Melbourne (AFP)

Naomi Osaka, defending champion, and Serena Williams, in search of a 24th Grand Slam trophy, kicked off the Australian Open on Monday, a time threatened by air pollution linked to the monster fires ravaging Australia.

Grégoire Barrère, winner in the pain of the Egyptian Mohamed Safwat (173rd in the world) 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), is the first Frenchman to join the second round, pending the entries scheduled for Monday from Caroline Garcia, Fiona Ferro, Pauline Parmentier, Benoît Paire, Ugo Humbert, Corentin Moutet and Quentin Halys.

But if the air had become breathable again, it was the rain this time that forced the organizers to suspend the matches on the annex courts at 3:00 p.m. (5:00 a.m. French), which disrupted the program, including the French. Because none was scheduled Monday on one of the three main courts where the games continued under the closed roof.

Roger Federer succeeded Serena in the Rod Laver Arena where the defending champion Novak Djokovic was to close the night session.

The Spanish Paula Badosa (97th) opened hostilities against the Swedish Johanna Larsson (215th) and was the first qualified in this first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

But the first qualified figure was Osaka, 4th in the world, who easily dismissed the Czech Marie Bouzkova (59th), 6-2, 6-4.

"I had never played against her and for me it's always difficult to play someone you don't know in the first round of a Grand Slam. But, my God, she is younger than me so I think that we will often meet in the future, "said the 22-year-old Japanese woman. Bouzkova is 21 years old.

She did not exercise an overwhelming domination, yielding in particular her service in the second round and committing numerous direct faults (28 in total against 13 for Bouzkova), but she nevertheless dismissed her opponent without needing to work too hard.

After losing her service in the second set, led 4-2, she raised her level and aligned four games in a row to win in 1:20.

- Broken fillet -

The game was briefly interrupted at the start of the second inning when Osaka broke the loop that holds the strap in the center of the net for powerful ... but very low service.

It was then Serena Williams who made a short representation of 58 minutes to beat the Russian Anastasia Potapova (90th) 6-0, 6-3.

"I started well, but she fought well," said the 38-year-old American with a smile.

After flying over the first run in 19 minutes, Serena Williams made more mistakes in the second (13 direct faults versus 3 in the first run), and even gave up her throw-in to be taken 2-1. But she immediately broke down and imposed herself without being afraid.

- "Olympia's mom" -

"She doesn't realize it, all that matters to her is the plasticine. However, I tell her that I am someone!" Confided Serena Williams about her daughter in a burst of to laugh. "In my neighborhood, I'm just + Olympia's mom + ... and I love it!".

The Australian Open, a time threatened by toxic fumes, started well on Monday at 11:00 am (01:00 French) with an air quality deemed "good" by the health authorities of Melbourne: 3 on a scale where it was decided to suspend matches from 200.

Last Tuesday, the organizers had created the controversy by allowing the qualifying matches to take place when the air quality had been deemed "dangerous" and that the municipality had officially urged residents not to leave their homes and even recommended to keep pets inside.

The huge fires that have been raging since September in Australia have left 28 dead and devoured 10 million hectares, an area larger than that of South Korea or Portugal.

© 2020 AFP