As usual the first day of a Grand Slam had action all over the grounds and there is plenty of news to report form the Australian Open. With the temperature blazing to start the day, no seeds were upset although a few were pushed to four and some even five sets to escape through the first round. Here are a few of the seeds scores.
#2 Federer def. Seppi 6-1 7-6 7-5
#3 Djokovic def. Stoppini 6-2 6-3 7-5
#7 Roddick def. Rehnquist 6-0 6-2 6-2
#8 Del Potro def. Zverev 6-3 6-4 6-2
#10 Nalbandian def. Gicquel 6-1 4-6 6-2 6-3
Roddick looked very good in his opener, completely dominating Rehnquist. His improved balance on his forehand is noticeable, with his stance having his feet closer together. Djokovic played better than his previous results of 2009, despite being down 0-4 in the third set. He still has a while to go to reach the level he played at last year however. Who knows if everyone talking about his racquet change will start to wear on him if the results aren’t there. Federer while not dominant, got through relatively easy, in a fairly tough first round encounter. Del Potro looked very good in his opener and looks like he could make some noise here. He is looking in even better shape than last year and that has always been his achilles heel. Obviously with Nalbandian, you have come to realize you don’t know what to expect. Maybe he was a little tired after winning the title in Sydney last week, or maybe he just took a set off after winning 6-1 in the first.
Bernard Tomic (pictured) was able to capture his first ATP Tour level win in his home country. He is the second youngest player to compete at the Aussie, Lleyton Hewitt being the youngest, at 16. Despite the age he is 6′3 and has been touted as the next tennis star out of Australia. He has quite large shoes to fill with his country’s rich tennis history, but from what I saw he has quite a bit of raw ball striking ability. He has a good shot in the second round as he plays Gilles Meuller who beat Feliciano Lopez 6-3 7-6 4-6 4-6 16-14 in the longest match in Aussie Open history time wise. With the heat how it was, Meuller will have a tough time recovering by tomorrow as both players looked completely gassed at the end of that match.
David Ferer was able to hang on by a thread winning in five sets over Dennis Gremelmayr. I feel Ferrer has run out of gas a little in his carrer and for somebody who has no weapons except he grinds all day, that is disaster. Sam Querrey had a disappointing first round loss to Philipp Kohlscrieber, who is a quality opponent, but a lot of people are expecting big things from Querrey this year. To go out in straight sets is not a great way to start off the season. It was not a great day for Americans as Taylor Dent, Robby Ginepri, John Isner, Robby Kendrick, and Bobby Reynolds also made first round exits.
