Stosur bundled out in first round; Nishikori wins in rout

MELBOURNE, Australia — U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur crashed out in the first round of the Australian Open in straight sets Tuesday in a crushing blow for local fans desperate to end a long drought at the national championship.

Sixth-seeded Stosur lost 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 to No. 59-ranked Sorana Cirstea of Romania to continue her terrible run on home soil since beating Serena Williams to capture her first Grand Slam title in New York last September.

Stosur has had one win in three tournaments on home soil in 2012.

She saved three match points while serving to stay in the match, but finally lost it when her looping forehand drifted over the baseline to hush the Rod Laver Arena crowd on the second day of the tournament.

No Australian has won the national title since Chris O'Neil in 1978.

Stosur's first-round loss mirrors that of Petra Kvitova, who went out in the first round of last year's U.S. Open after winning Wimbledon.

"I'm not sure if it's one of my biggest matches, but it feels like that now," said Cirstea, who had lost both her previous matches against Stosur.

"Probably the whole country hates me now."

Novak Djokovic won the men's U.S. Open, one of his three Grand Slam titles in 2011. Anyone who didn't know it only had to look at his shoes on Tuesday — if his emphatic first-round win wasn't evidence enough.

Djokovic started his Australian Open defense with a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 win over Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, wearing a pair of red-white-and-blue shoes with images of his three major trophies on the sides and a Serbian flag on the heels.

He gave up an early break but immediately broke back at love as he won the next 17 games, saving a break point in the opening game of the second set.

"It was a great performance for (my) first official match of the 2012 season," said the top-ranked Djokovic, whose only loss at a Grand Slam tournament last year was in the French Open semifinals.

He changed his buildup for the Australian Open this year, deciding not to play any warm-up tournaments. He was confident it wouldn't harm his chances.

"I'm nowadays a more complete player. I feel physically I'm stronger, I move better. I serve better," he said. "Especially having 2011 the way I had, this gives me more confidence."

Kei Nishikori became an instant celebrity in Japan when he finally broke through last year to top Shuzo Matsuoka's career-high ranking of No. 46 — the highest ever achieved by a Japanese man.

Nishikori had been nicknamed "Project 45" in honor of his quest to beat the ranking. Now that he's cracked the top 30 — he reached a high of No. 24 last year — Nishikori might soon get a new nickname back home: "Project Grand Slam."

Nishikori, seeded for the first time at a Grand Slam, beat Stephane Robert of France 6-1, 7-6 (9-7), 6-0 in the first round, needing just 19 minutes to capture the opening set and 27 minutes to take the third.

Japanese women have featured in the top 10, with Kimiko Date-Krumm reaching a career-high No. 4 when she made the French Open semifinals in 1995, but the country's male players have been slow to emulate the success.

The red-and-white-clad Japanese fans packing the stands on Court 6 may not have been as boisterous as the Aussies on adjacent courts, but they showed enough enthusiasm, waving Japanese flags and holding signs saying "Go Kei Go!"

Hisayuki Isogai said watching Nishikori play was the main reason he made the trip from Japan.

"He's the first Japanese player to reach the top 30 and for a long time nobody could achieve that," Isogai said. "Tennis is a big sport in Japan since he's appeared."

Now, there are expectations he can best another Matsuoka mark — the best result for a Japanese man at a Grand Slam. Matsuoka reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1995; Nishikori's best result is the fourth round of the U.S. Open in 2008.

Does he feel any added pressure in Melbourne?

"Never. Never feel the pressure. Maybe, you know, my ranking is 25 or 26. That gives me a little bit of pressure because I feel like I have to win with these guys," he said. "I have to play with lower ranked guys now."

On the women's side, second-ranked Kvitova and No. 4 Maria Sharapova advanced with lopsided wins.

After surrendering her opening service game with a double-fault, Kvitova won 12 consecutive games in a 6-2, 6-0 win over Russia's Vera Dushevina.

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