AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2016 HEATS UP WITH FIRST ROUND RESULTS – SERENA WILLIAMS WINS IN STRAIGHT SETS, DR. IVO KARLOVIC GOES OUT SICK AND SLOANE STEPHENS LOSES, AND WE HEAR OF BETS ON DOUBLE FAULTS?

Written by: Global Chick on 18th January 2016

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2016 HEATS UP WITH FIRST ROUND RESULTS - SERENA WILLIAMS WINS IN STRAIGHT SETS, DR. IVO KARLOVIC GOES OUT SICK AND SLOANE STEPHENS LOSES, AND WE HEAR OF BETS ON DOUBLE FAULTS?

epa05108486 General view of Rod Laver Arena overwatchign Roger Federer of Switzerland versus Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia on day one of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 18 January 2016. EPA/LUKAS COCH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

Global Chick’s Australian Open Daily Recap – Day 1

And we’re off! What a day to start – wall to wall Grand Slam champs as far as the eye could see, beautiful weather to start.

With both top halves of the draws kicking off, fans were pretty much spoiled for choice, as were we.

As You Were

There were straight forwards wins today for two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova – the big rematch with Luksika KumKhum who unceremoniously bounced the Czech out of the 2014 Australian Open was handed a swift serving of revenge with a straight sets win 6-3 6-1. Kvitova’s preparations were blighted by illness and she was out of the running for her warm up events, so will be relived to be off with a win.

We thought Serena Williams might be in trouble against feisty Camila Giorgi and that we would only have a fleeting glimpse of the bright yellow crop top outfit (that divided the Twitterati no end).

We were wrong. Defending champion Williams came steaming out of the blocks and shut down some of the flair and shot-making that the Italian possesses to whap through her first round and Giorgi’s continuing love affair with double faults put Williams in the driving seat to serve out a solid straight sets win 6-4 7-5.

The other defending champion Novak Djokovic also overcame what could have been a tricky opener against ATP rising star Hyeon Chung, who even had the audacity to break Djokovic once in the match, but in the end it was a straight-forward 6-3 6-3 6-4 breeze to close out the day session on Rod Laver Arena.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns to Hyeon Chung of South Korea in their first round match on day one of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 18 January 2016. The Australian Open tennis tournament runs from 18 to 31 January 2016. EPA/LUKAS COCH

Kei Nishikori made schnitzel (which is apparently VERY popular here in Melbourne, and rather tasty too) of Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber, breezing past him 6-4 6-3 6-3.

Our pick for a title run Agnieszka Radwanska closed out the Margaret Court day session with a convincing win over Christina McHale 6-2 6-3. She won in Shenzhen but pulled out of Sydney, so it was good for her to get a solid win under her belt too.

TAXI !

Today’s scattered seeds included Ivo Karlovic, who had to retire against Federico Delbonis – he lost the first set tie-break (yes, lost) and the second set before retiring in the third set, with the Argentinian winning 7-6(4) 6-4 2-1 (ret). ( not sure of His ailment ? )

Sloane Stephens started the year with hardware, winning the Auckland title – but was bounced out of the tournament by Wang Qiang 6-3 6-3 – that could open things up nicely for one of our hotly fancied chances for the title Agnieszka Radwanska, who could potentially have faced her in the fourth round.

Sloane Stephens of the USA serves the ball to Qiang Wang of China during their first round match at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 18 January 2016. The Australian Open tennis tournament runs from 18 to 31 January 2016. EPA/MADE NAGI

Headlines & Deadlines

As the Australian Open got underway, the BBC reported new allegations of match fixing, which named players on the circuit now, and alleged current Grand Slam champions in the process. A hastily convened press conference saw ATP CEO Chris Kermode absolutely refute that there had been any suppression of evidence of match-fixing.

We all remember raised eyebrows/indignant outrage* (*delete as applicable) about BetWay getting into bed with the ITF just in time for the Davis Cup Final, and of course we have ATP events sponsored by betting companies. And yet we journalists are warned repeatedly about engaging in a bit of a flutter.

There is, of course, a MASSIVE difference between having said flutter and match fixing, but it does still seem to be a muddled message coming from the great and the good.

Perhaps more worrying is that we are none the wiser for understanding if indeed current Slam champions and Top 50 ranked players are currently under investigation.

The press conference was short. The taste left on the start of the biggest tournament of the year so far was not sweet. The saga will continue.

William Hill is a sponsor of the the 2016 Aussie Open, no?

Tidbits

There is still much to rejoice – the sun shone tennis should be the crowning glory for the next 14 days so let’s have a look at some of the fun facts and figures from today’s play.

· Petra Kvitova recorded this year’s first win at the Australian Open and is looking to better her 2012 run to the semi-final.

· The Australian Open is the only Slam here Djokovic has lost in the first round (2005, as a qualifier, and in 2006).

· Tomas Berdych clocked up a win in his 50th consecutive Grand Slam

Topics: 10sballs.com, Agnieszka Radwanska, Atp World Tour, Australian Open 2016, global chick, Ivo Karlovic, Kei Nishikori, Melbourne tennis, Novak Djokovic, Petra Kvitova, Rod Laver Arena, Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Wta

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January 18, 2016 at 9:20 am

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