Tennis:Rafa Nadal opened his Australian Open campaign with a nasty, brutish and quick demolition of Marcos Daniel that ended after 46 minutes when the Brazilian retired injured. A second title at Melbourne Park would make Nadal the first man in more than four decades to hold the quartet of grand slam titles at the same time.
Daniel mustered up just 12 points without a single winner before he decided his injured left knee, and possibly his pride, could take no more and he called an end to the contest with the world number one leading 6-0 5-0.
Nadal knows very well the pain of injury, having hobbled out of Melbourne Park in the quarter-finals when his own knees gave up on him last year, and he was full of sympathy for his 32-year-old opponent.
"He tried his best during the match," said the Spaniard. "He didn't want to retire. That says a lot for him. Not everybody's able to do this. So all the respect to him."
Andy Murray was relieved to have come through his opening match with “no drama”. The world number five got the better of Karol Beck after the Slovakian was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury when 6-3 6-1 4-2 down and staring defeat in the face.
All in all, it was a good work out for Murray, and he expressed his delight afterwards at having suppressed the nerves and doubts which accompany an opening match at a grand slam event.
He said: “Like I said before the tournament, everyone always has slight doubts before the start, you are always a bit nervous. But getting off to a good start, getting a break early in the match does help a lot, which I managed to do. It is nice to be through to the second round with no drama.”
Murray, chasing his first grand slam crown, took the first set after breaking in Beck’s first service game and ran through the second as he upped his game, combining stoic defence with some spectacular winners which thrilled a noisy crowd on Hisense Arena.
The Slovakian took a medical timeout at 2-1 down in the third but battled on bravely until dropping his serve once more to hand Murray a 4-2 lead. Sensing he was not going to turn it around, Beck offered his hand at the net rather than carry on and risk further damage.
Next up for Murray is Illya Marchenko, who beat Josh Goodall in three tie-break sets to give Ukraine a 1-0 lead in a Davis Cup tie in Glasgow in March 2009. Marchenko was an impressive 6-3 6-4 6-1 winner against Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo today.
Belgium's Kim Clijsters inflicted the dreaded 'double bagel' on Russian Dinara Safina with a 6-0 6-0 first round blowout.
It was an embarrassingly lop-sided match between two former world number ones, Safina fighting back the tears as she trudged to the net after a 44-minute humiliation. Clijsters, a three-times grand slam champion and Melbourne finalist in 2004, took the first set with a ferocious backhand down the line after just 20 minutes.
The Australian crowd tried to get behind Safina but when the Russian dumped an easy forehand into the net to go 0-2 down in the second set it was effectively all over. Clijsters put Safina out of her misery on her fourth match point with another vicious backhand which was too hot for her tortured opponent to handle.
Vera Zvonareva was the latest top seed to proceed smoothly in a women's draw so far devoid of upsets. The number two seed, a tearful losing finalist at Wimbledon and the US Open last year, rattled off a 6-2 6-1 victory over Austria's Sybille Bammer in the opening match on a cool and blustery Rod Laver Arena.
In the absence of injured 2010 champion Serena Williams, Australian hopes are high that Sam Stosur can break a three-decades drought without a local champion.
The fifth seed could not have done much better than her 6-1 6-1 drubbing of American wild card and grand slam debutant Lauren Davis in a third mismatch on centre court.