Nadal, Federer among winners in Australia

MELBOURNE, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer each had decisive straight-set wins Monday during opening-day play at the Australian Open.

Nadal, the world's No. 2-ranked player, took out Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 without dropping serve. Nadal won nearly 80 percent of the points on serve and took 52 percent when receiving.

Federer, seeded third, lost his serve once but prevailed 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 over Alexander Kudryavtsev. Federer took more than 70 percent of the points on serve. His lone break came in the third set.

Seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych got by Albert Ramos 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and Mardy Fish, the No. 8 seed, swept past Gilles Muller 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

Nicolas Almagro, the No. 10 seed, overcame a slow start for a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 win over Lukasz Kubot and No. 11 Juan Martin del Potro topped Adrian Mannarino 2-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4; 13th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov came from two sets down for a 1-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Greg Jones and 16th-seeded John Isner eliminated Benjamin Mitchell 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1).

Four seeded players were out Monday. Australia's Bernard Tomic ousted No. 22 Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-3, 7-5; Philipp Kohlschreiber dominated the fifth set of a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-0 win over 25th-seeded Juan Monaco; and Lukas Lacko rallied for a 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 upset of 28th-seeded Ivan Ljubicic. Also Ivo Karlovic knocked out 31st-seeded Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 6-3.

Other seeded players moving into the second round with wins Monday were No. 18 Feliciano Lopez, 21st-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka and No. 30 Kevin Anderson.

Also claiming wins Monday were David Nalbandian, Tommy Haas, Grigor Dimitrov, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Andreas Beck, Marcos Baghdatis, Peer Riba, Olivier Rochus, Blaz Kavcic, Carlos Berlocq, Donald Young, Lu Yen-Hsun, Alejandro Falla, Flavio Cipolla, Sam Querrey, Tobias Kamke and Florent Serra.