No shocks in Brisbane, Stosur & Serena progress

There were no shocks in Brisbane today as all the first round matches were completed on day two of the new season.  Sam Stosur eased into the second round with a 6-2 6-3 win over Anastasiya Yakimova.  Stosur was comfortably the better player and it was a solid performance for the first match of her season.  She struggled a little in the second set and will want to work on her backhand and net play in her next game, which will be against Iveta Benesova.  Serena Williams won by the same scoreline as Stosur to defeat Chanelle Scheepers and set up a second round meeting with Bojana Jovanovski.

Sam Stosur delighted the Brisbane crowd with her 6-2 6-3 win over Yakimova

Andrea Petkovic struggled in her opening match of 2012, but found a way past Shahar Peer, 7-6 1-6 6-3.  It was nowhere near vintage stuff from Petkovic but on a positive note, she has shown that she can get the win even when not playing at her best, which is a great attribute to have.  Petkovic also debuted her new Petko dance for 2012... the Petko dunk, which you can see in the video below! In other matches, Jelena Jankovic beat Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-4 6-2 in surprisingly straightforward fashion.  I fancied a tight match, but Suarez Navarro was not up to the task at hand as she wilted on serve, winning just 27% of points on her second serve.

The most eye-catching result of the day was by Galina Voskoboeva who crushed Vera Dushevina with the first double bagel of the season, 6-0 6-0.  I have tipped Voskoboeva to reach the semi-finals this week so i'm hoping my prediction will turn out good! She will face a much tougher match in the second round against Francesca Schiavone.  Ana Ivanovic also won through in the first match of the day with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Tamira Paszek.  She wobbled slightly in the second set, but it was an excellent win against a tricky opponent.  You can see the highlights from her match below... starting at 0.59 in the video, there was a superb rally which Ivanovic finished off with a stunning down-the-line forehand winner.  She will play Kim Clijsters tomorrow morning in the most interesting match-up of 2012 so far.