The top favourites to win the men’s and women’s singles of the 2014 Australian Open play on opening day of the first Grand Slam of the year.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic faces Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko to open his campaign as second seed in the tournament Down Under. In the distaff side, world No. 1 and top seed Serena Williams of the United States of America takes on Ashleigh Barty from Australia.

This is the first meeting between Djokovic and Lacko. The Serbian did not join any warm-up tournament leading up to the Aussie Open while Lacko is 1-2 in 2014 losing to American John Isner in the Round of 16 of the 2014 Heineken Open in New Zealand.

The online sports books don’t see much of an upset happening in this first round match-up. Djokovic is a huge favourite at 1.004 while Lacko’s betting line is at 41.0. The game handicap is at Djokovic (-10.5 games).

The 26-year-old Serbian has won the last three titles in Australian grand slam. A fourth would put him in history books once again as the first man to win five Australian Open titles in the Open Era.

Similarly and expectedly, women’s top player Williams has a money line of 1.002 to win her match versus the Australian qualifier, who is pegged at 41.0 to win the match. Serena’s favoured to win by 7.5 games.

Watch the first round of the 2014 Australian Open with AO TV Live from the official tournament website.

Other top seeds are also playing on opening day. All times AEDT.

Men’s Singles
 11:00 a.m. - S. Wawrinka vs. A. Golubev
12:30 p.m. - T. Berdych vs. O. Nedovyesov
12:30 p.m. - D. Ferrer vs. A. Gonzales
7:00 p.m.- N. Djokovic vs. L. Lacko

Women’s Singles
 12:30 p.m. - N. Li vs. A. Konjuh 12:30 p.m.
2:00 p.m. - S. Errani vs. J. Georges 2:00 p.m.
3:30 p.m. - P. Kvitova vs. L. Kumkhum 3:30 p.m.
8:30 p.m. - S. Williams vs. A. Barty 8:30 p.m.