Melbourne (AFP) - Big guns Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray successfully blasted their way into the Australian Open second round Monday but the Grand Slam dream of Ana Ivanovic was shattered.
It was different story for fifth seed Ivanovic, a former world number one who came into the tournament full of confidence after a stellar 2014 that saw her climb the rankings.Third seed Nadal and sixth seed Murray both enjoyed straight sets wins, with rising stars Simona Halep and Grigor Dimitrov also progressing comfortably on a cool and windy Melbourne day.
She started well against unheralded world number 142 Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, easily winning the first set, but went to pieces during the match, eventually crashing 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
"I really struggled to find my rhythm today, I was just a little bit lost," said the stunned Serb, a perennial crowd favourite in Australia where she has family.
Ninth seeded German Angelique Kerber also failed to live up to the hype, eliminated in three sets by Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu.
World number three Nadal had no such problems and was in full control against Russian Mikhail Youzhny, showing few signs of the injuries that disrupted his 2014 season
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