<
        >

          ICYMI: Stan's painful smash, Kyrgios' nosebleed and one major upset

          • Jake Michaels, Senior WriterJan 16, 2017, 03:51 AM
            Close
              Jake Michaels is a Melbourne-based sports writer. He has been with ESPN since 2013, covering everything from AFL to Formula One, basketball to boxing, and tennis, both in Australia and around the world.
            Follow on X

          MELBOURNE, Australia -- The crowds flocked to Melbourne Park on Monday for Day 1 of the Australian Open. In case you missed any of the action, here is a recap:

          Early exit for Halep

          The tournament that was over almost before it began for women's No. 4 seed Simona Halep. The Romanian, who has now made back-to-back first-round exits in Melbourne, was crushed in straight sets by American Shelby Rogers in a match that lasted just 75 minutes.

          Wawrinka pushed in opener

          Things didn't fare much better for Martin Klizan, who despite leading by a break in the fifth set, failed to close out his match against Stan Wawrinka. And if that wasn't hard enough to take, a Wawrinka smash to the nether regions will have the world No. 34 wincing for days. Said Wawrinka afterward: "I'm sorry I [hit] him in the wrong place. But I think it was OK at the end."

          Welcome back, Roger

          Roger Federer was welcomed back to tennis with a rapturous ovation by the Rod Laver Arena crowd, but cheers quickly turned to concern as Jurgen Melzer proved a tough opponent to break down. However, after Melzer took the second set to level at 1-1, the fan favorite Federer, a four-time Australian Open champion, upped his game, winning the final two sets 6-2, 6-2.

          Murray shows some rust

          It was a similar story for newly crowned world No. 1 Andy Murray who, despite winning in straight sets, looked sluggish in his encounter with Illya Marchenko, a match that lasted almost three hours.

          The five-time Australian Open runner-up had to make his way onto Rod Laver Arena just as temperatures started to soar and struggled to contain his opponent, particularly in the first two sets.

          Nosebleeds only thing to slow down Kyrgios

          The local contingent enjoyed a solid opening day with five of the eight Australians winning through to the second round. The most eye-catching performance had to be from the temperamental Nick Kyrgios, who dismantled Gastao Elias in straight sets, losing just five games in the process.

          Also seen and heard during Day 1

          • World No. 5 Kei Nishikori was also forced to spend far more time on court than he would have liked as he survived a marathon five-set match against Andrey Kuznetsov.

          • Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams can consider herself lucky to have guaranteed progression to the second round after a scratchy straight-sets win over Kateryna Kozlova.

            Williams, the most experienced player in the women's singles draw, hit 48 unforced errors along with seven double-faults, but she managed to tough it out late in both sets for a 7-6, 7-5 victory.