Australian Open: Petra Kvitova and Venus Williams crushes out; Djokovic and Serena cruises through to the 2nd round

Men’s Singles:

World Number 2 and defending champion Novak Djokovic advanced into the second round with a comfortable 6-3 7-6(2) 6-1 victory over Lukas Lacko. The second seed will next face Argentine Leonardo Mayer. Eight seeded Stanislas Wawrinka was also safely through to the 2nd round after his opponent Andrey Golubev retired hurt in the second set. World Number 3 David Ferrer also won his 1st round against Alejandro Gonzalez with minimum fuss. Tomas Berdych and Richard Gasquet both went through with the seventh seeded Czech beating Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-3 6-4 6-3 and ninth seed Gasquet downing fellow Frenchman David Guez 7-5 6-4 6-1. Mikhael Youzhny also sailed through to the 2nd round but World Number 12 Tommy Haas crashed out of the 1st round as he had to retire after being injured.

Women’s Singles:

Women’s singles saw plenty of seeded players fall with Thailand’s world number 88 Luksika Kumkhum springing the biggest upset of the Australian Open’s first day by bundling out sixth seed Petra Kvitova 6-2 1-6 6-4 in front of a frenetic crowd. Earlier, former World No. 1 and seven time grand slam winner Venus Williams was shocked by Ekaterina Makarova. Williams blew a 3-0 lead in the deciding set to crash out 2-6 6-4 6-4 at the hands of Russian Ekaterina Makarova. Julia Goerges of Germany beat World No. 7 Sara Errani (Italy) 6-3 6-2 and Zheng Jie beat 12-seed Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-3.

Meanwhile, World No. 1 Serena Williams started her title defence with a comprehensive win over Australian Ashleigh Barty, defeating the 17-year-old 6-2 6-1. Former French Open champion Li Na, twice a losing finalist at the Australian Open, also won her match, dispatching Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh 6-2 6-0 in just over an hour. The 31-year-old next faces another promising young talent in the second round after 16-year-old qualifier Belinda Bencic beat 43-year-old Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-4 4-6 6-3 in a battle of the generations. Ninth seed Angelique Kerber also went through defeating Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia 6-3 0-6 6-2.