• Australian Open, Day One

What They Said

ESPN staff
January 16, 2012
Casey Dellacqua is in line for a shot at Victoria Azarenka © Getty Images
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ESPN will be providing extensive coverage of the Australian Open, with live scores, commentary and analysis and you can follow it all with our live scorecentre

Men's round-up: Tomic edges Verdasco in epic
Women's round-up: Clijsters stutters through
Federer sees off Kudryavtsev
Nadal mauls Kuznetsov
Woeful day for Brits in Melbourne

Day One Gallery
Plays of the Day

Victoria Azarenka had kind words for Britain's Heather Watson after cruising to a 6-1 6-0 win. She said: "There are never any easy rounds in grand slams. She came out and fought hard. I wish her good look, she is a good girl and a great player. I just try and take it match by match, we will see how it goes. There are so many great players here, I am sure it is going to be a helluva competition. I think it was a good performance. There are few things for me that I have to work on tomorrow to be better in my second round. But, you know, I take what I get. I cannot complain."

Heather Watson felt she failed to get to grips with the quality of her opponent. She said: "I played a few good points here and there but I wasn't playing consistently enough. Vika played great and I can't remember her missing a ball, that's why she is No. 3 in the world. But I have to put up a bigger fight than that to get close. The first game was good but from there it was downhill. It was going very quick and before I knew it the first set had gone, I never really got going. I have gained experience from this and I am not too upset because I tried my best even though I wasn't there today."

British No. 1 Elena Baltacha was at a loss to explain her opening round defeat to Stephanie Foretz Gacon: "All the prep went really well but today for whatever reason I just could not get into the match at all. The second set was better but I didn't feel comfortable. It is very frustrating, just one of those days."

Casey Dellacqua set up a second-round clash with Azarenka with a comfortable win over Bojana Jovanovski and the Australian was delighted with her success - having battled back from a string of serious injuries. She said: "It feels good. It just feels rewarding. For the last few years what I've been through. There's certainly relief to get a win at grand slam level. I feel really good. I've worked really hard. Obviously having a few years out of the game I started from scratch. There was no choice. I've really, really put in some hard work."

Bernard Tomic paid tribute to the fans at the Australian Open © Getty Images
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Bernard Tomic battled back from two sets down to beat Fernando Verdasco and he had words of praise for the crowd on the Rod Laver Arena. He said: "Fernando played really well in that tiebreak and I don't know how I found the energy. I want to thank the crowd. The first set was very tough I did not feel 100%, it was tough, and I knew that with Fernando after being two sets down I knew it would be difficult to win and I don't know how I did it. I am having fun, today wasn't fun it was torture, but I am the happiest person alive right now."

James Ward was crushed by Blaz Kavcic and felt he struggled to adapt to the conditions. He said: "It was difficult out there due to the wind but it was the same for both of us and there are no excuses, it was a tough day. It's disappointing because I lost. I am not happy about losing any match but it was a good chance. It has gone and I just have to move on and look forward to the next tournament."

Juan Martin Del Potro recovered from losing the first set to beat Adrian Mannarino and was happy to have overcome a tough opponent. He said: "Mannarino is a very dangerous player. He's a lefty and he makes different shots. He started much better than me in the first set, and then it was tough to fight from behind the score. But I did my things, my game, and I took all the opportunities to beat him."

Li Na eased to victory over Ksenia Pervak, but the No. 5 seed admitted it was tough in the heat. She said: "I was feeling at the end of the first set really hot on the court. Also I was feeling no air. I couldn't breathe. So yes I was so lucky I won so easy in the second set."

Mardy Fish was much too good for Gilles Muller and has spoken of how fresh he feels compared to the end of last year. He said: "It was hot today. It's tough for everyone when it's 65 and windy every day that we've been here, and then all of a sudden the first day of the tournament it's 90. No one likes that. But I like those conditions, I like it hot. It's not easy for anyone. I prefer to play in that. I'm a lot healthier than I was at the end of the year last year, so that feels nice."

Kim Clijsters was not at her best but did enough to beat Maria Jose Koehler in straights sets and she was happy with her start to the defence of her title. She said: "I really felt like I had to find my rhythm in there. I felt that once I got it going that I was in charge most of the time. That was good. I served well on the important points today. I hit a few aces. I felt like I had a good rhythm out there on my serve. I'm pleased with that. But everything can always improve."

Former world No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko felt like a forgotten man as he slumped to a 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-2 6-1 defeat to little-known Italian Flavio Cipolla on Court 19: "I am used to show courts. I feel weird on court 19."

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