Top seeds Roger Federer and Serena Williams took contrasting paths into the second round of the Australian Open tennis tournament Tuesday.
Three-time champion Federer overcame a spirited challenge from world No. 37 Russia's Igor Andreev in the men's grueling first round with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-0 win.
The Swiss, who is seeking a record-extending 16th major championship in Melbourne, had to fight off three set points in the third set before winding up the match in two hours and 44 minutes.
Defending women's champion Williams, playing her first Grand Slam match since her outburst at the US Open, routed Polish teenager Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-1.
Radwanska, however, gave a tough fight to Williams keeping her on the court for 73 minutes.
With this, the 28-year-old American improved the record of not losing in any of the 41 Grand Slam first-round matches she played so far.
Her sister, sixth-seeded Venus Williams, too did not face much resistance in the first round match against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, winning in straight sets: 6-2, 6-2.
None of the other seeded women who took to the court Tuesday faced any upset. No. 8 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, No. 11 Marion Bartoli of France, No. 13 Samantha Stosur of Australia, 19th seed Nadia Petrova of Russia, and No. 20 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced to the next stage.
Three seeded players in the men's section were eliminated in the first round Tuesday.
Eighth-seeded Robin Soderling, who is also last year's French Open runner-up, became the highest men's seed to see an early exit, losing a five-set match. No.16 Tommy Robredo of Spain and 25th-seeded Sam Querrey of the US also crashed out of the major season opener.
In an extraordinarily well-played match on Rod Laver Arena, veteran Lleyton Hewitt of Australia eased past Brazilian Ricardo Hocevar 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round.
Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Fernando Verdasco of Spain, Gael Monfils of France, and Marin Cilic of Croatia were the other prominent winners in the men's section.
Second round matches start Wednesday.
Source:rttnews.com/
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