Tennis: Defending champion Roger Federer dispelled any fears surrounding his form and fitness by dismantling Diego Hartfield in the first round of the Australian Open.
Federer showed no signs of a recent stomach virus or rustiness as he surged to a 6-0 6-3 6-0 victory under the lights of the Rod Laver Arena.
The world number one came into the tournament having played no competitive tennis since November as his illness had forced him to miss last week's Kooyong Classic warm-up event.
However, the Swiss maestro didn't look as if he'd been away, producing a typically impressive performance.
"I'm happy with my form tonight," Federer said. "I wish it was like this every night."
He added he did not think a lack of time on court would hinder his 2008 campaign.
"As long as I'm through, really for me the rest doesn't matter," he said. "I'm happy with my form. It was important that I didn't have any lapses, mentally, or just gave away easy points.
"I think I really played pretty tough."
Next up for Federer will be a meeting with French veteran Fabrice Santoro, a man playing his 62nd Grand Slam tournament; a record.
Santoro beat big-serving American John Isner 6-2 6-2 6-4 in his first-round encounter.
If Serbia's rising star Novak Djokovic is feeling the pressure of being tagged the next big thing in men's tennis he certainly was not showing it as he produced a devastating first-round performance.
The world number three showed why he is the player considered most likely to end the recent Grand Slam dominance of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal - who between them have won 13 of the last 14 majors over the past four years.
The man who reached last year's US Open final against Federer as well as the semi-finals of the French Open and Wimbledon, cruised into the second round on day two with a 6-0 6-2 7-6 (7/5) win over German Benjamin Becker - the man who famously ended Andre Agassi's career at the 2006 US Open.
Such was Djokovic's dominance that he needed less than an hour to win the opening two sets as he hit 23 winners to just 22 unforced errors in the match.
Afterwards the 20-year-old spoke of the additional pressure he is under these days after cutting his ranking from number 83 to number three in just two years.
"Of course having such a great season (last year) and getting to third place in the world it's a big pleasure and I'm really happy for that," said Djokovic.
"But on the other hand it's a big responsibility as well, knowing there are a lot of expectations (on me)."
Djokovic admitted he was feeling the pressure of going into this year's Australian Open as the player considered the next most likely player to win a Grand Slam tournament.
"It's natural you feel the pressure," he said. "If you don't feel pressure something is wrong with you but it's a matter of how you deal with the pressure.
"I'm trying not to think about that too much - about the expectations, about people saying 'you've got enough quality to win a Grand Slam this year', especially in Australia or the US because of the hardcourts."
It was yet another disappointing Australian Open for Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic as he bowed out in the first round for the second successive year.
The former world number three has now gone out in the first week at Melbourne Park in eight of his nine visits after losing in four sets to little-known Dutch qualifier Robin Haase on Court 18.
One other seed to fall was Spain's Nicolas Almagro (27), who went down in straight sets to rising Croatian star Marin Cilic, although that can hardly be classed as a shock.
But the other seeds in action on day two had little trouble reaching the second round, including home favourite Lleyton Hewitt.
The 2005 runner-up thrashed Belgian Steve Darcis 6-0 6-3 6-0 with a top-notch performance which bodes well for the host nation's main hope.
Fifth seed David Ferrer also strolled through, losing just five games to Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Number 10 seed David Nalbandian, who has reached the fourth round or better at Melbourne Park in the past five years, was untroubled in thrashing Australian wildcard entrant Robert Smeets 6-1 6-1 7-6 (7/3).
In arguably the headline match of the day, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 runner-up here, downed Sweden's 2002 champion Thomas Johansson 7-6 (7/0) 6-2 3-6 6-3. He could now face another former champion, Marat Safin, in the next round.
In the women's singles, Svetlana Kuznetsova proved that she is far from a false number two seed, dismissing France's Nathalie Dechy in straight sets - and sounding a warning to her rivals.
The 22-year-old, who has by far the easier half of the draw, looked untroubled in seeing off the former semi-finalist on Rod Laver Arena in a little over an hour, 6-3 6-1.
Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams may be bigger 'names' on her side of the draw, but Kuznetsova, who was beaten in the final in the warm-up event in Sydney by world number one Justine Henin last week and at last year's US Open, says she is happy to slip under the radar for now and is not worried that she does not have the profile of other players.
Fourth seed Ana Ivanovic produced an error-strewn performance but still had too much for Sorana-Mihaela Cirstea, winning 7-5 6-3, while ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova made light work of Vania King as she swept to a 6-3 7-5 victory.
Anna Chakvetadze, seeded six, had an even easier time and did not have to hit a ball in anger to progress. Her opponent, Andrea Petkovic, withdrew with an injury suffered in the warm-up.
Nadia Petrova (14) also won, but there was a shock with Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli exiting at the hands of Sofia Arvidsson.
Joining her through the exit door were 16th seed Dinara Safina - a 7-6 (7/4) 4-6 6-2 loser against qualifier Sabine Lisicki - 20th seed Agnes Szavay, the US Open quarter-finalist suffering a three-set defeat to Ekaterina Makorova, and Lucie Safarova (22), who lost to Colombia's Catalina Castano. PA