The curtain went up on the Australian Open Tennis Championships in Melbourne today. In the Men's section, 14-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal, a beaten finalist to Stan Wawrinka last year, defeated Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in straight sets. In another fixure, two-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray emerged a 6-3, 6-4,7-6 winner over India's Yuki Bhambri on Margaret Court Arena. Rising Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov also swept to victory over Germany's Dustin Brown in just 69 minutes, while Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych blew away Alejandro Falla. There were no upsets in the men's side of the draw, but Spain's 15th seed Tommy Robredo retired just five games into his match with Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin. In the Women's Singles, former world number one Ana Ivanovic crashed out at the first hurdle. Ivanovic, the fifth seed, was dumped by qualifier Lucie Hradecka at Melbourne Park in three sets. Fellow seeds Angelique Kerber (9), Svetlana Kuznetsova (27) and Sabine Lisicki (28) were also among the day-one casualties, while China's Peng Shuai (21) and Carla Suarez Navarro (17) negotiated their way through. Later today, second seed Maria Sharapova of Russia, the 2008 champion at Melbourne Park, will play Petra Martic of Croatia as she opens her campaign for a sixth Grand Slam title, with Canadian star Eugenuie Bouchard, seeded seven faces Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany.