Worried Nadal, studious Federer start with Melbourne wins

By Bill Scott Jan 16, 2012, 11:21 GMT

Melbourne - Roger Federer had to look up his opponent online while Rafael Nadal overcame a freak knee worry as both moved into the second round of the Australian Open on Monday's opening day.

Second seed Nadal barely made it to the court after Sunday and most of Monday spent in therapy for a right knee problem which came as he sat on a chair in his hotel.

The 2009 winner played with the joint heavily taped and was tentative for 10 games before finally feeling his way into the match for a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 defeat of American Alex Kuznetsov.

Federer checked out his unknown opponent at a computer terminal, learning enough about the game of Alexander Kudryavtsev of Russia for a 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 win.

'I'd heard a few things about him and had seen him play once, but I looked on the internet to make sure he was the guy I was thinking of - he was. I wanted to know what to expect but I still don't know too much,' Federer said.

'I'm relieved to get through, it was an entertaining match for me. My back feels fine (after spasms this month) and is 100 percent fit. I've felt good for three of four days now. I was a bit worried but I'm her and ready to play.'

Federer notched his 60th win at the tournament as he won the first set with a break in the final game and was untroubled from then on.

Five additional seeds followed the winning trend on the opening day in temperatures well over 30 Celsius on court after a week of summer rain and chill.

Number seven Tomas Berdych defeated Spain's Albert Ramos 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, eighth seed Mardy Fish beat Gilles Muller 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 and Spain's Nicolas Almagro recovered to beat Lukasz Kubot 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5.

Argentine number 11 Juan Del Potro came back against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, 2-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4.

Del Potro, who missed most of the 2010 season after wrist surgery, was still in comeback mode but stands just outside the top 10 after once reaching fourth in the world.

'I have the same goal: to play healthy all the year,' he said. 'This is a tournament to see where my game is and hopefully be ready for the next round and keep playing well.'

There were also wins for 13th seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine and American number 16 John Isner. Sydney winner Jarkko Niemimen had to quit with an abdominal injury against David Nalbandian in the second set, losing 6-4, 4-2.

Australia's teenage hope Bernard Tomic thrilled a sold-out show-court crowd as he won a marathon over Spain's Fernando Verdasco, 4-6, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-2, 7-5.

The number 37 lost the first two sets but rallied, driven by the cheers of a home public hungry for a new champion as Lleyton Hewitt's career goes into eclipse. The last Australian man to win the singles title was Mark Edmondson in 1976.

It was Tomic's second career comeback. He next faces American Sam Querrey, a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 winner over Kenny De Schepper of France.

'Today was not fun. It was torture,' he said. 'But I'm the happiest person alive right now.'

On the women's side, top seed Caroline Wozniacki beat Australian Anastasia Rodionova 6-2, 6-1 while third seed Victoria Azarenka crushed Briton Heather Watson 6-1, 6-0.

Last week's Sydney champion Azarenka was untouchable in her runaway win over the 19-year-old, ranked 106th and playing the Open for the first time.

The match was over in 67 minutes with Azarenka to line up next against Australian wild card Casey Dellacqua, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Serb Bojana Jovanovski.

French Open winner Li Na, seeded fifth, beat Ksenia Pervak 6-3, 6-1, and eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland won a struggle with Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-7 (10-12), 6-4, 6-2.

Holder Kim Clijsters, the number 11, pulled up well from a hip problem a few weeks ago to post a defeat of Maria Joao Koehler of Portugal, 7-5, 6-1.

'I wanted to go out there and I wanted to start playing, said the Belgian, a former number one. ' I've been like that ever since we came to Australia.

'I had a good off season where we worked obviously to try to be in good shape for Australia, then you want to put that to the test and, yeah, play those matches again.'