Tennis fans stream into Melbourne Park amid soaring temperatures as the 2009 Australian Open gets under way

The Melbourne skyline provides a stunning backdrop for the season's first Grand Slam event

Fifth seed Ana Ivanovic struggles with her serve against Germany's Julia Goerges but eventually rallies to come through 7-5 6-3

Andy Roddick lays down his marker with an impressive 6-0 6-2 6-2 victory over Bjorn Rehnquist to set up a meeting with Xavier Malisse

The Tomas Berdych fan club is out in force and they see the Czech, seeded 20, beat Robby Ginepri in straight sets

Vera Zvonereva takes a tumble but it fails to stop the seventh seed seeing off Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova 7-6 (7-2) 6-0

Mel South is the first of four British women to compete in the first round but she loses 6-2 6-4 to Marion Bartoli

And there's more disappointment for Great Britain as Katie O'Brien is beaten in straight sets by Monica Niculescu

Marcos Baghdatis sports a new haircut but that does little to cool down the 2006 runner-up during his win against Julien Benneteau

World number one and top seed Jelena Jankovic makes light work of Yvonne Meusburger, sauntering to a 6-1 6-3 victory

Not for the first time in recent years, David Ferrer is taken to five sets but the number 11 seed prevails against Denis Gremelmayr

British number one Andy Murray prepares for his first round match against Andrei Pavel, which is first on Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday

Much is expected of Juan Martin del Potro in 2009 and he reaches round two with a 6-3 6-4 6-2 win against Mischa Zverev

The Margaret Court Arena crowd goes wild as 16-year-old Australian Bernard Tomic beats Potito Starace in four sets

There is more good news for the hosts as Jelena Dokic enjoys an emotional win over Tamira Paszek

Reigning champion Novak Djokovic does not find his best form but gets his title defence under way by beating Andrea Stoppini

Anne Keothavong is the third British woman to go out on day one as she loses 6-1 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 to Anna Chakvetadze

Nineteenth seed Daniela Hantuchova gets off to a solid start with a 7-6 (11-9) 6-4 defeat of Casey Dellacqua of Australia

Former champion Marat Safin beats Ivan Navarro 6-3 6-3 6-4 before promising to "enjoy" his tennis from now on

Italian Andreas Seppi goes for the spectacular as he takes on world number two and three-time Aussie Open champion Roger Federer

Federer is hardly in peak form but still posts a straight-sets win in the day's final match