OZ marathon: 84 games, 75 aces
The fans on Court 19 got their money's worth on Tuesday night, watching 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic set an Australian Open record for the longest match - in terms of games, in the tiebreak era -as he beat Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-7 (6), 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 22-20 in 5 hours and 15 minutes.
The fifth set took 2 hours, 37 minutes and Karlovic finished the match with an Australian Open record 75 aces.
The 84-game total broke by one game the mark previously set by Andy Roddick in a five-set win over Younes El Aynaoui in 2003.
Karlovic, who had the advantage of serving to take the lead in the final set, broke Zeballos' serve in the 42nd game of the set, with Zeballos sending an attempted return wide off the court to end the match.
Radwanska improves record
Third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska is through to the second round at Melbourne Park, beating Tsvetana Pironkova 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 in the last match late Tuesday on Rod laver Arena.
A semifinal loser last year to Serena Williams, Radwanska improved her career record to 10-3 against the 64th-ranked Pironkova.
Radwanska will next play Mirjana lucic-Baroni of Croatia, who beat Wang Qiang of China 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 earlier Tuesday.
Pliskova rolls on
Karolina Pliskova has backed up her strong performance at last year's US Open with a first-round win at Melbourne Park, beating Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2, 6-0 to open play Tuesday at Rod laver Arena.
The fifth-seeded Pliskova, who beat Serena Williams in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows last year before losing the U.S. Open final to Angelique Kerber, took a 4-1 first-set lead in under 20 minutes.
Pliskova has never advanced past the third round at Melbourne Park, losing each of the last two years at that stage to Ekaterina Makarova.
Birthday girl
Kerber, who plays fellow German Carina Witthoeft, will celebrate her 29th birthday on Wednesday. She is aiming to become the first player to defend the Australian Open women's title since Victoria Azarenka won in 2012 and 2013.
On Monday, Angelique Kerber, defending champion and ranked No 1 at a major for the first time, had some nervous moments in her 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win over lesia Tsurenko.