Anderson eases through

Top-ranked Kevin Anderson moved smoothly through to the second round of the Australian Open on Monday, writes Mark Etheridge.

Anderson, seeded 30th for the year’s first Grand Slam tournament, went through in straight sets against Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen, ranked a lowly 240th in the world and contesting his first Australain Open.

The final score was 6-1 6-2 6-4 in a match lasting 1hr 53min out on Court seven.

Conditions warmed up quickly through the day but his first round encounter wasn’t much a sweat for Anderson. He outgunned his opponent 5-0 in the aces department, had a 64% first service percentage and a 75% winning percentage on his booming first service.

Anderson now comes up against Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky who came through a tough-five setter against countryman Illya Machenko earlier today.

Stakhovsky is ranked 65th in the world compared to Anderson’s 32nd.

Other South Africans scheduled for first round action are lucky loser Rik de Voest who comes up against Taiwan’s Yen-Hsen Lu while our top-ranked women’s player, Chani Scheepers has a testing opener against former world No2 and tournament 18th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.