adminFIFTH-SEEDED Ana Ivanovic lost her opening match at the Australian Open, giving the first tennis Grand Slam tournament of 2015 a major upset in its opening hours.Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, who is ranked 142nd in the world, defeated the former top-ranked Serbian 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. Ivanovic, a 2008 French Open champion, was a quarterfinalist last year in Melbourne, defeating top-seeded Serena Williams in the round of 16.
Ivanovic hurt her chances with 10 double faults, while Hradecka — who had to work her way through qualifying matches to enter the tournament — converted all five of her break points in the match.
“It’s probably the worst thing that could happen,” Ivanovic said in a news conference. “I really have to now sit and work on few things and just maybe try to have a different approach to this kind of event and try to see what was lacking.”
Ivanovic was one of eight women’s seeds to exit early. No 9 Angelique Kerber of Germany was ousted in three sets by Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania. Other seeds to fall included former Wimbledon finalist and No 28 Sabine Lisicki of Germany, Swiss teenager and No 32 Belinda Bencic, and former US Open and French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, the 27th seed. The only seed to fall so far in the men’s draw was Spanish veteran and No 15, Tommy Robredo, who retired after five games with a groin injury.
Women’s No 2 Maria Sharapova was never in danger against Croatia’s Petra Martic, closing play at Rod Laver Arena with a 6-4, 6-1 win.
The Russian won the Australian Open in 2008.
Four-time winner Roger Federer of Switzerland was tested in the third set against Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu, 6-4, 6-2, 7-5.
“Lu played a tough match, I really had to step it up,” Federer, who rushed to the net 43 times and produced 60 winners, said in a court-side interview. Lu had 20 winners.
“The season is still early, it’s tough to get rhythm, especially in the first round,” Federer said. “But this court plays nice and we had some great rallies.”
Earlier in the day, 2009 winner Rafael Nadal of Spain dropped just seven games while winning his opening match in straight sets against Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. Andy Murray, a Briton seeded sixth and a three-time Australian Open finalist, served 13 aces in a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) victory against India’s Yuki Bhambri, who is ranked 317th in the world.
Nadal, who was sidelined by a wrist injury and appendix surgery for most of the second half of the 2014 season, said he was encouraged by the way he played against Youzhny, who has defeated the Spaniard four times.
“You know that you’re not going to be at your 100 percent, so most important thing when you are coming back is accept all the challenges,” Nadal told reporters. “That’s why this victory today is very important, and every time that I’m on court competing is a big help for me to try to be back on the right level that I want to be.”
Nadal reached the finals last year, when he injured his back and lost to Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka.
Seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and Grigor Dimitrov, the 10th seed from Bulgaria, won in straight sets.
Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, the No 7 seed, and third-seeded Simona Halep of Romania won their opening rounds in straight sets. Both women had a breakout year in 2014, with Halep reaching the French Open finals while Bouchard was a runnerup at Wimbledon. — BusinessWeek
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