tennis career, by winning gold Chung needed only to complete a four-week training camp during last year’s off-season. Although he enjoyed the experience, he’s the first to admit that he’s better suited to serving a tennis ball than serving as a sniper.

“I could barely see the target when I was shooting; I thought I’ll never be given an opportunity to shoot again. But it was a great experience as you get to know different people from different regions and different backgrounds. I made some new friends; understandably some people were a little jealous because after four weeks training I was getting out but it was just the start of their service.”

Had it not been for his eyesight, Chung may never have picked up a tennis racquet. It was his childhood doctor who recommended that he begin playing at age six as a means to improve his vision.

“Rather than just reading small letters, the doctor said it was better to go out on the tennis court and track the ball. That’s why I started. I’ve never considered wearing glasses on the court a disadvantage, because I’ve always worn glasses, even before I began to play tennis. It’s never been an issue for me.”

Last year, at No. 169 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Chung lost in the final round of qualifying at Melbourne Park and he did not play a tour-level match until the Miami Open in late March, when he received a wild card. Chung began 2015 playing six tournaments at the ATP Challenger and ITF Futures level; he ended it with seven ATP World Tour-level appearances (five in the main draw) and the last of his four Challenger titles of the year.

This year he is firmly in the main draw of the Australian Open at a career-high No. 51 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and comes into the tournament having pushed 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic to 7-5, 7-6(3) in the second round of the Brisbane International, following an impressive first-round win over big-serving Aussie Sam Groth.

At his last Grand Slam outing, Chung pushed Stan Wawrinka to three tie-breaks in the second round of the US Open.

“Stepping up from the Challengers to tour-level last year was a great experience, finding out that I am competitive with the best players in the world. It gave me some confidence and made me realise there is an opportunity if I keep working.

“Seeing my ranking improve so much did come as a bit of a surprise because at the beginning of the season I didn’t set a specific rankings goal. I had some good opportunities, like the wild card in Miami and qualifying into some other ATP World Tour tournaments, and they were great experiences. Now my goal is to just keep jumping up the rankings.”

Chung’s match with Djokovic is scheduled for third match on Rod Laver Arena.

Andy Murray was voted Ambassador of the Year by the International Tennis Writers Association. It is the second time the World No. 2 has won the honour, having previously claimed ITWA’s top award in 2012. The 120 members selected Murray for the award in recognition of the Scot’s on-court achievements, exemplary conduct and cooperation with the media.

Murray finished the 2015 season No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time and led Great Britain to its first Davis Cup title since 1936, going 8-0 in singles rubbers throughout the year and partnering brother Jamie Murray to three doubles rubber wins.

Paul Newman, co-president of ITWA, said: “[Andy] Murray has become one of the most eloquent players in the men’s game. We appreciate the respect that he gives to all his questioners, knowing that there are huge demands on his time.”

Garbine Muguruza was named Ambassador of the Year on the WTA Tour. Both players were presented with their awards ahead of the start of the Australian Open on Monday.