OREANDA-NEWS  The barrier of the first round of the men's and women's singles of the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament was successfully overcome by 14 Russians, seven were eliminated from the draw.

Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov and Pavel Kotov successfully competed in the men's singles. Medvedev, the first racket of Russia, will meet with the representative of Finland Emil Ruusuvuori in the second round. The match will take place on Thursday at three o'clock in the morning Moscow time. Khachanov and Rublev will be opposed by Americans Christopher Eubanks and Alexander Kovachevich, respectively. Kotov will take to the court against Italian Flavio Kobolli.

It also became known today that Pavlyuchenkova and Veronika Kudermetova won their first doubles victory. They beat their compatriots Anastasia Potapova and Yana Sizikova.

The Australian Open, which opens the season of four Grand Slam tournaments, runs until January 28. The prize fund of the competition amounted to more than 59 million dollars. Serbian Novak Djokovic, the current winner of the men's singles championship, will try to win the tournament for the 11th time.