MELBOURNE – Australia – Top seeds shine on Day 1: And to think everyone was worried. No.1 Serena Williams, No.4 Agnieszka Radwanska, No.5 Maria Sharapova, and No.6 Petra Kvitova all moved through without dropping a set. Serena and Sharapova looked particularly impressive in their first matches of the year. Serena played a solid match, serving 9 aces and hitting 19 winners to 22 unforced errors, to beat Camila Giorgi 6-4, 7-5. Sharapova showed minimal rust, beating Nao Hibino 6-1, 6-3.

Caroline Wozniacki’s Australian Open trend continues: The Dane earned her best result in Melbourne in 2011 when she made the semifinals. The top seed then, Wozniacki held a match point against Li Na before losing in a tough three sets. It’s been an unfortunate slide ever since.

2012: Quarterfinals
2013: Fourth round
2014: Third round
2015: Second round
2016: First round

Wozniacki couldn’t hold off the feisty Yulia Putintseva, who rallied to knock of the Dane 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 in 3h12m. A disappointed Wozniacki minced no words:

“I would say it’s a pretty s****y start to the season,” she told reporters. “It wasn’t a pretty first set but I got it done and really should have closed it off in two. I let her back into the match, and it was basically my own fault that I’m not here as the winner.”

Trio of Young Russians go seed-hunting: We’ve said it once here on WTA Insider and we’ll say it again: The Russians are coming.

21-year-old Margarita Gasparyan, 19-year-old Elizaveta Kulichkova, and 18-year-old Daria Kasatkina all knocked out seeds on Monday cementing a move en masse to fill the gap in young Russian tennis. Gasparyan started the day by ousting No.17 seed Sara Errani 1-6, 7-5, 6-1, posting 26 winners, 13 of which came from her distinctive one-handed backhand. Ranked No.58, Gasparyan is one of the few women on tour with a female coaching, recently teaming up with former WTA player Elena Makarova.

“She’s a very good coach and she’s a very good person,” Gasparyan told WTA Insider. “I like to stay with her and speak with her all the time. Not just a coach. A friend. That’s very nice.”

“When you have a [male] coach you cannot speak [about everything] with him. Just maybe tennis. When you have a woman you can tell all. How you feel, tennis, boyfriends. I’m relaxed. I don’t think a lot [about] tennis all the time.”

Kasatkina, also making her Australian Open debut, followed a few hours later with a 6-3, 6-3 win over No.27 seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. Kasatkina made waves last year at the US Open, where she made her main draw debut as a lucky loser to make the third round.

“It’s my second Grand Slam and I already have three wins,” the 69th-ranked Kasakina told WTA Insider. “Now every moment, every match is just a plus.”

Then in the evening session, it was 19-year-old Elizaveta Kulichkova who knocked out No.22 seed Andrea Petkovic 7-5, 6-4. The powerful Kulichkova was a junior champion in Melbourne in 2014 and, just like Gasparyan and Kasatkina, she was playing in her main draw debut.

Three Melbourne debuts, three seeds out, and three young Russians embracing their time. There’s a lot to like about this next generation of Russian talent.

– Kuznetsova picks up where she left off: The Russian veteran took the first set against Daniela Hantuchova with a 19-minute bagel and rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 win. Kuznetsova told me in Sydney that she needs to get a few matches under her belt to play well at the Slams. The way she played today, it looks like her run to the Sydney International title may have put her in mid-tournament form.

– Sloane Stephens can’t find her Auckland form: On the flip side, the ASB Classic champion led Chinese qualifier Wang Qiang 3-1 before losing nine straight games. She lost 6-3, 6-3. Disappointing result in Melbourne but hopefully the Auckland title is something to build on for Stephens.

– Kvitova sleepless over Kumkhum: Kvitova admitted she was shocked to see she drew Luksika Kumkhum in the first round again. She said she didn’t sleep well the night before the match.

– Gasparyan’s Federer connection: Gasparyan told me she grew up idolizing Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, and Victoria Azarenka, but it was her love of Federer that made her change from a two-handed backhand to her current one-hander.

“When I started to play tennis I played double-backhand,” she said. “I came to Moscow and I said to my father I would like to play a one-handed backhand. I always wanted to play one-handed backhand. It’s so beautiful. But I was little. I don’t have the power. At 12 I start to play one-handed.”

– Maria Sakkari’s WTA heritage: The 20-year-old from Greece, ranked No.170, backed up her qualifying run to make the second round, beating Wang Yafan 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Sakkari’s mother is Angeliki Kanellopoulou, a former WTA player who made the quarterfinals of the 1994 Olympics and reached a career-high of No.47. The funny thing is, Sakkari never knew her mother was a pro tennis player when she picked up a racket. There was a tennis court next to her house and her grandfather was a coach. She just loved the sport.

“I did ballet but they kicked me out because I wasn’t that good, then they kicked me out of karate because I kept laughing all the time,” she said laughing. “And then I said I have no choice I have to play tennis because they are kicking me out of everywhere.”

– Nicole Gibbs continues her run: After winning three matches to qualify, the American beat Klara Koukalova 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to advance. She’ll play Kristina Mladenovic, after the Frenchwoman beat 2014 finalist Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-4. “We grew up together and played a lot of juniors against each other,” Gibbs told WTA Insider. “That would be the match where I would be most comfortable in terms of knowing my opponent’s game style and knowing what my game plan would be.”

– Putintseva’s mind games: Closing out matches is hard. Closing out the biggest win of your career on the biggest stage of your career? Even harder. As Putintseva stepped to the line to serve out her win over Wozniacki in front of a packed crowd on Hisense Arena, she convinced herself she was down in the scoreline.

“I imagined I was losing 5-4. It was easier for me that I was not winning, I need to comeback. So after it was easier to play.

“Because when I was thinking I’m on top and I was serving I was feeling pressure on myself that I need to finish the match, that it was maybe my last chance. But then I started to think different.” Hey, whatever works.

– Second round matches to watch: If you’re limited on time, make sure to tune into Radwanska-Bouchard and Gavrilova-Kvitova. Major upset alerts.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.