Recovering Nadal regains his confidence

Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia

If Rafael Nadal needed any reminding of how long it has been since he won the Australian Open, he only needed to look at the “09” on the back of his left shoe.

After spending most of the last six months on the sidelines in an extended injury layoff, and after a first-round loss in a warm-up tournament, the 14-time Grand Slam winner said he was low on confidence coming into the first major of the year.

The Spaniard remedied that, for a while at least, with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Russian veteran Mikhail Youzhny on day one of the Australian Open, where he won the title in 2009 and lost in the finals in 2012 and last year. Nadal hit 37 winners, and got his skipping, double fist-pumping celebration going during the third set.

Roger Federer began his quest for an 18th major title, and his first in Australia since 2010, by beating Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 in a night match, and three-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray opened his bid for an elusive Aussie title with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3) win over Indian qualifier Yuki Bhambri.

On a day when eight of the seeded players tumbled out of the women’s draw, wins by three of the stronger contenders stood out.

Second-ranked Maria Sharapova followed up her recent title at the Brisbane International with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Petra Martic, No. 3 Simona Halep opened play on Rod Laver Arena with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Karin Knapp and No. 7 Eugenie Bouchard, who reached the semifinals or better at three majors last year, beat Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-2, 6-4.

No. 10 Ekaterina Makarova, No. 14 Sara Errani, No. 21 Peng Shuai and No. 22 Karolina Pliskova also advanced.