World number one Rafael Nadal and Briton Andy Murray both claimed easy wins in the opening round at the Australian Open on Tuesday, enhancing the prospect of a showcase semifinal between them.
It took world No. 4 Andy Murray just 45 minutes to make his way into the second round as he raced to a 6-2, 3-1 lead before Romanian opponent Andrei Pavel retired with a back injury in a sweltering day session in Melbourne.
Murray, the first victim of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's run to the final here last year, won 100 percent of his first serve points and net approaches in his opening match.
Pavel held two break point chances at 5-2 in the first set, but Murray reeled off four straight points to put out the challenge with on-court temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius.
Murray has yet to join the list of grand slam winners but having finished runner-up to Federer at the U.S. Open in September and as the sole player among the top four to win a title last week, the Briton has been installed as the front-runner for the season's opening major.
If that happens, he'd be the first British man to win a Grand Slam title since Fred Perry back in 1936.
And he believes he has reached the sublime form which could make him world number one in six months.
"I'd obviously love to be number one. I'm sure all players would at some point in their career. But I'd want to try and win a Slam first. I think that's the next step for me," said Murray, who opened his 2009 season by defeating Roger Federer and Andy Roddick en route to the Doha title.
"But if I play well the first six months of this year, I don't have a whole lot of points to defend. So there is a chance that I'd do it.
Murray next faces Spaniard Marcel Granollers, who beat Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-0.
Nadal, a five-time Grand Slam winner, did not seem to be firing on all cylinders to beat Belgian Christophe Rochus 6-0, 6-2, 6-2.
The 22-year-old powered 47 winners to just seven of the Belgian and the Spaniard also registered 10 aces to only one from Rochus. Nadal did not face a single break point but converted seven out of his eleven breaking opportunities.
There are also day-session wins for the Frenchmen quartet, headed by last year's finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Juan Monaco from Argentina 6-4, 6-4, 6-0. He was joined by seeded compatriots Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet in the second round.
In women's play, Serena and Venus Williams and Russian world number four Elena Dementieva were all among the Tuesday winners.
But Dementieva was made to work hard in her opener, which saw a sudden loss of form in the second set before she kept Germany's Kristina Barrois under her thumb, 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-1.
Dementieva, a heavy favorite after winning the Auckland and Sydney titles, has extended her unbeaten run to 11 matches this season.
Serena Williams, the No. 2 seed and a three-time champion at the Melbourne Park, had little trouble with Yuan Meng, blasting 26 winners to dismiss the Chinese wildcard 6-3, 6-2 in just over an hour.
Williams won this title in 2003, 2005 and 2007. Coming in ranked No. 2 in the world, she is definitely among the favorites.
When she was asked about the odd-year pattern of winning here at the press conference, Williams replied: "I'm superstitious, but is there anything to the odd theory? No."
"One year I wasn't able to defend my title. One year I went crazy. So hopefully I'll be able to stay focused this year."
Ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland became the first top 10 seed to fall after a messy 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-1 loss to Kateryna Bondarenko from Ukraine.
Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, seeded No. 20 but the only woman in the draw other than Serena Williams to have won this title, beat Belarussian Olga Govortsova in her first match of the fortnight, 6-4, 6-3.
Source:Xinhua
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