Australian Open Day 1

Maria Sharapova (Rus) [2] beat Olga Puchkova (Rus) 6-0 6-0

The first match i watched of the tournament and i was expecting a nervous Sharapova at some stages of the match since this was her first tournament match of the season but she didn't show any signs of rustyness or nerves as she easily came through her fellow Russian opponent with 2 bagels but even though the scoreline looked as dominant as you can possibly get there was times in the match puchkova played some good tennis and kept in rallies well with Sharapova but didn't have enough in her locker to see out the all important points that she needed to win games, Sharapova double faulted a couple of times in the match but she also made up for it with 6 Aces, there were times when Puchkova had good chances to gain Momentum including right at the start of the match in the first game when she has chances to break Sharapova but didn't take them, with a bit more fight and believe Olga could have made Sharapova work harder and might have taken a few games but there didn't seem to be any kind of fight or believe on show in the opening round, Sharapova grow in confidence throughout the match after the first couple of tight games and her movement and serve seemed to spot on and deservedly won her place in Round 2 with a ruthless performance.

Samantha Stosur (Aus) [9] beat Kai-Chen Chang (Tpe) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

This was always going to be a tough match for Stosur in her home Country where it's no secret she hasn't got a very good record but she was looking to change that this year, she had played Chang last year in the Japan open where she lost 2-1, the first set was full of breaks mainly due to Errors from both players, neither player could gain any big lead in the set as they broke each other a total of 8 times to take the first set into a tie break, Stosur took control of the tie break racing to a 4-0 lead and then fought of a Chang comeback in the tiebreak to take the set with neither playing looking or playing any kind of convincing tennis, Stosur was a  bit better in the second set but her opponent must have been pretty dejected after the way the first set turned out, on the form Stosur is on i can't see her troubling the likes of Vika, Serena or Sharapova if she does go far into the tournament, but it's a winning start and she'll be pleased to have got through Chang

Venus Williams (US) [25] beat Galina Voskoboeva (Kaz) 6-1 6-0

Venus hasn't really been in the best form recently and she doesn't seem to have the weapons to cause problems anymore to any of the top players but when she's on form she can do some damage like Voskoboeva witnessed, I watched Voskoboeva when she faced Kerber at Sydney and even though she was having some problems with an Injury or Illness there was times she gave Kerber problems and hit some amazing winners past her top 10 opponent so before this match started i thought Voskoboeva might give Venus a good game and really push her but i was surprised to see Venus play so well and really take the game to her opponent with some great returning and a lot of variety in her game and looked like she was showing small signs of her old form several years ago, this was probably her best match since coming back in March and it will be interesting to see her play as well as this if she meets Sharapova in Round 3

Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) [4] beat Bojana Bobusic (Aus) 7-5 6-0

This match really was the tale of two sets, in the first set Bobusic was matching Aga with some great quality forehand winners she really made Aga dig deep to stay in the rallies, Aga looked uninterested for the most part of the first set and maybe a bit tired from her two tournament wins so far this, Bobusic was hitting hard and troubling Aga on occasions and cheered on my home support she got herself into a position at 5-4 to serve out the first set but in typical Radwanska fashion she battled back to break and then win the next two games to take the first set 7-5, the next set Aga went up a few gears and started playing like her usual self and not giving Bobusic any chances at all like she was in the first set, it was all over quickly with a Bagel to give Aga her 10th win of the year and keep her record of not losing a set this year in tact. 

Ana Ivanovic (Ser) [13] beat Melinda Czink (Hun) 6-2 6-1

Ivanovic started her Australian Open campaign with a pretty routine victory over Melina Czink, the serve toss still seems to be a bit of an issue for her but apart from that she looked in good shape in a match her opponent rarely troubled her, her ground game looked consistent as she closed out the match in exactly one hour, there is no way of knowing how far she'll go in the tournament based on this performance but she is showing promising signs of at least going on a good run this year

Heather Watson (GB) beat Alexandra Cadantu (Rom) 2-6 6-3 6-2

A Spirited comeback after a 15 minute medical timeout saw Heather Watson reach the 2nd round, everything was going wrong for Watson in the first set with her opponent moving well and outplaying Watson and then breaking Watson at 3-2 in the second set before both players called for medical assistance, Cadantu was having issues with her shoulder and Watson because of fatigue, after the Break Watson came out hitting hard and going for every shot like there was nothing to lose, she fought back and took the first set and then took the third set with little problems as it looked like she completely changed her tactics after the timeout and decided to take more risks which worked well for her in the end. 

Novak Djokovic (Ser) [1] beat Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) 6-2 6-4 7-5

Defending Champion Novak Djokovic who is looking to win the Australian Open for the third time in a row this year gave expectantly beat Mathieu, Mathieu played as well as he could against the World #1 and did well to win 11 games against Djokovic, he moved well around the court but he never gave Novak any reason to be alarmed in the match.

Janko Tipsarevic (Ser) [8] beat Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 6-7 5-7 3-6

Without a doubt the most talked about match of Round 1, Unseeded Lleyton Hewitt who was making his record 17th appearance was on a really impressive run of form with wins over Raonic, Berdych and Del Potro in the last week, Tipsarevic had reason to to be at his best against Hewitt in his home country, the first set was a close affair with some really good tennis as you'd expect from both of these players, Tipsarevic looked good all the way through the match and was raising to the occasion as much as Hewitt was, the took the first set in a tie break and the second set was just as close as the first until Tipsarevic broke and gained full momentum going into the third set where he sealed the win in straight sets, maybe the straight set scoreline was a little harsh on Lleyton but no one can deny that Tipsarevic was just simply the better player on the day, Hewitt can have no shame in losing the match though he played his part in 2 very tight enjoyable sets 

Almagro (Spa ) [10] beat Johnson (US) 7-5 6-7(4) 6-2 6-7(6) 6-2

This was a really unexpected enjoyable match between the 10th seed and the American Qualifier, Almagro himself probably wouldn't have expected the fight Johnson put up against him, even when he won the first set after breaking Johnson it was the American who fought back to take the second in a tie break, Almagro went 2-1 up but the American fought back again winning the second tie breaker of the match in the 4th set to make sure there would be a deciding set, in the deciding set Johnson looked like he had ran out of steam and Almagro closed out the match 6-2, Johnson can be pleased with his performance and take positives that he managed to take a top 10 player all the way to 5 sets 

Fernando Verdasco (Spa) [22] beat David Goffin (Bel) 6-3 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-4

Just like his fellow Spaniard Almagro, it was Verdasco's turn to make hard work of winning his 1st round match against the talented Goffin, Goffin came back from a set down against his seeded opponent and went 2-0 up but it looked like he was getting bothered by the heat and pace of the match as she let the lead slip and let Verdasco back into it and from there Verdasco took control of the 4th set with another break, in the deciding set Goffin was broken again early and Verdasco closed out the match and he will be thankful after being a break down in the fourth

Men's First-Round Scores: Day 1

Novak Djokovic (1) defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu; 6-2, 6-4, 7-5

David Ferrer (4) defeated Olivier Rochus; 6-3, 6-4, 6-2

Tomas Berdych (5) defeated Michael Russell; 6-3, 7-5, 6-3

Janko Tipsarevic (8) defeated Lleyton Hewitt; 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, 6-3

Nicolas Almagro (10) defeated Steve Johnson; 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2

Andrey Kuznetsov defeated Juan Monaco (11); 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, 6-1

Stanislas Wawrinka (15) defeated Cedrik-Marcel Stebe; 6-2, 6-4, 6-3

Kei Nishikori (16) defeated Victor Hanescu; 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3

Sam Querrey (20) defeated Daniel Munoz-De La Nava; 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-2, 6-4

Fernando Verdasco (22) defeated David Goffin; 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

Mikhail Youzhny (23) defeated Matthew Ebden; 4-6, 6-7 (0-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3

Jerzy Janowicz (24) defeated Simone Bolelli; 7-5, 6-4, 6-3

Jurgen Melzer (26) defeated Mikhail Kukushkin; 6-1, 6-1, 6-2

Marcos Baghdatis (28) defeated Albert Ramos; 6-7 (0-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

Radek Stepanek (31) defeated Viktor Troicki; 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5

Julien Benneteau (32) defeated Grigor Dimitrov; 6-4, 6-2, 6-4

Ryan Harrison defeated Santiago Giraldo; 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4

Kevin Anderson defeated Paolo Lorenzi; 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-4

Tatsuma Ito defeated John Millman; 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 0-6, 7-5

Feliciano Lopez defeated Arnau Brugues-Davi; 6-3, 6-2, 6-4

Roberto Bautista Agut defeated Fabio Fognini; 6-0, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 

Brian Baker defeated Alex Bogomolov Jr; 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-7 (0-7), 3-6, 6-2

Daniel Gimeno-Traver defeated Lukasz Kubot; 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4

Tobias Kamke defeated Flavio Cipolla; 6-1, 6-4, 6-1

Tim Smyczek defeated Ivo Karlovic; 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5

Xavier Malisse defeated Pablo Andujar; 6-3, 6-1, 6-2

Guillaume Rufin defeated Julian Reister; 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, 6-2

Edouard Roger-Vasselin defeated Ruben Bemelmans; 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 2-6, 7-5, 11-9

Lukas Lacko defeated Gilles Muller; 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)

Somdev Devvarman defeated Bjorn Phau; 6-3, 6-2, 6-3

Evgeny Donskoy defeated Adrian Ungur; 6-4, 6-4, 6-2

Carlos Berlocq defeated Maxime Authom; 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4), 6-2

Women's First-Round Scores: Day 1

Maria Sharapova (2) defeated Olga Puchkova; 6-0, 6-0

Agnieszka Radwanska (4) defeated Bojana Bobusic; 7-5, 6-0

Angelique Kerber (5) defeated Elina Svitolina; 6-2, 6-4

Li Na (6) defeated Sesil Karatantcheva; 6-1, 6-3

Samantha Stosur (9) defeated Kai-Chen Chang; 7-6 (7-3), 6-3

Marion Bartoli (11) defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues; 6-2, 6-4

Ana Ivanovic (13) defeated Melinda Czink; 6-2, 6-1

Dominika Cibulkova (15) defeated Ashleigh Barty; 3-6, 6-0, 6-1

Julia Goerges (18) defeated Vera Dushevina; 7-5, 2-6, 6-4

Ekaterina Makarova (19) defeated Michelle Larcher De Brito; 6-2, 7-5

Jelena Jankovic (22) defeated Johanna Larsson; 6-2, 6-2

Venus Williams (25) defeated Galina Voskoboeva; 6-1, 6-0

Sorana Cirstea (27) defeated Coco Vandeweghe; 6-4, 6-2

Ksenia Pervak defeated Mona Barthel (32); 7-5, 2-6, 6-4

Madison Keys defeated Casey Dellacqua; 6-4, 7-6 (7-0)

Lucie Hradecka defeated Kiki Bertens; 6-2, 7-6 (10-8)

Kirsten Flipkens defeated Nina Bratchikova; 6-4, 6-3

Romina Oprandi defeated Tsvetana Pironkova; 4-6, 7-5, 6-2

Yung-Jan Chan defeated Daniela Hantuchova; 6-1, 1-6, 6-1

Tamira Paszek defeated Stefanie Voegele; 4-6, 6-4, 7-5

Klara Zakopalova defeated Chanelle Scheepers; 6-1, 6-2

Heather Watson defeated Alexandra Cadantu; 2-6, 6-3, 6-2

Alize Cornet defeated Marina Erakovic; 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 10-8

Irina-Camelia Begu defeated Arantxa Rus; 6-4, 6-2

Olga Govortsova defeated Pauline Parmentier; 2-6, 6-3, 6-2

Jie Zheng defeated Yuxuan Zhang; 6-1, 3-6, 6-4

Valeria Savinykh defeated Mandy Minella; 7-6 (7-4), 6-1

Kristyna Pliskova defeated Sacha Jones; 6-3, 6-2

Vesna Dolonc defeated Olivia Rogowska; 5-7, 7-5, 8-6

Misaki Doi defeated Petra Martic; 6-3, 6-4

Stephanie Foretz Gacon defeated Camila Giorgi; 6-2, 6-3

Maria Joao Koehler defeated Karin Knapp; 3-6, 6-3, 6-3