19/01/2015 DAY 1: Australian Open 2015

DAY 1 -- AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2015

The first day of the first Grand Slam of the year saw some upsets and setbacks. The crowd at Melbourne witnessed a power packed day of tennis. Nadal, Federer, Sharapova, cruised through while Ana Ivanovic and Kerber crashed out.

Men’s Singles

33 matches were played. All the top seeds playing today cruised through calmly except 11^th seeded Gulbis. Nadal, returning after a long gap owing to injuries seemed to have found his rhythm. He played fluent tennis against the 48^th ranked Mikhail Youzhny. He defeated Youzhny in straight sets 6-3 6-2 6-2. Federer too had a good run against Yen hsun Lu. Yen was beaten 6-4 6-2 7-5.

Other top winners of the day were:

Andy Murray (6) defeated Yuki Bhambri of India (6-3; 6-4; 7-6)

Nick Kyrgios defeated Delbonis (7-6; 3-6; 6-3; 6-7; 6-3)

Dimitrov (10) defeated Brown (6-2; 6-3; 6-2)

Berdych (7) defeated Falla (6-3; 7-6; 6-3)

Gulbis (11) was defeated by Kokkinakis (7-5; 0-6; 6-1; 6-7; 6-8)

Baghdatis defeated Gabashvili (6-2; 6-7; 3-6; 6-4; 6-4)

Gasquet (24) defeated Berlocq (6-1; 6-3; 6-1)

Robredo (15) was injured in the first set itself. He was playing Roger-Vasselin.

Women’s Singles

Some stars were decimated in the women’s half of the Slam on the first day. Ivanovic, Kerber, Lisicki, Safarova, Vesnina crashed out. However, 2^nd seeded Sharapova cruised to the second round in straight sets defeating Martic 6-4; 6-1, 3^rd seeded Simona Halep too beat Knapp 6-3; 6-2 to reach the second round.

Other major matches of the day were:

Ivanovic (5) lost to Hradecka (6-1; 3-6; 2-6)

Mladenovic defeated Sabine Lisicki (28) (4-6; 6-4; 6-2)

Kerber (9) was defeated by Begu (4-6; 6-0; 1-6)

Eugenie Bouchard (7) defeated Friedsam (6-2; 6-4)

Garcia defeated Kuznetsova (6-4; 6-2)

Shui Peng (21) defeated Malek (6-4; 7-5)

Bettanie Sands defeated Duan (6-4; 3-6; 6-3)

Vesnina defeated by Siniakova (2-6; 5-7)

Sara Errani (14) defeated Grace Min (6-1; 6-0)

Makarova (10) defeated Mestach (6-2; 6-2)

Shvedova defeated Safarova (16) (6-4; 2-6; 8-6)

India’s Challenge at Australian Open 2015

Yuki Bhambri was the sole Indian qualifier on the playing on the first day of the Open. He lost to Murray after giving a good fight. He lost 6-3; 6-4; 7-6.

Tomorrow (20/01/2015) at Australian Open

The prominent players featuring tomorrow are Nishikori (5), Verdasco (31), Wawrinka (4), Ferrer (9), Djokovic (1) and Hewitt in the men’s event. Hantuchova, Azarenka, Schiavone, Wozniacki (8), Kvitova (4), Williams sisters (1 and 18) will feature in the women’s event.