TENNIS: Rafael Nadal made short work of his opening match at the Australian Open, taking just 77 minutes to defeat Christophe Rochus 6-0 6-2 6-2.
Nadal, who reached the semi-finals in Melbourne for the first time last year, had never played the Belgian before and Rochus will be hoping it is a while before the pair square off again.
Rochus was no match for the world number one, who dominated from the baseline sending the 75th-ranked Belgian scurrying all over the court.
The Spaniard, showing no ill affects from the tendonitis in his right knee that forced him to the sidelines for two months at the end of last year, was not afraid to come into the net when required either.
The first set took just 19 minutes as Nadal ripped into his work at breakneck speed.
Rochus put up more resistance in the second - the vocal Aussie crowd willing him to succeed and cheering loudly when he held his serve for first the time in the ninth game of the match.
But although the Belgian held serve for a second time to make it 3-2, Nadal took the next three games to wrap up the set.
It was a similar story in the third set as Rochus suffered an early break, and although he once again clawed his way back to 3-2 he was always chasing.
And with Nadal in such a ruthless mood - he struck 47 winners to Rochus’ seven - the Belgian never stood a chance.
Collated Australian Open Results, Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia: Flavio Cipolla (Ita) bt (29) Dmitry Tursunov (Rus) 4-6 6-2 7-6 (9-7) 7-5, Marcel Granollers-Pujol (Spa) bt Teimuraz Gabashvili (Rus) 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-0, Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt Igor Kunitsyn (Rus) 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (9-7) 5-7 6-3, Denis Istomin (Uzb) bt Vincent Spadea (USA) 6-2 7-5 6-4, (12) Gael Monfils (Fra) bt Martin Vassalo Arguello (Arg) 6-1 6-3 7-5, Sebastien De Chaunac (Fra) bt Steve Darcis (Bel) 2-6 6-3 0-6 6-2 6-2, Andreas Beck (Ger) bt Colin Ebelthite (Aus) 7-5 6-1 6-0, (6) Gilles Simon (Fra) bt Pablo Andujar (Spa) 6-4 6-1 6-1, (24) Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt Diego Junqueira (Arg) 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-4, Fabio Fognini (Ita) bt Andrey Golubev (KAZ) 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 6-2, Guillermo Canas (Arg) bt Dieter Kindlmann (Ger) 3-6 7-5 5-7 6-0 7-5, (14) Fernando Verdasco (Spa) bt Adrian Mannarino (Fra) 6-0 6-2 6-2, Tommy Haas (Ger) bt Eduardo Schwank (Arg) 6-3 6-3 6-4, Arnaud Clement (Fra) bt Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr) 6-3 2-6 4-6 6-2 6-1, (25) Ivo Karlovic (Cro) bt Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spa) 6-3 6-4 6-4, Roko Karanusic (Cro) bt Florent Serra (Fra) 6-3 1-6 6-3 3-6 6-3, Dudi Sela (Isr) bt (30) Rainer Schuettler (Ger) 1-6 6-2 6-4 6-4, (17) Nicolas Almagro (Spa) bt Nicolas Massu (Chi) 6-4 6-4 3-6 5-7 6-3, (18) Igor Andreev (Rus) bt Peter Polansky (Can) 5-7 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-4, (4) Andy Murray (Gbr) bt Andrei Pavel (Rom) 6-2 3-1 ret, Mario Ancic (Cro) bt Wayne Odesnik (USA) 7-5 6-4 4-6 6-2, Stefan Koubek (Aut) bt Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 6-3 6-2 6-2, (9) James Blake (USA) bt Frank Dancevic (Can) 6-4 6-3 7-5, (5) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt Juan Monaco (Arg) 6-4 6-4 6-0, Victor Hanescu (Rom) bt Jan Hernych (Cze) 3-6 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-4) 8-6, Ernest Gulbis (Lat) bt Albert Montanes (Spa) 6-3 6-2 6-3, Chris Guccione (Aus) bt Nicolas Devilder (Fra) 6-4 6-2 6-4, Michael Berrer (Ger) bt Carsten Ball (Aus) 6-2 6-4 6-3, (22) Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu) 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-4, (31) Jurgen Melzer (Aut) bt Kei Nishikori (Jpn) 7-5 6-2 6-1, (13) Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 5-7 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3, (1) Rafael Nadal (Spa) bt Christophe Rochus (Bel) 6-0 6-2 6-2
Men’s Singles Round One
Women's Singles Round One: Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) bt Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe) 6-3 6-3, (14) Patty Schnyder (Swi) bt Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) 2-6 6-4 6-2, (13) Victoria Azarenka (Blr) bt Petra Kvitova (Cze) 6-2 6-1, Virginie Razzano (Fra) bt Jarmila Gajdosova (Aus) 6-1 6-7 (2-7) 6-4, Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spa) bt Ekaterina Bychkova (Rus) 6-3 6-0, Tatjana Malek (Ger) bt Ayumi Morita (Jpn) 7-6 (7-4) 6-2, (22) Jie Zheng (Chn) bt Camille Pin (Fra) 6-3 6-3, (12) Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Mara Santangelo (Ita) 6-2 5-7 6-2, Julie Coin (Fra) bt Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-4 4-6 6-1, (2) Serena Williams (USA) bt Meng Yuan (Chn) 6-3 6-2, Severine Bremond (Fra) bt Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) 6-2 6-1, (21) Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spa) bt Isabella Holland (Aus) 6-1 7-5, Iveta Benesova (Cze) bt Vera Dushevina (Rus) 6-4 0-6 6-2, Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) bt Melanie Oudin (USA) 6-1 6-4, Carla Suarez-Navarro (Spa) bt Roberta Vinci (Ita) 7-5 6-4, Melinda Czink (Hun) bt Sorana-Mihaela Cirstea (Rom) 6-2 6-2, (4) Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Kristina Barrois (Ger) 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 6-1, Sesil Karatancheva (Bul) bt Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spa) 2-6 6-1 6-2, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Spa) bt (32) Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 7-5 6-3, Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) bt (9) Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 7-6 (9-7) 4-6 6-1, Elena Baltacha (Gbr) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger) 6-1 6-4, Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt Klara Zakopalova (Cze) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-0), (31) Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Olivia Rogowska (Aus) 5-7 6-3 6-2, (20) Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Olga Govortsova (Blr) 6-4 6-3, (6) Venus Williams (USA) bt Angelique Kerber (Ger) 6-3 6-3, Shuai Peng (Chn) bt (28) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) 7-6 (7-4) 6-1, Tathiana Garbin (Ita) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 6-4 2-6 7-5, (8) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Anastasia Rodionova (Aus) 6-2 3-6 6-3, Jessica Moore (Aus) bt Christina Mchale (USA) 1-6 6-3 9-7, Gisela Dulko (Arg) bt Anastasia Yakimova (Blr) 6-3 5-7 6-3, (18) Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt Chanelle Scheepers (Rsa) 6-0 6-0, Sabine Lisicki (Ger) bt (30) Aleksandra Wozniak (Can) 6-4 6-3