By Erik Gudris / Monday, January 13, 2014

 

Plenty of top seeds on the men's side, including Tomas Berdych, eased into the second round on day one of the Australian Open.

Photo Credit: Corleve

With temperatures already rising in Melbourne, many competing during the opening day of the Australian Open were keen to finish and get off the courts.

That included No. 3 seed David Ferrer who overcame being down an break in the third set to his opening round opponent Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia. After over two hours, Ferrer came away with the 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win.

"Well, I prefer not too hot, but I think everybody prefer that. But it's for everybody. I know here in Australia every year it was very hot," Ferrer said about the conditions. "You know, I know tomorrow is gonna be more hot, and after tomorrow again."

Another early winner was No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych. The Czech, who drew more attention for his bold striped shirt rather than being unbroken during the match, posted a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Ukrainian Aleksandr Nedovyesov.

No. 8 seed Stanislas Wawrinka spent just 65 minutes on court after his first round meeting against Andrey Golubev ended when the Kazakh retired down 6-4, 4-1 due to a lower leg injury.

"We never want the opponent to retire for injury but that's what happened today," Wawrinka said. "I was feeling good. I think it's one of the best starts in a grand slam if I look about my game and how I felt on court. I was moving well, playing strong."

No. 12 seed Tommy Haas also retired due to shoulder injury in his match against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez after the Spaniard led 7-5, 5-2.

No. 23 seed Ernests Gulbis lost his cool a few times, including snapping a racquet in frustration in his match against Juan Monaco. But in the end, it was the Latvian who used his powerful serve to move through with a 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory.

No. 9 seed Richard Gasquet and No. 15 seed Mikhail Youzhny were also winners on day one of the first Grand Slam event of the year.