Australian Open: Eight Women Seeds Fall, Rafael Nadal Returns to Form

Rafael Nadal
Associated Press

The first day of the Australian Open proved sleep is for the weak and why it is worth staying up for the first Grand Slam. Seeds fell left and right, which means anything will go in this tournament.

Eight women seeds fell on day one:

#5 Ana Ivanovic
#9 Angelique Kerber
#16 Lucie Safarova
#17 Carla Suarez Navarro
#23 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
#27 Svetlana Kuznetsova
#28 Sabine Lisicki
#32 Belinda Bencic

Ana Ivanovic, who reached the quarterfinals last year, collapsed after a stellar first set. She lost to qualifier and No. 142 Lucie Hradecka, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. She is the first top five player to fall in the first round since 2003.

The Australians are on fire! Bernard Tomic provided the audience with an entertaining match against Tobias Kamke. Will he finally put his attitude aside and take his career seriously? Tomic is known for his arrogance, but as his fans chanted that he is number one, he kindly reminded them he is number two, behind Nick Krygios. Another huge win belongs to No. 147 Thanasi Kokkinakis, who defeated No. 11 Ernests Gulbis in five sets. He is one of the bright Australian prospects and he proved his worth in the epic match. Other winners include Krygios, Sam Groth, Marinko Matosevic, James Duckworth, and Jarmila Gajdosova.

Rafael Nadal is back! Tennis is always better when Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray are on top of their games. Nadal spent the second half of 2014 injured, which predictably brought doubts, even to him, of his performance at the Open. He admitted he is not a favorite to win. His magnificent performance against Mikhail Youzhny, not an easy opponent, eliminated doubts . His form was almost flawless while he hit 37 winners and only committed 15 unforced errors. Youzhny only had one chance to break Nadal and he failed.

The best news of the night? 2014 Australian Open Champion Li Na announced her pregnancy. Her baby is due this summer.

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