The top half of the draw have played the first round and already there have been two sensational upsets of top 10 players!
(Rank/Seed)
1/1 Williams eased her way into the championships, barely breaking sweat against Australian wildcard Barty 62 61, maintaining her perfect record in Australian Open first rounds (14-0). She never faced a break point, hitting 31 winners to 17 unforced errors. In winning her 23rd successive match, she has embarked on the second longest winning streak of her career, behind the 34 match win streak she held last summer.
4/4 Li continued to mix serve and volley into her game as she took out last year's junior Australian and US Open champion, Konjuh 62 60. Despite the fact she was forced to resort to Youtube in order to familiarise herself with the 16 year old Croatian's powerful game, she looked effortless.
88/- Kumkhum, a 20 year old from Thailand pulled off the biggest surprise on opening day, defeating former semi finalist (6/6) Kvitova 62 16 64 in what was her first match against a top 10 player. Using double handed ground strokes on both sides, she exploited the crosscourt angles to unsettle the former Wimbledon champion. Kvitova later admitted that she had had a great offseason but had put too much pressure on herself to perform in Australia. She couldn't comprehend what had gone wrong as she hit 40 unforced errors and admitted that she had been lucky to even win the second set. Though Kumkhum showed a few nerves when she failed to convert a match point and serve out at 5-3, Kvitova duly gifted her the match with her 22nd forehand unforced error. Kumkhum has now equalled her showing here from last year, whilst it marks Kvitova's earliest Grand Slam exit since the US Open 2011 and her worst Australian Open since her debut in 2009! It seems such a shame considering how well she played through the Hopman Cup and the early rounds in Sydney!
73/- Goerges, the former top 20 German player, defeated (7/7) Errani comfortably 63 62. Goerges had pushed Wozniacki to her limit last week in Sydney and continued where she left off, bruising Errani with 31 winners, 27 off her formidable forehand. Errani was never in it as she continues to struggle to maintain her top 10 presence. This marks a second straight year in which she's lost her first round here and the 4th time in the last 5 Grand Slam's that she hasn't made the third round!
9/9 Kerber battled herself, her opponent and the partisan crowd to subdue big hitting Aussie wildcard, Gajdosova after a second set meltdown, 63 06 62.
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