Day one of the 2010 Australian Open went pretty much according to plan with only one major upset. No. 58 ranked Maria Kirilenko upset No. 14 seed, Maria Sharapova, in a long 3-set match, 7-6(7-4), 3-6, 6-4. Kirilenko is seen here being congratulated by Sharapova after their match.
All other seeded players playing the first day advanced to the second round, including No. 15 seed, Kim Clijsters, who is one of the favorites to win the tournament after winning the U.S. Open last year in her first Grand Slam appearance after coming out of retirement.
Justine Henin, who is playing in her first Grand Slam after coming out of retirement, also posted a win. Henin comes into the tournament unseeded, so is in a tough quarter of the draw, which includes high seeds such as No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 5 Elena Dementieva, No. 12 Flavia Pennetta, and No. 15 Kim Clijsters who all advanced into the 2nd round. Henin will face No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva in round 2, so either a highly seeded player or a crowd favorite will have their Australian Open cut short. Either way, it is a tough quarter of the draw, and will make for some exciting matches leading up to round 4. Henin can either play the role of spoiler and take out some highly seeded players, or get cut down early. It will be interesting to see if she can come out of retirement as strongly as Clijsters did.
Other seeded players advancing in round 1 were No. 2 Dinara Safina, No. 24 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and No. 30, Kateryna Bondarenko.
