A review of Day 1 at the 2013 Australian Open.
What a top day it was today at the Australian Open, attended by over 61,000 people. For starters, the weather was perfect. Sunny, no rain, perhaps a little too much wind but yet, not windy. And most importantly, none of the extreme heat that usually puts in a solid performance at this, the first grand slam of the year.
In terms of Day 1 drama, there wasn’t any to speak of.
I hear you.
Crazy but true.
At best, a few seagulls flew past the roof of Rod Laver Arena during the Hewitt versus Tipsarevic match. I’ve not heard of any racquet smashing, voluminous bugs on courts or controversial umpire decisions. I was watching live tennis all day though, which means I’m not as up-to-date as when I’m watching from home via TV and Twitter, so if you’ve heard of any drama, please let me know in the comments.
There were loads of big men’s five set matches but in terms of injuries, given how many players have withdrawn from tournaments already this year, today was pleasingly almost injury free. The lovely Juan Monaco, who I know a lot of people would like to see more of, struggled due to an injury but played on regardless. Read more in this article via Reuters
Monaco won applause from the crowd for his spirit in not retiring but was clearly in no position to compete.
The Australian Open strives each year to be bigger and better than before. In my opinion, based on today’s experience, they have been successful. New initiatives like the practice court viewing deck, the expanded AO Member areas and the bigger stands for spectators on the show courts have added even more value to the fan experience.
On the downside (and you know I love the AO but I always aim to be unbiased), the coffees still taste great but are .50c more than last year (I think, better look it up!) and about half the size. (Stay tuned for my Fan Test report on the coffees). And after about 11 hours sitting on Aus Open seats watching tennis in Hisense and Rod Laver Arena’s today, my back (not awesome at the best of times) is sore. I’ll probably buy a cushion tomorrow but it would be lovely if, in the next round of enhancements, AO could road test the Wimbledon seats and duplicate.
Oh and for the Aussie fans, of all the Aussies playing today, only Sam Stosur made it through to Round Two. We still have Bernie of course, playing tomorrow, and some others (there is a guaranteed Aussie winner from the Duckworth v Mitchell match) but for Sam to lead the charge with a win, I couldn’t be happier.
Tomorrow I’ll be at Rod Laver Arena for the day session which includes Andy Murray, Victoria Azarenka and Roger Federer. So stay tuned for load more photos.
Australian Open Day 1 – Results
Rod Laver Arena
Day session
- Maria Sharapova d Olga Puchkova 6-0, 6-0
- Sam Stosur d Kai-Chen Chang 7-6, 6-3 phew!
- Novak Djokovic d Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-4, 7-5
Night session
- Janko Tipsarevic d Lleyton Hewitt 7-6, 7-5, 6-3 (see photos from this match)
- Ana Ivanovic d Melinda Czink 6-2, 6-1 (see photos from this match)
Hisense Arena
- Venus Williams d Galina Voskoboeva 6-1, 6-0 (see photos from this match)
- Fernando Verdasco d David Goffin 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 (see photos from this match)
- Dominika Cibulkova d Ash Barty 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 (More about Barty in review of AO13 wildcards) (see photos from this match)
- David Ferrer d Olivier Rochus 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 (see photos from this match)
Margaret Court Arena
- Na Li d Sesil Karatantcheva 6-1, 6-3
- Agnieszka Radwanska d Bojana Bobusic 7-5, 6-0 (More about Bobusic in review of AO13 wildcards)
- Mikhail Youzhny d Matthew Ebden 4-6, 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 6-3
- Madison Keys d Madison Keys 6-4, 7-6 (More about Keys in review of AO13 wildcards)
- Albert Ramos v Marcos Baghdatis 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. This was an epic match, finishing well after midnight, possibly the latest ever match played on Margaret Court Arena.
Show Courts
- Nicolas Almagro d Steve Johnson in a big five setter 7-5, 6-7, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2
- Roberto Bautista Agut d Fabio Fognini 6-0 2-6 6-4 3-6 6-1
- Edouard Roger-Vasselin d Ruben Bemelmans 6-3 6-7(5) 2-6 7-5 11-9
- Marion Bartoli d Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-4 (see photos from this match)
- Julien Benneteau d Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
- Radek Stepanek d Viktor Troicki 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5
- Xavier Malisse d Pablo Andujar 6-3, 6-1, 6-2
- Tatsuma Ito d John Millman in a big five setter 6-4 6-4 3-6 0-6 7-5
- Brian Baker d Alex Bogomolov Jnr 7-6(4) 6-3 6-7(0) 3-6 6-2
- Daniel Gimeno Traver d Lukasz Kubot 6-7(4) 6-4 6-0 4-6 6-4
- Mikhail Youzhny d Matt Ebden in a big five setter: 4-6 6-7(0) 6-2 7-6(4) 6-3
View the full Day 1 Schedule of Play on the Australian Open website.
Other Tennis News
Rafael Nadal
Power ranking Rafa’s 10 greatest moments ever
Wu Di will be the first Chinese male player in a grand slam tournament
Wu to take tennis off the table and put China on the map
Until next time
Grand Slam Gal
P.S. Sign up for Aussie Summer of Tennis Daily Updates
Aussie Summer of Tennis Daily Updates will be written every day to help you stay up to date. If you’d like to get your copy delivered to your inbox, please sign up below