Australian Open: Early Rounds

The theme of the first two rounds of the Australian Open is dominance by the top players, particularly on the women's side.  Sharapova has yet drop a GAME and Serena has dropped just two.  Azarenka and Radwanska have also looked good, as has 2-time major champion on the comeback trail, Svetlana Kuznetsova.  On the men's side Djokovic, Federer, and Murray have all looked good.  A few top women's players have crashed out but this wasn't totally unexpected for Errani, Kvitova, and Stosur.

In all, men's seeds have pretty well with only 8 of them losing with 5 of those losses coming in round 1.  But the women's seeds haven't fared nearly as well with 14 of them out already including 6 losing in round 1.  Even a few women who played well in warmup events are gone such as Pavlyuchenkova, Cibulkova, and Zakopalova.

In last year's Aussie Open the men lost 12 seeds in the first 2 rounds with 5 in round one plus the injured Mayer.  The women also lost 12 seeds but just 4 in the first round.  In the last major, the '12 US Open, 8 men crashed out in the first 2 rounds with 6 losing their opening match.  There they were also outdone by the women, who had 13 seeds lose in the first 2 rounds with an unbelievable 10 losing in round 1.

Nadal and Errani are the only quarterfinalists from last year no longer in the draw.

Seeds Out
11) Juan Monaco (ARG) - R1 l. to Kuznetsov
18) Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) - R1 l. to Monfils
19) Tommy Haas (GER) - R1 l. to Nieminen
23) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) - R2 l. to Donskoy
25) Florian Mayer (GER) - R2 l. to Berankis
27) Martin Klizan (SVK) - R1 l. to Brands
29) Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) - R1 l. to Kavcic
30) Marcel Granollers (ESP) - R2 l. to Chardy

7) Sara Errani (ITA) - R1 l. to Suarez Navarro
8) Petra Kvitova (CZE) - R2 l. to Robson
9) Samantha Stosur (AUS) - R2 l. to Zheng
12) Nadia Petrova (RUS) - R1 l. to Date-Krumm
15) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) - R2 l. to Savinykh
17) Lucie Safarova (CZE) - R2 l. to Jovanovski
21) Varvara Lepchenko (USA) - R2 l. to Vesnina
23) Klara Zakopalova (CZE) - R2 l. to Flipkens
24) Anastasia Pavyluchenkova (RUS) - R1 l. to Tsurenko
26) Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) - R2 l. to Kuznetsova
28) Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) - R1 l. to Beck
30) Tamira Paszek (AUT) - R2 l. to Keys
31) Urszula Radwanska (POL) - R1 l. to Hampton
32) Mona Barthel (GER) - R1 l. to Pervak

Qualifiers Still Alive
Ricardas Berankis (LTU)
Valeria Savinykh (RUS)
Lesia Tsurenko (UKR)

Americans Play
Men: 6-7, only Querrey remains in the draw; Baker, Harrison, Ram, and Smyczek all got first round wins while Russell lost easily to Berdych and Johnson and Williams lost 5-setters.  We didn't expect much from the American men and that's about what we got.  They did all lose to seeds so maybe it's more about bad draws than anything.  Smyczek beating Karlovic was a plus and the close losses by top 200 players Johnson and Williams give hope for their futures.  But Williams probably should have beaten Mayer, holding a handful a match points in the 4th set tiebreak.  Querrey plays Wawrinka for the right to play likely Djokovic so his run may be soon over.

Women: 11-6 with 5 women still in the draw (Serena, Venus, Stephens, Hampton, and Keys); Lepchenko was upset by Vesnina in round 2, with Davis, King, McHale, Oudin, and Vandeweghe bowing out in round 1.  This has been an encouraging first two rounds for many of the younger Americans with 3 of them still alive.  Close losses by Davis and McHale to younger players (Gavrilova and Putintseva) were discouraging tough.  Stephens a legitimate shot to reach the QF after Robson took out Kvitova.  Hampton will get Azarenka as a reward while Keys plays Kerber so it very well could be midnight on the latter two's cinderella run.  Serena has done nothing to show she's not still the favorite and Venus has played well but gets Sharapova yet.  So far so good for the American women but now can they build on their success?

With so many top players and intriguing underdogs still in the draw, more great tennis is ahead!