The opening day of the Australian Open witnessed few surprises on the women's side as most top seeds advanced to the second round, despite soaring temperatures in Melbourne. Top-seeded American, Lindsay Davenport cruised past Australian wild card, Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 6-1 to set up a second round match against Croatia's Karolina Sprem. The 29-year-old star, who won the title in 2000 and reached the final in 2005, finished off her opponent in 57 minutes showing great form and confidence. Meanwhile, fourth-seeded teenager, Maria Sharapova made a swift move to the second round as she topped Germany's Sandra Kloesel 6-2, 6-1 in less than an hour. The 18-year-old Russian, who briefly topped the world rankings last season, will next take on America's Ashley Harkleroad, who beat Shuai Peng of China.
Maria Sharapova Defending champion, Serena Williams suffered a scare during her first round encounter with China's Na Li as the American was forced into a deciding set after she faltered in the tiebreak of the second. Williams held her own to claim a 6-3, 6-7 (1-7), 6-2 victory and advanced to play France's Camille Pin in round two. Other seeds who secured passage to the second round included eighth-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne, sixth-seeded Nadia Petrova, 14th-seeded Svetlana Kutznetsova and 17th-seeded Daniela Hantuchova. Ninth-seeded Elena Dementieva became the first seed to crash out of the tournament as she slumped to a 5-7, 2-6 against Germany's Julia Schruff after committing 12 double-faults and 37 unforced errors. Venus Williams, Ai Sugiyama, Klara Koukalova, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Tatiana Golovin were also among the seeded players who suffered major upsets on Monday.
