The biggest Australian hope, US Open champion Samantha Stosur, crashed out of the Aussie Open already in the first round, and we didn't wait for long for another Grand Slam champion to bow out, as Francesca Schiavone lost to fellow Italian Romina Oprandi the very next day, in the second round, though.

The tenth-seeded Schiavone hit an astonishing number of nine double faults, while Oprandi made none. In addition, Schiavone made 35 unforced errors to her opponent's 16, and won only 28% on the second serve, while Oprandi was three times better in that department.

"I couldn't play like I supposed and I was playing to play," Schiavone said in a post-match conference.

The 80th-ranked Oprandi, who has reached her first third round at a Grand Slam, will play Julia Goerges next. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki stormed through the first set of her second round match at the Australian Open 6-1 in just 28 minutes, but Georgian Anna Tatishvili had much more hitting to offer. In the second set, which was almost three times longer, the world No.1 found herself trailing 1-4, and at 4-5 she was on the brink of losing the set when Tatishvili had a set point. Wozniacki then evened the score and closed the match quickly to 6-1 7-6(4).
First serve was working exceptionally well for Wozniacki, who hit nine aces in the match and afterwards joked that she felt a little bit like John Isner. Next for the Dane is Monica Niculescu who beat Pauline Parmentier 4-6 6-4 6-1 in the second round.

Kim Clijsters, Li Na, Agnieszka Radwanska and Victoria Azarenka were all express. Clijsters took just 48 minutes to defeat Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-0 6-1, Li needed 31 minutes per set to get past Olivia Rogowska 6-2 6-2, Radwanska beat Paula Ormaechea 6-3 6-1 in eight minutes over an hour, while Azarenka remained undefeated this season by rolling past Casey Dellacqua 6-1 6-0. (photo: sr_cranks)

Local favorite Samantha Stosur expressed her eagerness for competing on home soil when she thrilled her country with the US Open title in September, but the moment the time came for the Australian to shine in the January's sun down under, the nerves crept in and after losing in the second round of Brisbane and the first round of Sydney, Stosur put the icing on the cake of disappointment by crashing out in the first round of the Australian Open.

Spraying 33 unforced errors, the world No.6 Stosur fell to Sorana Cirstea 7-6(2) 6-3, the player to whom she hadn’t lost more than three games per set in their previous two encounters. This time the 59th-ranked Cirstea had nothing to lose and put out her aggressive side against the stiff Stosur who was falling under her own pressure. In the end Stosur did save three match points, but she was far too emotional to turn the situation to her advantage.

"It's hard to suppress those emotions when it means so much to you," said Stosur after becoming the first big casualty of the tournament.

Caroline Wozniacki experienced no problems with the wrist injury which troubled her in the quarterfinal loss to Agnieszka Radwanska in Sydney, even though she did enter her opening match at the Australian Open nervously, not sure of how the injury would behave.

Still, it was all good for the world No.1 and she brushed aside Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 6-2 6-1. Rodionova made 36 unforced errors, three times more than Wozniacki, and converted zero break opportunities. World No.83 Anna Tatishvili of Georgia will be Wozniacki's opponent in the second round.

Working the Tomato Adidas by Stella McCartney dress, Wozniacki is battling to retain her top ranking this fortnight. If she doesn't manage to reach the fourth round, and seed No.13 Jelena Jankovic is her biggest opponent on that way, Wozniacki will not be No.1 any more.

Additional info: Over the weekend we had two tournament finishes, with Victoria Azarenka and Mona Barthel emerging as titlists, and on Monday at the Australian Open both the players advanced. Sydney champion Azarenka breezed past Heather Watson, while Barthel, who surprised in Hobart by going all the way to the title from qualifying, won the first set against Anne Keothavong 6-0 but then Keothavong retired because of food poisoning. (photo via Adidas)

The weekend's Sydney finalists Victoria Azarenka and Li Na are both safely through to the second round of the Australian Open.

Sydney titlist Azarenka felt Heather Watson's resistance only in the first two games of the encounter and advanced with a 6-1 6-0 victory. Next for the world No.3 will be Casey Dellacqua, who took out Bojana Jovanovski 6-3 6-2.

Last year’s Australian Open runner-up Li Na defeated Ksenia Pervak 6-3 6-1 in the first round. In both sets Pervak converted her sole break points, but her 100% in conversions was far from enough for Li who outweighed them with 14 break points of her own, six of which she managed to realize.

Defending Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters is also through, having ousted Maria Joao Koehler 7-5 6-1. The repeat of the last year’s final could happen early this year, as Clijsters and Li are in the same quarter of the draw. (photo: angelicalbite)