Australian Open 2009 - A Summary: Round One

So the first major of the year is all over. Before, ridiculously, I even managed to get this blog up-and-running! Never mind - I thought this round-by-round summary would also serve as an introduction to those I'll be keeping a close eye on over the remainder of the season.

First Round

Withdrawals before a ball had even been hit for Nicolas Kiefer (ankle injury) and Filippo Volandri (three-month ban).

Easy as you like for the top seeds: Nadal, Federer, Djokovic et al advancing in straights. Pre-tournament favourite Andy Murray, unbeaten in 2009 after wins at both the Abu Dhabi exhibition and Doha for the second year running, had an even easier passage against veteran Andrei Pavel, who retired midway through the second set of their match with a back injury. A far cry from Murray's classic five-set tussle with Pavel at the 2005 US Open, which resulted in the Scot vomiting on court midway through the fifth set - Pavel, sadly, announcing his retirement from the sport after the match.

Home favourite Lleyton Hewitt, coming back from a six-month layoff with a hip injury, was handed a tough first round against the 13th seed Fernando Gonzalez, and duly went down in five. Other notable first-rounds on the men's side included Gilles Muller - Luxembourg's sole representative - winning an epic against 27th seed Feliciano Lopez - 16-14 in the fifth! Former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero, fading away from the top 100, suffered another setback against 35-year old Fabrice Santoro, playing in his last Australian Open. Another former number one, Carlos Moya, failed to show much form against qualifier Evgeny Korolev, the 1997 finalist losing tamely in straights. German Phillip Petzschnner, winner in Vienna a few months previously, lost a shocker against outsider Brian Dabul. Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Xavier Malisse, having come through qualifying following what seems like years of injury nightmares, upset Michael Llodra. Seeds Rainer Schuettler and Dmitry Tursunov- the former a respectable loss to Israel's Dudi Sela, a good player on his day, but Tursunov really has no excuse losing to a poor player like Flavio Cipolla.

What else on the men's side? Having already covered many of my favourites - Kiefer, Murray, Muller, Llodra, Schuettler, Tursunov, Petzschner - how did the rest fare? Richard Gasquet did enough to get past Junquiera; Mario Ancic, originally scheduled to play Volandri, needed four to get past the decent-but-not-spectacular Wayne Odesnik; Teimuraz Gabashvili, as expected on a non-televised court against Marcel Granollers - I expect his usual temperamental, racket-bashing-against-the-head antics were on offer during a four set defeat; Nicolas Lapentti - almost a decade removed from his days in the top ten - was an unsurprising loser against Radek Stepanek; Arnaud Clement, another former finalist, needed five to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky; Phillipp Kohlschreiber surprised me with an easy win against potentially dangerous Sam Querrey; Alberto Martin, away from his beloved clay, went out to Vic Troicki; 10th seeded David Nalbandian took care of Marc Gicquel in four; Paul-Henri Mathieu had a lucky break when Jarrko Nieminen was forced to retire; Marat Safin's last season on tour kicked off with a win over Ivan Navarro; Marcos Baghdatis and Simone Bolelli won through against Julien Benneteau and Kristof Vliegen respectively; Robby Ginepri, given a tough draw against Tomas Berdych, the 20th seed, went out in straights; and finally, an ageing Agustin Calleri faded away against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. A lot to sum up - I often forget just how many players I actively root for on the men's side.

A briefer summary of the WTA - I'll save for a later blog post the reasons why I'm no longer following women's tennis as closely as I once did. Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik was out before the tournament began. Ana Ivanovic survived a horrendous match against Julia Goerges - despite wild errors and huge problems with her ball toss. Lucky Ivanovic, her opponent was as erratic as she was most of the match. Routine wins for Jankovic, the Williams sisters, et al. Amelie Mauresmo, still trying to regain something of her 2006 form, eased to victory in straights. Hungarian Agnes Szavay, suffering through a year-long slump, went out in round one again to Galina Voskoboeva. As for the Brits, well, four women in the main draw for the first time since 1993 was impressive, with three coming through the qualifying. Anne Keothavong, on the edge of the top 50, impressed for one set against the seeded Anna Chakvetadze. Katie O'Brien and Melanie South went out in straights to Monica Niculescu and Marion Bartoli respectively. Elena Baltacha, on the cusp of the top 100 for the umpteenth time, however, provided some cheer with an easy straight sets win over one-time top 20 player Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

Something of an epic post this I admit, and I don't intend this blog to serve as a summing-up of a bunch of random results in any given tournament. Hopefully, though, these opening posts will serve as both a 'catch-up' on the year's first slam and a brief overview of those players I have more than a passing interest in.