Australian Open: Heather Watson and Dan Evans through but Harriet Dart out in first round

Heather Watson and Dan Evans both moved into the Australian Open second round, but qualifiers Harriet Dart and Liam Broady were beaten.

Watson fought back in the final set to beat Egypt's Mayar Sherif 6-3 5-7 6-2.

Dan Evans, the 24th seed, performed superbly to defeat Belgium's David Goffin 6-4 6-3 6-0.

Harriet Dart lost 6-3 6-0 to Iga Swiatek and Liam Broady was beaten 6-4 6-4 6-3 by home favourite Nick Kyrgios on a noisy John Cain Arena.

Watson, 29, will play 29th seed Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia after she edged out Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 3-6 6-3 7-6 (10-8).

Evans, 31, lost in the first round in Melbourne last year but broke the serve of Goffin, a former Australian Open quarter-finalist, at the beginning of the second and third sets on his way to victory.

He will play Arthur Rinderknech next after the Frenchman beat Australia's Alexei Popyrin 7-5 4-6 6-2 3-6 6-3.

Broady downed by Kyrgios in entertaining encounter

It meant a lot to Broady to make it through qualifying and into the main draw for the first time, and he looked ready to enjoy the experience of facing Kyrgios on his favourite court.

Kyrgios, who tested positive for Covid-19 last week, started smartly, breaking Broady with ease in the first game, and there were his usual tricks - an underarm serve here, a through-the-legs shot there - as the Australian held the advantage to claim the first set.

The second set mirrored the first with an immediate break for Kyrgios, who maintained the advantage to take a two-set lead.

Broady exerted a little scoreboard pressure by holding at the start of the third set, but found himself broken before the first changeover.

Another break sealed the victory for Kyrgios, setting up a tasty second-round meeting with world number two Daniil Medvedev.

Dart outclassed after good start

After coming through Australian Open qualifying for the third time in her career, 123rd-ranked Dart was handed another plum first-round draw which again put her on Rod Laver Arena.

She suffered a chastening debut in the 15,000-seater arena in 2019 thanks to a 6-0 6-0 thrashing by former champion Maria Sharapova, and lost 6-2 6-4 to former world number one Simona Halep the following year.

Dart, who won five matches in a warm-up tournament and qualifying this month, broke 2020 French Open champion Swiatek for a 2-1 lead in the first set and hurt the Pole with some classy winners.

But 20-year-old Swiatek found her rhythm, winning five games in a row to turn the match in her favour.