The first round of the 2015 Australian Open saw 27 of the 32 seeds through to the second round. They dropped 13 sets between them.
The most impressive performance arguably belonged to the most enigmatic of the top four seeds- Rafael Nadal. His 6-3, 6-2. 6-2 win over veteral Mikhail Youzhny featured him striking 37 winners to 15 errors. For someone who was 4-4 since last October, this performance was another reminder of what a big match player Nadal is and how he thrives in grand slam best of fives.
Grigor Dimitrov, who has been slumping since the Wimbledon semi-finals, also made a big impression as he thrashed Dustin Brown. Like Nadal he dropped seven games and he hit 30 winners to 6 errors.
Defending champion Stan Wawrinka was also in fine form as he beat Marsel Ilhan 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. It was a nice draw for the Swiss, and he could have made a mess of it with all the pressure on him. His recent form, winning in Chennai and making the last four of the WTF, and this first round performance, suggest he has a serious chance of defending his one maiden slam title.
Another noteworthy win of the seeds was fifth seed Kei Nishikori’s 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-2 win over former top tenner Nicolas Amalgro. This is Nishikori’s first slam as a firm favorite and he opened up his campaign with a convincing win when it would have been so easy for him to struggle. He did not, validating his status as one of the tournament favorites.
The seeds who did drop were the usual suspects. Ernests Gulbis, who was ill last week in Auckland, let four match points slip as he was upset by 18 year old Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 10-8 in the third. Gulbis should have closed it out in four, but the man most likely to be upset, was.
Fabio Fognini was also a favorite to get knocked out early and the 16th seed was beaten in four sets by Alexander Gonzales ranked 107.
Julien Benneteau was something of a shock going down in four sets to Benjamin Becker. Benneteau had a 2-0 head to head lead over the German, but the medium slow courts favored Becker more and his reward is a second round match with Lleyton Hewitt.
Alexandr Dolgopolov (21) was expected to pull out pre-event, so his loss to Paolo Lorenzi was not too much of a shock. While Tommy Robredo’s exit was down to a retirement and not an upset.
One player who can be expected to go home early, Gael Monfils, decided to fight back after going two sets down to countryman Lucas Pouille. Tennis fans will be glad the seventeenth seed stuck around as he has a nice draw and could make it to the last eight to set up an entertaining clash with top seeded Novak Djokovic.
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