TENNIS: Melbourne Park's first glimpse of Andy Murray was a brief one today as the pre-tournament favourite eased into round two of the Australian Open after his opponent retired injured.
Fourth seed Murray was leading Andrei Pavel 6-2 3-1 when the Romanian quit after 45 minutes with a back injury that had kept him sidelined for most of last year.
"I guess if you want to do well in the tournament, it's good to conserve some energy ... hopefully that was a good thing," said the Scot afterwards, weighing the pros and cons of his short outing in 37 degree heat.
Murray later admitted he could have done with a tougher challenge. The Romanian, who has seen his ranking slide to 1,140 after back problems, called for a medical time-out after the first set before throwing in the towel with the score at 6-2 3-1 to the Scot.
"It's a little bit windy. The conditions are so fast from one end and a little bit slower from the other so I would have liked to have played a few more games but I'll go out and practise a bit more today,” added the Scot.
"I think I've prepared very well. It just would have been nice to get the feeling of the court a little bit - with each match you play you're going to feel a bit more confident.
"But I've prepared as well as I can and I have to trust that."
Next up for Murray is Marcel Granollers.
Serena Williams didn’t waste much time either, cantering through with a 6-3 6-2 win over China's Yuan Meng. The American second seed is seeking a fourth Australian title after winning here in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
"It was a little hot for me today," she smiled, sipping a drink. "It was a case of taking my time, not giving 1,000 per cent, you know?
"I was getting super thirsty out there - at one stage I had to stop and have a drink of water," she laughed.
"It was definitely extreme conditions," she added, stifling a sniffle. "I do have a little bit of a head cold ... I hope that goes away."
Serena was joined in the second round by big sister Venus who enjoyed a 6-3 6-3 victory over Germany's Angelique Kerber.
Sixth seed Venus is still seeking a first singles title at Melbourne Park despite having five Wimbledon and two US Open crowns to her name.
World number four Elena Dementieva survived the scorching heat to see off Kristina Barrois. Unbeaten so far this year after picking up titles in Auckland and Sydney, Dementieva beat the German 7-6 2-6 6-1.
"It was a very tough match, especially because of the weather conditions today. And also it was not easy for me to come here after playing so many matches in a row," the Russian said.
"I'm sure I wouldn't have minded one or two extra days before. But those are the kind of days you have to survive. I'm just very glad I was able to do it."
She will next meet the winner of the match between Russia's Vera Dushevina and Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.
Polish ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska was an early casualty, however, falling 7-6 4-6 6-1 to Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko.
Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt suffered a drawn-out agonising exit from his home grand slam when he was beaten 5-7 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3 by Chilean 13th seed Fernando Gonzalez.
It was Hewitt's first opening round defeat at the Australian Open since 2002, when he was suffering chicken pox.
Finalist at Melbourne Park four years ago, Hewitt slid down the rankings last year after undergoing hip surgery and only returned to competition this month.
"I'll probably look back at it in a couple of days' time, look at where I could have improved and whatever," Hewitt said.
"But in hindsight, when you haven't had the matches, haven't played five sets for quite a while, you're always going to be fighting it a little bit.
"In terms of that then, I think it's a good springboard for the rest of the year. I would have still liked to have gone a bit further in the tournament."
Spanish top seed Rafael Nadal opens his campaign later today against Christophe Rochus under floodlights.