Never one to risk being understated, this moment of magic from Nick Kyrgios earned him an early break against British qualifier Liam Broady.

The Australian is a break up in the third now and closing in on victory.

Emma Raducanu’s opponent in that famous US Open final last September, Leylah Fernandez, endured a difficult return to the grand slam stage. The 19-year-old was beaten overnight in her first-round match against Maddison Inglis

Raducanu will be trying to avoid that same fate when she takes on Sloane Stephens, with the pair expected on court in the next hour.

There have been no such wobbles from Kyrgios. The Australian has been in full pomp from the off and wraps up the second set with another thunderous ace.

That’s much better from Sabalenka, who has really struggled against Sanders. The No 2 seed breaks the Australian’s serve and has the chance to serve out the second set at 5-3. She races into a 40-0 lead, wobbles with a double fault, but then manages to close it out and put a tense match back on level terms.

Kyrgios is soaking up every minute of the crowd’s support. They’re mimicking Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘Siuuu’ celebration in response to the Australian’s imaginative shotmaking, he gears them up further with a bit of back and forth, and then closes out the game with an ace. After a quick hold by Broady to 15, Kyrgios will now serve for the second set.

Sabalenka is being dragged into really deep water by Sanders. Already trailing by a set against the world No 128, she fell a break down in the second before battling back. On serve at 3-3, the No 2 seed is then forced to save two more break points in another gruelling game.

Broady is hanging in there valiantly but he’s struggling to deal with Kyrgios’ power. The Australian has won 86% of points on his first serve and landed 12 aces. He’s a break and a set up.

Broady is struggling badly on his first serve and hands Kyrgios another early break. The Briton has his back against the wall now after losing the first set 6-4.

Elsewhere, Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 2, is in a spot of bother against Australian wildcard Storm Sanders.

Sanders, who is ranked No 128 in the world, has never made it past the first round of a grand slam in her singles career, but has taken the first set 7-5 against Sabalenka.

Daniil Medvedev was broken in his opening service game against Henri Laaksonen in a rare display of nerves but quickly rattled off six games in succession to dominate the set.

The Russian, who defeated Djokovic in last year’s US Open final, is the favourite in the Serbian’s absence.

However, he attempted to divert that new layer of pressure after his 6-1 6-4 7-6(3) win, insisting Rafael Nadal’s grand slam record makes him the man to beat.

“I like pressure but last year I started well here in Australia in the ATP Cup and I managed to be in the final here,” he said on court afterwards.

“The tournaments in Australia are always really important for me. I like to play in Australia on hard courts. I want to do better here than I did last year but it’s not going to easy.

“I always say whoever is the highest ranked is the favourite so this time I will go with Rafa because he has 20 grand slams.”