Aussie Open 2011, Days 1-4

The Aussie Open has begun and I can officially say the colour of 2011 is GREEN (with a little bit of yellow) which makes me very happy indeed. I am currently watching Clijsters demolish Suarez Navarro. She is most definitely the one to beat this year. She looks completely hardcore - game face on from the very beginning of the match. No exhibition stuff, just clean, powerful, accurate hitting. She looks in scary form.

Henin, who crushed British no. 1 Elena Baltacha yesterday, is looking pretty good too, but it's only her first tournament back after her elbow injury and I don't reckon she's going to be beating Clijsters any time soon.

As for the men, well well well. It's been an intriguing first couple of games for some. Verdasco came back from the brink of defeat (or the jaws of humiliation) to beat a devastated Tipsarevic (he lost the fourth set breaker and the fifth set to love, not good). Verdasco's dodgy hair-do lives on another day. Hewitt took part in a classic Hewitt match in the first round against a porky, slightly crazed looking Nalbandian. Five sets of delicious tennis later and Nalbandian squeezed it 9-7 in the fifth. Absolutely why people love Hewitt. The Aussie's were in fine voice throughout and it was such a good match that it didn't really matter who won it in the end. It probably mattered to Hewitt actually, and Nalbandian for that matter, but as an impartial viewer it was excellent viewing.

What else, what else? Ray-ray came through the unknown Beck-factor admirably and easily. Djoko and GoNads (watching him now - crushing American Sweeting - just won the first set 6-2) both eased through their matches. The Fed had an easy first game and set up a second-round match with Giles Simon, a man he has played twice and never beaten (a stat I was surprised to discover). A Fed firing on all cylinders and looking back to his best and Simon back from injury, fresh, fast and ready to prove what a great player he is; it had the makings of a good match. And so it proved. Fed took the first two sets pretty easily before Simon stepped it up and took the third and fourth sets pretty easily himself. The deciding set was a nervy affair; both players had opportunities to break and press home an advantage. There were some epic rallies, what with The Fed's ability to always be in the right place and Simon's skinny but incredibly fast legs, both men were reaching some remarkable shots. It was The Fed who secured the break in the sixth game of the fifth set and went on to win a tight tight match: 6-3 6-4 4-6 4-6 6-3. Great match. The Fed marches on in defence of the one Grand Slam he still has.

Ray-ray plays his second-round match later on today (actually tomorrow morning) and I shall be dragging myself out of bed for it. Stay tuned for Ray-ray v. Marchenko (who?).

I'll keep you blogged...