• Australian Open

Ferrer cruises, Wawrinka through by default

Ferrer was rarely troubled by his opponent © Getty Images

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David Ferrer is underway at the Australian Open with an impressive straight-sets victory over Alejandro Gonzalez.

The world No. 3 needed little more than two hours to see off the Colombian 6-3 6-4 6-4.

Wilko: Murray's right - he won't win

Murray has played just four competitive matches since his surgery © Getty Images

• Andy Murray is recovering from back surgery and if he is to win the Australian Open he will likely need to get past Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic following an unfavourable draw for the Scot.
• The man himself says he probably won't win in Melbourne - and ESPN's resident tennis expert and former British No. 1 Chris Wilkinson agrees.
• Click here to read the full article

Ferrer, who lost in the semi-finals to Novak Djokovic last year, said: "The last match I played here was very bad, but it's just one match. Now I am in another tournament, other conditions.

"I played well today. I play good some moments in the match and I have to be positive."

The Spaniard's second-round opponent will be Adrian Mannarino, who needed five sets to beat Steve Johnson.

Earlier, Stanislas Wawrinka was the first man through to the second round, advancing after just 15 games when Andrey Golubevretired retired with an injured left leg.

The No. 8 seed Wawrinka, another Djokovic victim in 2013 when he lost 12-10 in the fifth set of the fourth round tie in what proved to be the longest grand slam match of the year, was leading 6-4 6-1 when his Kazakhstan rival quit.

Two other players retired due to shoulder injuries, with Alex Bogomolov quitting after losing two sets to No. 15 Fabio Fognini and 12th seed Tommy Haas pulling out when he was down a set and a break against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Seventh seed Tomas Berdych eased past Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-3 6-4 6-3, while No. 9 Richard Gasquet, No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny, No. 19 Kevin Anderson, No. 23 Ernests Gulbis, No. 29 Jeremy Chardy, No. 32 Ivan Dodig and Sam Querrey also advanced.

Jerzy Janowicz, seeded 20th, was given a fright by world No. 319 Jordan Thompson.

The American took a two-set lead before Janowicz decided to start making a contest of it, eventually winning 1-6 4-6 6-4 6-2 6-1.

Marcos Baghdatis, a finalist here in 2006, fell in straight sets to Denis Istoman.

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