Live: Aus Open fans run for cover as thunderstorm batters Melbourne Park

Tennis players are renowned for being creatures of habit and Mirra Andreeva is no different.

Meeting with reporters after her straight-sets win over Marie Bouzková, 17-year-old Andreeva admitted her coach Conchita Martinez has tried to curb her superstitions.

But according to the good-natured Andreeva, Martinez herself is guilty of having a superstitious side.

At the Brisbane International, there was a moment [after] I won my first match and she was doing the recovery shake for me, and she spilled the powder all over the players’ desk.

Since then she was coming there after each match I won and she was spilling the powder. I didn’t know about this.

So, the girl from the players’ desk told me, and I was like, ‘OK, but you (Martinez) told me [we need to] stop this and you do it by yourself’.

So, I guess the moment to stop is not here yet. We’re going to continue. Maybe next year we try to avoid it. But not for now.

Andreeva revealed her superstitions dictate her diet during a tournament.

If I start the tournament eating chicken and rice, well, I cannot change after.

I cannot take pasta or I cannot take anything else. I will always take chicken and rice.

I have a pretty special thing. I like to eat rice with a bit of parmesan cheese on top. I don’t know. I have never seen anyone doing that, but I really like it.

If I start like this, I’ve got to continue like this. Even if I’m tired, I have no choice, but I have to eat it.

Twenty-year-old 20th seed Arthur Fils is into the second round after a four-set win over Finland’s Otto Virtanen, but it wasn’t easy.

The Frenchman was shocked when Virtanen, playing his first Australian Open, won the first set 6-3 and served for the second at 6-5.

But Fils fought back to win a second-set tie-break and went on to take the final sets 6-4, 6-4.

He said he went back to basics after a less than desirable start.

“I was playing like shit,” Fils says on court.

“It was really tough. I just tried to put the ball inside the court and tried to run. I’m really happy about the way I did it.”

Fils says his next game is supposed to be on Wednesday.

“I have some days to recover and practice. I think I need some practice.”

No great news if you’ve got a ground pass: there’ll be no action on the outside courts before 4pm AEDT, the Aus Open just announced.

Meanwhile, the roofed arenas are packed with people out in masses, drinks in hand, to watch sixth seed Casper Ruud on Rod Laver Arena against Jaume Munar and Arthur Fils and Otto Virtanen on Margaret Court Arena.

Navigating between arenas is no easy task with fans all harbouring indoors.

As we wait for the rain to stop to let the outside courts dry off, he’s who’s on court under the roofs:

• Sixth seed Casper Ruud has just hit Rod Laver Arena for his match-up with Spanish world number 61 Jaume Munar.
• Arthur Fils is in the fourth set against Otto Virtanen on Margaret Court Arena. Twentieth-seeded Fils is leading two sets to one.
• On John Cain Arena, Kei Nishikori is playing his first Australian Open since 2021, dropping the first set against Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro.

The Chinese Olympic gold medallist gets into a groove in the second set of her opening Australian Open match against Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni and moves into the second round with a 7-6(7/3), 6-1 victory in near enough to two hours.

I’m sure it was a trickier match than Qinwen Zheng was expecting, but it’s always good to get a genuine contest under your belt in these long tournaments.

Coming off her run to the 2024 final in Melbourne, the fifth seed hasn’t played since the WTA Finals in early November.

Next up is American Hailey Baptise or Germany’s Laura Siegemund.

G’day Alex,

The Australian Open started a day early this year and last year in order to alleviate some concerns about the compressed schedule and to overloading players if matches run long or the weather intervenes.

Having the extra day means players shouldn’t be put in situations where they finish a match in the wee hours of the morning and then are back on court later that night.

The 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz and 23-year-old Jannik Sinner split the 2024 grand slams 2-2 in a year that truly marked the arrival of generation next.

Today they’re side by side training out of the rain at Melbourne Park.

Russian 14th seed Mirra Andreeva shed some light on her relationship with coach and 1994 Wimbledon winner Conchita Martinez, saying she’s definitely not a “chill” presence.

“It depends on her mood, to be honest, and it depends if I work well,” she said on court after beating Marie Bouzkova 6-3, 6-3 to become the first player through to the second round.

Andreeva described the Spaniard as an “OK coach” before quickly catching herself.

“Oh my god, I’m in trouble guys,” she said.

The 17-year-old did say Martinez — who reached world number two and played three slam finals, including her 1994 Wimbledon win — has taught her to be more aggressive in her play.

“I would say with her I kind of became closer to fearless. For example, before I would never go to play a volley on a match point … [but today] I just decided to go for it and it worked.”

And as for what the teenager has taught her coach:

“Now she has a better sense of humour. Before I would say it was not so good, it was OK, and now she’s with me everyone’s always laughing at her jokes thanks to me.”

The Romanian qualifier is getting treatment on court on a hip or lower back injury.

She’s currently down 0-3 in the second set after dropping the first against Qinwen Zheng.

After dropping the first set to world number 92 Otto Virtanen, French 20th seed Arthur Fils looked set to go down two sets when he was broken to love and Virtanen served for the set at 5-4.

But Fils broke straight back and both players held to love to send the second set to a tie-break, which Fils won 7-4.

We initially were told there would be no play on the uncovered courts before 2pm at the earliest, but that’s been revised back another hour as the heavy rain continues.

I expect we’ll start seeing some of those available slots under roofs on Laver, Court and Cain will be filled pretty soon.

The 2024 runner-up converts her second set point at 6-3 as a looping forehand drops just in and takes the back of the baseline.

Zheng let three set points slip on serve at 5-4 but eventually converts in the breaker.

Qualifier Anca Todoni, after battling so hard to force the tie-break, now has to start again against the Olympic gold medallist under the roof on Rod Laver Arena.

Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni has three set points on Qinwen Zheng‘s serves at 5-6 in the first set on Rod Laver Arena, but the fifth seed fights back to force the tie-break.

The 2024 runner-up is in Australia without Spanish coach Pere Riba, who is recovering from hip surgery. Interestingly, we saw Carlos Alcaraz surprisingly struggle at last year’s Australian Open without his own Spanish mentor, Juan Carlos Ferrero.

We have our first winner of the Australian Open main draw, and it’s Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva.

She’s beaten world number 42 Marie Bouzkova 6-3, 6-3 to end a summer that started well for the Czech with a quarterfinal berth at the Brisbane International.

“It was a bit tough for me when they started closing the roof. I didn’t understand it’s still moving,” Andreeva says on court.

“It’s not easy but it’s three times better than [a rain delay]. I’m very happy to play today on a stadium with a roof.”

Andreeva, who shocked the world by beating sixth seed Ons Jabeur en route to the fourth round as a 16-year-old at last year’s tournament, will play either Moyuka Uchijima or Magda Linette in the second round.

Poland’s Linette actually beat Andreeva in the first round of the Paris Olympics last year, just a few weeks after Andreeva went all the way to the semifinals at the French Open.

Bouzkova, meanwhile, departs after signing a few autographs and gifting a towel. She’ll go get ready for the doubles alongside Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Last year’s runner-up, Qinwen Zheng, was up 5-4 and 40-0 serving for the first set against qualifier Anca Todoni, but dropped all three set points.

It wasn’t a matter of Zheng choking, but more Todoni going for her shots.

Not only did she storm back to break serve, she also jumped out to a 40-0 advantage on her own serve and held to force Zheng to serve to stay in the first set.

Well, it’s not quite what organisers or fans wanted as the constant rain across Melbourne Park has dampened the day one vibes somewhat.

The sound of tennis balls being hit at lightning speed across the outdoors courts has been replaced with thunder breaking in the heavy clouds.

But quite remarkably that hasn’t kept the masses away. There’s a decent queue to enter the park and plenty of people taking cover in all the undercover areas.

While play has been suspended on all outdoors courts – with puddles forming on Kia Arena – all the main courts are packed houses.

Perhaps a day for hot chips and coffee rather than ice cream or cold drinks.

A massive thunder clap sounds like someone just dropped a mid-sized sedan on the roof of Rod Laver Arena as Anca Todoni serves to stay in the first set against 2024 finalist Qinwen Zheng.

Australian Open organisers say there won’t be any play on outside courts for at least another 90 minutes.

After winning the first set against Marie Bouzkova, 14th seed Mirra Andreeva has started the second in style, much to the delight of coach and 1994 Wimbledon winner Conchita Martinez.

The other matches still going are Qinwen Zheng (5) vs Anca Todoni (Q) on Rod Laver Arena and Arthur Fils (20) vs Otto Virtanen on Margaret Court Arena.

Australian Omar Jasika’s match on Court 3 against Frenchman Hugo Gaston is suspended as the rain settles in at Melbourne Park.

The matches on Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena will continue under their roofs, but Jasika and the rest of the players on outside courts have been forced off.

It’s particularly bad news for Jasika, who had dropped the first set but was swinging momentum his way in the second game of the second set.

He held his serve to start the second frame and had six break points on Gaston’s serve. The game had just returned to deuce for the sixth time when the rain forced them back inside.

It started pretty gently, but it’s really settling in now and there are a few lightning strikes now.