Czech tennis star and model-waiting-to happen, Lucie Safarova looks fit and ready to challenge in Australian Open 2009. The 5’11”, 137 pound left-hander had her A game working as she powered past veteran and 24th seeded Austrian, Sybille Bammer, in straight sets 6-0, 7-6. The 21 year old Safarova, who seemed ready to burst onto the scene in 2007, appears untroubled by the nagging left hamstring injury that derailed her 2008 performance. With over $1,000,000 in career earnings, the green-eyed beauty will take on local favorite, 20 year old New Zealander, Marina Erakovic, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Petra Cetkovska, in the second round. Erokovic looks to have improved her serve in the off-season and this second round matchup should be an interesting battle.

5th seeded Serb, Ana Ivanovic put in a lackluster effort in defeating German Julie Goerges, who often was on the offensive. Ivanovic is still troubled with erratic ball tosses. Her faltering serve seems tentative and lacks her usual velocity. Several well-known sportscasters predicted an early exit for last year’s finalist.

11th seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki cruised past veteran doubles star Shahar Peer of Israel while 15th seed, Alize Cornet of France advanced due to an injury to Ukrainian star Mariya Kortseva, who retired trailing in the third set.

Dinara Safina of Russia outplayed teammate Ekaterina Makarova 7-6, 6-0 and looks to be returning to championship form. While many of the players had difficulty adjusting to the Australian summer heat, Safina seemed comfortable in the 95 degree heat.

UK play-in Katie O’Brien did not fare as well. With three preliminary round victories in hand, Katie fell to Romanian star Monica Niculescu, 6-0, 6-4. O’Brien’s inconsistent ground strokes and poor shot selection spelled her fate as Niculescu seized the early momentum and never looked back.

Top seed, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, enjoyed her day at the Rod Laver Centre cruising past overmatched Austrian Yvonne Meusburger 6-1, 6-3, in a relatively quick 1 hour match. Fan favorite Sania Mirza of India rallied to close out Maria Domachowska of Poland 6-3, 7-6. Mirza will be tested in her second round match against 10th seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia.

Day One for the women was about the heat and the fans. Large galleries filled the arenas and back courts and the stars responded with determined play. To advance through the draw, players become quickly aware of the need for conditioning and aggressive heat management strategies. Several veterans seemed intimidated by the intense sun and will need to make quick adjustments if they expect to advance.

The young stars are on the prowl and with fresh legs aplenty, the winner at Melbourne could well be the player who is most fit. Many experts were critical of Dinara Safina’s intensity and Ivanovic seems to be struggling with the service woes that haunted her at the end of 2008. The door could well be open for new faces in the later rounds of this year’s Women’s Draw.

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