20 Jan 2010

Round One of Australian Open

7:00 am on 20 January 2010

The eight seed Robin Soderling was the biggest name to fall at the Australian Tennis open after a second day in which the world number one Roger Federer survived a real scare from Russia's Igor Andreev before winning his opening match 4-6 6-2 7-6 6-0.

Russia's Nikolay Davydenko, who's beaten Federer and Rafa Nadal twice in the same tournament in recent months, says he's now the player everybody fears.

The sixth seed advanced after a 6-1 6-0 6-3 win over Germany's Dieter Kindlmann.

The women's number one Serena Williams won too, but then lashed out at officials after her 6-2 6-1 win over Poland's Urszula Radwanska.

Williams copped a record fine for her expletive-laden outburst at a lineswoman in New York, and the American remains adamant she's been unfairly treated.

She was joined in the second round by her elder sister Venus, one of many recent Australian Open finalists who won yesterday, including Lleyton Hewitt, Ana Ivanovic and Marcos Baghdatis and the 2008 champion Novak Djokovic.

Soderling, struggling with an elbow injury, joined first day loser Maria Sharapova in making an early exit when he lost in five sets to Spain's Marcel Granollers.