AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Venue: Melbourne Park Date: 18-31 January
BBC coverage: Every Murray match live on BBC 1 or 2
Daily from 0830 GMT: live on BBC Red Button/website, 5 Live sports extra
Daily from 0000 GMT: text commentary on BBC Sport website  Federer struggled to cope with Andreev's power at times
Roger Federer dropped the opening set of his Australian Open campaign before fighting back to beat Igor Andreev in the first round at Melbourne Park. The world number one, seeking a fourth Australian title, came through 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7-2) 6-0 against the Russian. Robin Soderling, seeded eighth, let slip a two-set lead in a shock 5-7 2-6 6-4 6-4 6-2 loss to Marcel Granollers. But third seed Novak Djokovic and sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko both cruised through their opening matches. Serbia's Djokovic, the 2008 champion, fought back from an early break in the opening set to defeat Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5 6-3 6-3 in two hours and 20 minutes.  Djokovic is seeking to win his second Australian Open |
"I was struggling in the first set. That's no secret," said Djokovic, who withdrew from last year's quarter-final against Andy Roddick because of heat exhaustion. "In the end I picked it up, and I was really happy overall with how I handled things. "To get a little bit more time on the court today was actually a positive." Davydenko began with a 6-1 6-0 6-3 thrashing of German qualifier Dieter Kindlmann. The Russian has beaten Federer in their last two meetings and the pair are seeded to meet in the quarter-finals in Melbourne. "Now I feel like I can beat everyone," said Davydenko, who is trying to win a first Grand Slam title. "Before no, mostly I was losing against these guys (top players), but now I can beat everyone. It's a good feeling." Federer got the first break in his match but was then put on the back foot by some huge hitting from Andreev, who broke twice to take the set.  | It was a tough first round and I'm really, really relieved I'm through |
Top seed Federer looked to have restored order with a dominant second set but the Russian's challenge was not over. The third set was a bizarre, thrilling affair, with each player breaking serve three times and Andreev failing to convert any of three set points on serve at 6-5. It was too good a chance to waste against the 15-time Grand Slam champion, and Federer made him pay by dominating the tie-break and racing through the fourth set. "I knew it was going to be tough," said Federer. "We played five sets in New York two years ago. I thought I was playing well even in the first set and thought I would hang in there. "It was a tough first round and I'm really, really relieved I'm through. "It was a tough third set, I definitely got very lucky to get out of that one. That's the way it goes sometimes, all in all I'm very happy with my performance." | 606: DEBATE |
French Open finalist Soderling, who has been struggling with an elbow injury, became the first top-10 player to bow out of the tournament. "I don't know what happened, I just didn't play well," said the Swede. "I started terrible and finished terrible." There was another significant shock on Court 13 when Colombia's world number 114, Santiago Giraldo, thrashed 16th seed Tommy Robredo of Spain, 6-4 6-2 6-2. | There are a lot of guys that are ahead of me on ranking that I think I can take care of |
Mikhail Youzhny, the 20th seed from Russia, overcame cramp as he recovered from two sets down to beat Richard Gasquet of France 6-7 (9-11) 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in the day's final match, which finished after midnight. Gasquet was playing in his first Grand Slam tournament since being cleared of a doping offence, but he faltered with victory in sight. In another evening match, home favourite Lleyton Hewitt, seeded 22 in a record-equalling 14th consecutive Australian Open appearance, delighted his fans by powering past Brazilian qualifier Ricardo Hocevar 6-1 6-2 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena. "I would love to win it," said the 28-year-old. "There are a lot of guys that are ahead of me on ranking that I think I can take care of." Last year's semi-finalist Fernando Verdasco, the ninth seed, had a tough opening encounter against Australian Carsten Ball, dropping the first set and being pushed hard in the second before coming through 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-1) 7-5 6-2. Tenth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the runner-up in 2008, eased past Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3 6-4 6-4. Gael Monfils, the 12th seed, swept past another Australian, Matthew Ebden, 6-4 6-4 6-4, and 14th seed Marin Cilic beat Fabrice Santoro 7-5 7-5 6-3 in the French veteran's final Grand Slam match. France's Marc Gicquel beat Italian Simone Bolelli 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 and he will take on Britain's Andy Murray in round two.
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