HH Sports View: Australian Open Kicks off with a blistering start

World No 1 Djokovic begins historic quest with straight-sets win over Mathieu:

Novak Djokovic's bid to make history at the Australian Open started impressively today as the world No 1 swept aside the challenge of Paul-Henri Mathieu.Djokovic is hoping to become the first man in the Open era to win three successive titles in Melbourne and looked in ominously good form from the outset with an entertaining 6-2 6-4 7-5 win over the experienced Frenchman.There were also wins on day one for seeds Tomas Berdych, Nicolas Almagro, Stanislas Warwinka and Kei Nishikori.Mathieu, a former top-12 player, held his own for much of the second and third sets but Djokovic always appeared in control on his first competitive appearance on Rod Laver Arena since his thrilling near six-hour final win over Rafael Nadal last year.The Serbian set the tone in the opening game by breaking and claimed the Mathieu serve once again courtesy of a stunning backhand pass to establish a 4-1 first-set advantage.He duly saw out the set and then broke again to open the second.Mathieu threatened an immediate response but some booming serves from Djokovic enabled him to escape from 0-40.Serve held sway for the rest of the set as it did in the third until Djokovic upped his level with a series of stunning winners to take a 6-5 lead.And from there, there was no way back for Mathieu as Djokovic advanced to a meeting with American Ryan Harrison.Djokovic enjoyed his return to the biggest arena at Melbourne Park.He said: 'It's great to be back in Melbourne, this is by far my most successful court in my grand slam career.'Twelve months ago I played a six-hour final here so it's amazing to be back.'

Sharapova cruises to opening victory with double-bagel win over compatriot Puchkova:

Maria Sharapova dispelled any uncertainty over her fitness with a ruthless demolition of Olga Puchkova at the Australian Open today.The Russian was forced to pull out of the warm-up event in Brisbane after suffering a collarbone injury shortly before Christmas.But in her first competitive match of 2013 she showed no signs of rustiness by brushing aside her Russian countrywoman 6-0 6-0 in just 55 minutes.Sharapova's dominance was only threatened in the early stages when Puchkova, ranked 107 in the world, held two break points in the opening game but the second seed gave an early demonstration of her physical state with two booming aces to avert the danger.From there on in it was a procession as the first match of the tournament on the main show court - Rod Laver Arena - ended in a disappointing no-contest.Sharapova reached the final last year before being crushed by world No 1 Victoria Azarenka and she is hoping to go one better this year and repeat her Melbourne triumph of 2008.She said: 'After a couple of close games I started to concentrate a bit better.'I didn't want to focus on the fact I hadn't played a lot of matches but just focus on what was ahead of me and really be aggressive.'Today was a good scoreline.'Although she didn't drop a game, Sharapova insisted there was still room for improvement.'It's tough to feel completely satisfied,' she said.'You always want to improve on things and work on certain things that you feel will help you in the later rounds towards the end of the second week.'But overall I was happy with the way I started considering I didn't play any matches coming in.'

Watson channels her winning spirit to fight back for maiden Australian Open victory:

The nuggety qualities that Heather Watson possesses in abundance shone through as she clinched her first-ever victory at the Australian Open due to sheer bloody minded perseverance.The British No 1 handled gusty conditions and the niggling, consistent play of Romania’s Alexandra Cadantu to win through 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and 24 minutes, mercifully not in the extreme high temperatures of last week.It was more like a pleasant summer’s day as she battled away after a terrible start that betrayed her recent lack of match practice. This was not a fluent performance but just about enough to set up a second round against either Germany’s 32nd seed Mona Barthel or Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan.Watson’s match turned after a 15-minute delay mid second set when both players were seen by the physio and doctor. Until then the Galloping Guern’s forehand had been all over the place, struggling to incorporate the improvements on it she has been trying to introduce.The only Brit in action on the first day, there was thankfully no repeat of ‘Black Monday’ 12 months ago, when all five British players went down, leaving only Andy Murray intact.Watson had a long walk out to court No 13, so far tucked away from the main arena that it is almost in downtown Melbourne.Her preparation had not been ideal, having had to pull out of last week’s WTA event in Tasmania to rest a sore elbow that became inflamed the previous week. However she was not reporting any further ill effects and knew that this was a good opportunity for another Grand Slam win, against someone ranked 41 places below her at 91.Cadantu had won their only previous encounter but that had been on clay and this would have been expected to be more to Watson’s liking, on her favoured hard courts. There was sizeable British support from the main stand on one side of the court but a leveller was the tricky wind blowing across Melbourne Park.In her off season spent between London and Florida, considerable work was done on trying to up the firepower of her serve and groundstrokes to match her excellent movement, but the blowy conditions made it tricky to put that into action.Starting with a double fault was not ideal against the relatively limited Cadantu, who is no power merchant herself but runs down plenty of balls and returns them with looping top spin.Watson missed a forehand in the third game and was broken for 1-2, but when she broke back immediately it appeared that she might settle down to assert her authority. There was little indication that she would drop the next four games, swapping anxious looks with her coach Mauricio Hadad.Too often Cadantu only had to keep the ball in to reap the dividend from the Channel Islander’s mistakes, while serving was difficult with the gusts that intermittently came. Watson was broken again to lose the first set in 48 minutes, and then slid further into trouble when she went behind 2-1 in the second.The momentum of the match changed dramatically after Watson called out both the trainer and doctor when trailing 3-2 down in the second. She had her pulse checked and temperature taken and then the medics turned their attention to the Romanian, who had treatment on her leg and a massage around her right shoulder area.She lost some of her steadiness after that, while Watson’s forehand began to fire as she reeled off the last four games to set up a decider, the kind of dogfight she relishes.Watson broke for 2-1, using the dropshot for the first time and executing it beautifully, but lost the advantage straightaway, only to break again and then finally consolidate it to go 4-2 up, although it was a struggle and she needed to save a break point.After that she did not take a backward step and let out a yelp of delight as she clinched and got through to the 1ST round.

Other Results:

Rod Laver Arena - Women's Singles - 1st Round

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Monday, 14 January 2013

Australian Open Kicks off with a blistering start

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