The top five seeds for the 2011 Australian Open Men’s Singles tennis are all safely through the first round, with no hiccups on the opening days of the tournament.
None of the men’s top five seeds, Rafael Nadal (1), Roger Federer (2), Novak Djokovic (3), Robin Soderling (4), or Andy Murray (5), dropped a set en route to Round Two of the competition as the Melbourne hard courts saw the World’s best players for the first Grand Slam of the year.
Rafa Nadal (1) was, as ever, impressive, and did not drop even a single game against Brazilian Marcos Daniel. He was leading 6-0 5-0 when his opponent retired. Nadal will play USA hopeful Ryan Sweeting in Round Two.
Sweden’s Robin Soderling (4) came through in straight sets against Italian Potito Starace 6-4 6-2 6-2 to set up a second round match with Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.
Great Britain’s Andy Murray (5) was 6-3 6-1 4-2 up in his First Round match against Slovakian Karol Beck when his opponent retired. Murray will face Ukrainian Illya Marchenko in the next stage of the competition.
Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic (3) defeated Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-1 6-3 6-1 in fine style to set up a Second round meeting with Croatian Ivan Dodig, who defeated compatriot Ivo Karlovic in a five set thriller 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7-5) 6-4 6-4.
Meanwhile, at the foot of the draw, Roger Federer cruised through his First Round encounter with Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, 6-1 6-1 6-3 to set up a Second Round match with Gilles Simon of France.
Of the other seeded players, USA’s Andy Roddick (8) won in straight sets, as did Czech Tomas Berdych (6), while Spain’s David Ferrer (7) required one more to defeat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-4 6-3 1-6 6-2.
Thus far, the only seeded player to fall in the first round is Latvian Ernests Gulbis, who was defeated in straight sets by German Benjamin Becker, 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 6-4.
