Ross Hutchins made a winning return to Grand Slam tennis just a year after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The Wimbledon-based tennis star announced his return by coming through the first round of the men's doubles at the Australian Open with partner Colin Fleming.

The Brits, ranked 29 in the world, beat Australian Marinko Matosevic and Poland's Michal Przysieszny 4-6 6-4 6-0 at Melbourne Park in temperatures that exceeded 40 degrees.

Hutchins, 28, missed the entire 2013 season after being diagnosed in December 2012, and instead turned his attentions to raising thousands of pounds for cancer charities.

He returned to competitive action with Scotland's Fleming at the end of 2013, after defeats in Auckland and Brisbane, the pair earned their first victory back together overnight.

Hutchins said: "It's an amazing feeling to be back, and especially to get our first win since coming back in 2014.

"I think we have played some good tennis throughout this year so far, but unfortunately we lost our first two matches. My level probably wasn't as high as I hoped it had been.

"But I think we did well to dig out a win today. It was brilliant and I'm loving the feeling right now."

Hutchins and Fleming will face either Rameez Junaid (Australian) and Adrian Mannarino (France), or the seventh seeds Rohan Bopanna (India) and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan) in the next round.