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)

Dear readers, professional tennis instructor Florian Meier from OnlineTennisInstruction.com is back with another guest post, this time presenting his take on the Australian Open women's draw. Florian's previous contributions to Women's Tennis Blog included in-depth analysis of Sabine Lisicki's game and US Open predictions. Enjoy Florian's preview!

Hey everyone. The Australian Open is about to start and this year the field seems to be wide open without clear favorites. Also many of the top players are struggling with injuries and Andrea Petkovic already had to withdraw from the event because of a back injury. In this article I want to give you my view on who has the best chances to win the tournament.

I decided to pick out four players who I believe have the biggest chance to win this year’s Australian Open title.

1. PETRA KVITOVA

Petra Kvitova is currently in a close battle with Caroline Wozniacki for the world number 1 ranking. She had her breakthrough winning Wimbledon last year and I think she has very good chances to become the most successful player in 2012.

Her game is big, she played well in the warm up matches to the tournament, and she seems to have the confidence and belief now.

CHECK OUT HOW WELL KVITOVA IS PLAYING IN THIS VIDEO

2. KIM CLIJSTERS

Clijsters is the defending champion and in my opinion always a threat at any Grand Slam. She had a tough second half of the season in 2011, where she did not play much at all because of several injuries.

Having had such a long preparation could be an advantage for her because she is probably in great shape right now. At the warm-up tournament in Brisbane she seemed to be in strong form but had to pull out because of a hip injury. The latest reports are saying that she is practicing at 100% though and therefore I think she is one of the favourites to win the title.

3. SERENA WILLIAMS

As usual it is difficult to assess what kind of form Serena Williams is in for the Australian Open. She has not played much before the tournament but she obviously likes the tournament, having won it five times in the past.

In a recent interview I heard Brad Gilbert, famous coach and expert, talk about how hard Serena was preparing and how well she looked out on the practice courts. An ankle injury forced her to pull out of Brisbane but she has also been seen practicing hard on site in Melbourne. She has not played many tournament matches in a while so it will be crucial for her to get through the first couple of rounds.

If she gets through the first couple of rounds and stays healthy she will definitely be one of the top favourites for the title. Read more »

Seeds number two, four and five, one of them defending champion Jarmila Gajdosova, were all the victims of Mona Barthel during her run to her first career final at the Moorilla Hobart International. But the amazing German didn't leave the city without completing the last touch and finished the tournament by upsetting top seed Yanina Wickmayer with an impressive 6-1 6-2 score.

Being a qualifier, Barthel compiled eight match wins on her title quest. The defeated names include: Valeria Savinykh, Olga Govortsova, Nina Bratchikova, Romina Oprandi, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Jarmila Gajdosova, Angelique Kerber, and finally Yanina Wickmayer. The last qualifier to win a WTA title before Barthel was Tamira Paszek at Quebec City in September 2010.

The world No.64 Barthel, who came to Hobart with only six main draw victories in her life, is projected to make a Top 50 debut.

Prior to Hobart, Barthel played Auckland where she defeated former world No.4 Jelena Dokic in the first round and lost to Sabine Lisicki 7-6(3) 3-6 6-3 afterwards. The upcoming Australian Open will be her first main draw appearance at the event and her opening opponent will be Anne Keothavong. (photo via Moorilla Hobart International)

Playing against defending champion Li Na in the final of the Apia International Sydney, Victoria Azarenka dominated the first set 6-2 before Li stormed through the second without facing a break point and by losing just one game. The odds continued to be on Li’s side in the beginning of the third set when she broke Azarenka’s serve in the opening game, but from then on Azarenka was writing the story of their match and took out the last year’s champion 6-2 1-6 6-3. Read more »

We were all happy to welcome Anna Chakvetadze back on the tennis courts this week at the Hobart International, and seeing her win two matches, her first victories since April, made us root for her even more. However, the Russian has joined dozens of WTA players that are already injured this early January and retired from her quarterfinal against Shahar Peer with a severe left leg cramp.

After ousting third seed Monica Niculescu 6-0 6-4 and Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3 6-2, the 24-year-old Chakvetadze won the first set 6-4 against the sixth-seeded Peer, but even during that set she started experiencing the injury. Chakvetadze then lost the second set and retired after dropping serve initially in the decider at the score 4-6 6-4 1-0.

Chakvetadze was once No.5 in the women's standings but the horrifying robbery, string of injuries and illness dragged her down to her current 234th position in the WTA rankings. Hobart was the Russian’s first tournament since Wimbledon in June. During her golden career year of 2007, Chakvetadze won four WTA titles, including Hobart, and played the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Fila has converted one more big name in 2012. After shocking us by taking Jelena Jankovic from Anta, Fila prepared another early season surprise by signing Vera Zvonareva who used to wear the K-Swiss apparel. With Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova already by their side for years, Fila has now added two really big tennis names, Top 15 players and Grand Slam finalists.

Here’s what the world No.7 Zvonareva says about the deal with Fila:

I have admired the Fila brand since I was a young girl and I am thrilled to join the elite group of athletes that have worn Fila throughout the years. The Fila brand aligns so well with my personal style, and I look forward to wearing Fila’s tennis line in Australia.

Additional info: For your last glance at Zvonareva’s past partnership with K-Swiss, check out how the Russian wore the brand during 2010.