Australian open day 1 preview

Rod Laver Arena

AT the 14820 capacity Rod Laver Arena Angelique Kerber opens up her campaign against Australian wildcard Gajdosova. Interestingly the pair has meet four times before but the German 9^th seed has never been able to even win a set against the Australian. It is important to take into account however that the pair hasn't meet since 2010, I reckon that this could definitely be a three setter but in Kerber's favour. The three other seeded players should have relatively easy matches on day one. The most likely seed to fall is Sam Stosur who will be trying to seek revenge from her defeat a couple days ago to Klara Zakopalova.

Margreat Court Arena

Fresh from making the final in New Zealand a week ago Venus Williams faces 22^nd seed Makarova. They have meet twice before with both wins going to Williams in straight sets. My money goes on Williams to edge out the at time tricky Russian (who has beat Jalena Jankovic this season already). There should be easy wins for Berdych and Kvitova. There could potentially be a shock for Sara Errani when she faces Julia George. Errani has lost in the second round to lower ranked players already this year and Georges is always a danger in slams however she is carrying injury issues. Rounding up the action is Baghdatis against Istomin which could potentially go to five sets, this match is a close one to call in my opinion.

Hisense Arena

Swiss sports personality of the year Wawrinka faces Golubev. In their first meet since 2011 in which Golubev won, I think that Wawrinka will definitely come through to round two but don't be surprise if he does drop a set against the unpredictable at times form of Golubev. Li Na faces a encounter with rising young star Konjuh but with Na's experience this shouldn't be a problem. The same can be said for Ivanovic and Janowicz.

Elsewhere

In other matches the British duo of Heather Watson and Laura Robson kick off their Australian Open campaign on day one. Watson, who came through qualifying after beating Irina Falconi 64 76 faces 31^st seed Daniela Hantuchova in round 1 while Robson plays 18^th seed Kirsten Flipkens. Elsewhere former junior world number 1 and two time junior Grand Slam Champion Belinda Bencic could potentially win her first sencior grand slam match. The 16 year old world number 183 came through qualifying by beating the top seed Sharon Fichman in straight sets in the first qualifying round. While in the Men's Potentially interesting day one matches could include Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) vs.Tommy Haas, Ivo Karlovic (CRO) vs.Ivan Dodig (CRO) and Juan Monaco (ARG) vs.Ernests Gulbis. 

The full order of play is below:-

Rod Laver Arena

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Angelique Kerber (GER)[9] vs. Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Alejandro Gonzalez (COL) vs.David Ferrer (ESP)[3]

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Samantha Stosur (AUS)[17] vs.Klara Zakopalova (CZE)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Lukas Lacko (SVK) vs.Novak Djokovic (SRB)[2]

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Serena Williams (USA)[1] vs.Ashleigh Barty (AUS)

Margreat court arena

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)[22] vs.Venus Williams (USA)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Tomas Berdych (CZE)[7] vs.Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)

Women's Singles - Round 1Julia Goerges (GER) vs.Sara Errani (ITA)[7]

Women's Singles - Round 1Luksika Kumkhum (THA) vs.Petra Kvitova (CZE)[6]

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) vs.Denis Istomin (UZB)

Hisense Arena

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)[8] vs.Andrey Golubev (KAZ)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Na Li (CHN)[4] vs.Ana Konjuh (CRO)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Kiki Bertens (NED) vs.Ana Ivanovic (SRB)[14]

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Jordan Thompson (AUS) vs.Jerzy Janowicz (POL)[20]

show court 2

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Heather Watson (GBR) vs.Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)[31]

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Nicolas Mahut (FRA) vs.Matthew Ebden (AUS)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Samuel Groth (AUS) vs.Vasek Pospisil (CAN)[28]

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) vs.Sabine Lisicki (GER)[15]

Showcourt 3

Laura Robson (GBR) vs.Kirsten Flipkens (BEL)[18]

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Casey Dellacqua (AUS) vs.Vera Zvonareva (RUS)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - David Guez (FRA) vs.Richard Gasquet (FRA)[9]

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) vs.Tommy Haas (GER)[12]

Court 5

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) vs. Irina Falconi (USA)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Dominic Thiem (AUT) vs.Joao Sousa (POR)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Carlos Berlocq (ARG) vs.Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Sachia Vickery (USA) vs.Lauren Davis (USA)

court 6

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Belinda Bencic (SUI) vs.Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Juan Monaco (ARG) vs.Ernests Gulbis (LAT)[23]

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Roberta Vinci (ITA)[12] vs.Jie Zheng (CHN)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Ricardas Berankis (LTU) vs.Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)

Court 7

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Dudi Sela (ISR) vs.Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Fabio Fognini (ITA)[15] vs.Alex Bogomolov Jr. (RUS)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Shahar Peer (ISR) vs.Monica Niculescu (ROU)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) vs.Silvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP)

Court 8

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Santiago Giraldo (COL) vs.Sam Querrey (USA)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Di Wu (CHN) vs.Kenny De Schepper (FRA)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Shuai Zhang (CHN) vs.Mona Barthel (GER)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Alison Riske (USA) vs.Elena Vesnina (RUS)[23]

Court 10

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Pauline Parmentier (FRA) vs.Karolina Pliskova (CZE)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Jan Hajek (CZE) vs.Damir Dzumhur (BIH)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Donna Vekic (CRO) vs.Lucie Hradecka (CZE)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Leonardo Mayer (ARG) vs.Albert Montanes (ESP)

Court 11

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Alejandro Falla (COL) vs.Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (AUT) vs.Madison Keys (USA)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) vs.Lukasz Kubot (POL)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Dinah Pfizenmaier (GER) vs.Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)

Court 13

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Ivo Karlovic (CRO) vs.Ivan Dodig (CRO)[32]

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Flavia Pennetta (ITA)[28] vs.Alexandra Cadantu (ROU)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Annika Beck (GER) vs.Petra Martic (CRO)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Tommy Robredo (ESP)[17] vs.Lukas Rosol (CZE)

Court 15

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Steve Johnson (USA) vs.Adrian Mannarino (FRA)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Eugenie Bouchard (CAN)[30] vs.Hao Chen Tang (CHN)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Julia Glushko (ISR) vs.Lucie Safarova (CZE)[26]

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)[30] vs.Michael Russell (USA)

Court 19

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Caroline Garcia (FRA) vs.Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Kevin Anderson (RSA)[19] vs.Jiri Vesely (CZE)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Albert Ramos (ESP) vs.Pablo Andujar (ESP)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Vesna Dolonc (SRB) vs.Lara Arruabarrena (ESP)

Court 20

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)[14] vs.Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) vs.Virginie Razzano (FRA)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) vs.Julien Benneteau (FRA)

Court 22

Women's Singles - Round 1 - Monica Puig (PUR) vs.Anna Tatishvili (GEO)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Florian Mayer (GER) vs.Denis Kudla (USA)

Men's Singles - Round 1 - Jeremy Chardy (FRA)[29] vs.Jesse Huta Galung (NED)