Sharapova wins at Australian Open as Ivanovic tumbles

Second seed Maria Sharapova powered into the Australian Open second round Monday as fifth ranked Ana Ivanovic crashed out on a day of upsets in the season-opening Grand Slam. A total of eight women's seeds were eliminated on the first day of action at Melbourne Park, with former world number one Ivanovic the highest profile casualty. Ivanovic, seeded five, was bundled out in a humiliating 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka, with third seed Simona Halep forced to dig deep to avoid a similar fate. Angelique Kerber (seeded nine), Lucie Safarova (16), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (23) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (27) were also among the day-one departures, while Canada's Eugenie Bouchard (7) and Ekaterina Makarova (10) negotiated their way through. Sharapova, who can regain the coveted number one ranking from arch-rival Serena Williams if she wins a second title at Melbourne Park, said she was aware of the carnage before she faced Petra Martic of Croatia. "There were quite a few upsets today. Of course I was very well aware of that.... I certainly didn't want to be one of them," she said. The five-time Grand Slam champion need not have worried, crushing Martic 6-4, 6-1 to make it a 24th birthday to forget for the Croat. "I made a few too many unforced errors but overall I'm glad I got through," said Sharapova, who showed signs of the sizzling form that won her the French Open last year and the Brisbane International warm-up tournament earlier this month. There was only despair for her opponent in the Brisbane final Ivanovic, whose fine form ahead of the Open deserted her. The Serb, who won her only major at the French Open in 2008, was hoping to re-establish her Grand Slam credentials at the Australian Open, where she enjoys huge popularity among the home fans. "It's really disappointing. It's probably the worst thing could happen," she said, admitting she felt "lost" on centre court as world number 142 Hradecka recovered from a woeful start to outclass a player 137 places above her. Hradecka, who won a silver medal in doubles at the London Olympics and has three Grand Slam doubles titles, showed no signs of being intimidated, continually wrong-footing Ivanovic as she attacked the net. - Early nerves - World number three Halep also produced a stuttering first-up performance, with the Romanian admitting nerves almost got the better of her, but managed to regroup and down Italy's Karin Knapp 6-3, 6-2. Despite the emphatic scoreline, Halep struggled to impose herself on world number 50 Knapp and was relieved to advance, saying nerves were always going to be an issue so early in a Grand Slam. "I'm sure that next time I'll play better," said the 23-year-old, who is looking to build on a breakthrough 2014 when she reached the French Open final and the semi-finals at Wimbledon. "I was thinking a lot -- maybe too much -- yesterday about this match, (so) I'm really happy I could win this." Seventh seed Bouchard described her 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam as "solid" but was confident she would improve. "I feel good mentally and I'm just so ready to fight and leave everything on the court. I don't feel tired at all," she said. Kerber of Germany lost to Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-4, 0-6, 6-1. Meanwhile, Australian Jarmila Gajdosova finally broke a demoralising run at her home Grand Slam with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru, taking her through the opening round for the first time in a decade of trying. Williams, who won the last of her five Australian titles in 2010, opens her campaign on Tuesday against Belgium's Alison van Uytvanck.