Yorkshire’s Francesca Jones loses out to Nadia Podoroska ahead of grand slam bow at Australian Open

Boulter is ranked down at 371 after a lengthy spell out with a back injury in 2019 and the Gippsland Trophy is just her second WTA event in close to two years.

But the 24-year-old was dominant against 107th-ranked Russian Kalinskaya, winning 6-1 6-3 to set up a second-round tie against American teenager Coco Gauff, who battled past Jil Teichmann 6-3 6-7 (6) 7-6 (5).

Fifth seed Johanna Konta will play American Bernarda Pera after a bye in the first round.

Norrie, who began his season by reaching the semi-finals of the Delray Beach Open, led early against 15th seed Tommy Paul of the US at the Murray River Open, but the American fought back in the second set to take the match 4-6 7-6 (2) 6-3.

Dan Evans will begin his campaign in the second round after receiving a bye and will face either Portugal’s Pedro Sousa or local wildcard Li Tu.

Jones, from Bradford, was making her tour-level debut at the Yarra Valley Classic but found 14th seed Nadia Podoroska a real step up, last year’s French Open semi-finalist winning 6-1 6-3.

Jones, 20, has rightly been lauded for achievement in qualifying for the Australian Open and will make her grand slam main-draw debut in Melbourne.

Serena Williams revealed she may not have been able to play the Australian Open had it not been delayed due to the pandemic.

After beating Daria Gavrilova 6-1 6-4, Williams said: “The delay was great for me because I needed the time, because I couldn’t practice because of my Achilles.”

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