Australian Open 2008: The First Day Matches

Australian Open 2008 kicks off on Monday with the first round matches of the tournament. Top seeds players are going to have easy matches, whereas the wild card or qualifiers are set to have big matches in their career. You may think that the matches are supposed to be easy for the top seeded. However, the reality is that the young wild card or qualifying opponents go into the matches with the intent of nothing to lose, but everything to win.

In the first day, Serena Williams faces wildcard Jarmila Gajdosova, whom she never met before. Serena is the defending champion. So, she is expected to be very serious from the beginning of Australian Open 2008 in order to defend her title. World no. 1 Justine Henin is set to kick off her Open with the encounter against Aiko Nakamura from Japan.

Tennis News reported:

Closing proceedings on Rod Laver Arena on Monday night will be world No.2 Rafael Nadal (2) whose first opponent is Serbian qualifier Viktor Troicki. Nadal’s previous best performance at Melbourne Park was a quarterfinal appearance last year, but after a rigorous December training schedule, he considers himself in prime physical condition and will be looking to go all the way in 2008.
Headlining the action on Vodafone Arena are Jelena Jankovic (3) , Andy Roddick (6) , Maria Sharapova (5) and Richard Gasquet (8) . Jankovic, who enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2007, which saw her finish the year ranked in the top ten for the first time, will be hoping to build on her success this year. The first opponent standing in her way is Austria’s Tamira Paszek.

So, it is obvious that fans can experience some competitive matches in the first day if the wild card or qualifiers can show inspired performance. Now, let us see if the first day of Australian Open 2008 can present with some exciting matches.