Rafael Nadal’s 2009 Australian Open campaign got off to an ideal start on Tuesday night in Rod Laver Arena, as the Spaniard needed just one hour and 17 minutes to destroy Christophe Rochus.

The 75th-ranked Belgian was no match for the world No. 1 and that became apparent in a devastating 19-minute first set. Rochus at least managed to win games in sets two and three, but Nadal never showed any signs of letting his opponent back into the match. Melbourne’s top seed with an impressive winner-to-error ratio of 47 to 19. Nadal dropped a mere seven points in 11 service games, obviously never facing a break point. In round two Nadal will take on Roko Karanusic, a five-set winner over Florent Serra.

A far more thrilling encounter took place earlier in the day on the main show court. Fernando Gonzalez survived Aussie hope Lleyton Hewitt 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in a grueling affair on Tuesday afternoon.

Hewitt got off to an inauspicious start, dropping the first three points of the match on his own serve to go down 0-40. He saved all three break points, however, and eventually held for 1-0. Both men proceeded to hold serve until Gonzalez served at 5-6. The first break of the afternoon gave Hewitt the opening set.

Always an up-and-down player, Gonzalez turned his game completely around in the second set. Aggressive play and a devastating forehand earned the Chilean his first break of the match for a 2-1 lead. Gonzalez used the momentum to strike again in Hewitt’s next service game, breaking for a 4-1 advantage. The No. 13 seed eventually served out the set at 5-2, leveling the match at one set apiece. Gonzalez only got hotter in set three. He fired a whopping 19 winners–to Hewitt’s two–in just eight games of the third set.

Two consecutive dominant sets perhaps led to minor mental breakdown for Gonzalez in the fourth. Looking down and out, Hewitt suddenly broke serve out of nowhere and took a 3-1 lead. In yet another momentum swing, Gonzalez connected on some massive forehands to get the break back for 3-4. Then it was Gonzalez’s turn to give the break back, and he did just that with a flurry of errors. Finally Hewitt served thins out to force the decisive fifth.

The drama only intensified in the decider. Gonzalez saved four break points at 1-1 and for a moment that seemed like it would be the turning point, as he broke serve in the next game for 3-1. Hewitt, however, stole the momentum right back as minor cramping forced Gonzalez into a double-fault on break point. After a Gonzalez injury timeout, Hewitt tossed in a double-fault on the first point of the next game and eventually got broken. That put a spring back in Gonzalez’s step and at long last he refused to throw away a handful of momentum. Much to the chagrin of the Aussie fans, he closed out the match with an easy 5-3 service game.

Federer, like Nadal, has had a much easier time of it. Following a relatively routine first-round victory over Florian Mayer, the No. 2 player in the world had an even more straightforward encounter with Russian youngster Evgeny Korolev. Federer dominated the second-round affair 6-2, 6-3, 6-1. Korolev owns a big game and it resulted in several impressive points, but overall, Federer had little trouble—if any.

“I tried to mix it up a bit today; just tried to hit with him,” Federer explained. “’It worked out well today. I was happy the way I played. I knew it was going to be difficult because he takes a lot of risks. I’m happy the way I came up with a good game plan.”

Federer will have to come up with the goods in his next match, which should be much tougher coming against former No. 1 player in the world Marat Safin. This will be a rematch of an epic 2005 Australian Open semifinal encounter, which Safin won in five sets en route to the title.

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