Here we go again!

Some may say the first Slam of the year comes far too soon in the season but on the other hand it gets the season off to an immediate flyer from the fans' point of view

Once again there are three Brits with Direct Acceptance into the Main Draws of the singles although the personnel are two thirds different...

Andy Murray is the only Brit Guy straight in and, annoyingly, his ranking has just dropped down to #5 this week so that his task has been made a tad tougher if this is going to be his first Slam title. I had him to lift the US Open last year so I'm keeping quiet this time except to say that he's got a great chance

Anne Keothavong's long term injury means she's not here although she is scheduled to return for the Fed Cup next month; and Mel South's rankings decline last year after she peaked at #99 has her back in the qualies this time.

Elena Baltacha battled through the qualies last year and nearly took down the seeded Mauresmo in R2; she's straight in this time at a Career High ranking of world #83 as is Katie O'Brien on a CH of her own, #87.

May the draws be kind...

There'll be a stronger Brit presence in the doubles this year, all being well, with Sarah Borwell and her world #31 ranked partner Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) and our brink of top 50 triumvirate Ross Hutchins, Ken Skupski and Colin Fleming almost certainly DA this year

Then there's the qualies with 3 Brits (Alex Bogdanovic, James Ward and Dan Evans) in the mens and 3 (Mel South, Naomi Cavaday and Laura Robson) in the womens.

Good luck everybody

5 out of 6 ain't bad!

The first round of qualifying for the singles has seen 5 British successes and only one "failure".

Harsh to say Mel South failed as she was up against former world #40 Shenay Perry (USA) now ranked 108 but the 3rd qualie seed; 6-3 6-3 is no disgrace but Mel's AO is over for this year

Yesterday saw a prial of kind draws for Brit Guys who took full advantage to clock up straight sets wins and (meagre compared to the WTA provision) 8 ranking points on the ATP computer.

With all 3 nicely spread out in the draw the possibility of all 3 making it to the Main Draw lives on into Q2!

Dan Evans beat a young Aussie wild card, ranked 1352, 7-5 6-1 and has a tough Q2 lined up against Ventura of Spain, the 4th qseed ranked 109 compared to Dan's 266

James Ward beat another Aussie, ranked 503, 6-4 6-4 and also has a toughie next against Marchenko of Ukraine, the 9th qseed ranked 121 compared to James on 261

Best shot for the Guys is Alex Bogdanovic who "only" has to give up a ranking deficit of 18 against the 24th and last qseed Ilhan of Turkey ranked 153

Today saw the Brit Girls all hugely outranked but, apart from Mel, they came through

Naomi Cavaday has an evil draw for Q2 up against Wickmayer of Belgium, top qseed and world #16 who came straight here with the WTA title from Auckland under her belt; so the fickle finger of fate (not to mention the debatable "whereabouts" anti-drugs regime) has rendered the chances of Naomi progressing slight ; however, she can comfort herself with today's 3-6 7-6(3) 6-3 win over Panova of Russia ranked 142 to Naomi's 204

Laura Robson's Q2 assignment is pretty daunting too, against 18qseed Krajicek (NED) ranked 129; but again, her Q1 win over Ferguson (AUS) ranked 148 will hold her in good stead

In fact, methinks that may be Laura's best win in ranking competition in her senior career to date

Wipe-out!

All 5 Brits bit the dust in Q2 with Laura being closest to progressing, going down to 18th qseed Krajicek 4-6 and then, agonisingly, 7-9 in the second set tie break

Still, 40 ranking points in the locker for Laura and Naomi

Attention turns now to the Main Draws with Bally and Katie both having very winnable ones first up

They're both in the bottom quarter with Katie outranking Patricia Mayr of Austria 87 to 90 and a likely R2 against 8th seed Jelena Jankovic and Bally outranking Pauline Parmentier of France 83 to 106 and a likely R2 against 30th seed Kateryna Bondarenko.

Good luck you two

Having lost his status as 4th seed on the eve of the draw, Andy Murray faces the prospect of maybe having to face, consecutively, Nadal, Del Potro and Federer if he is to lift the title.

He'll enjoy the challenge

First up, though, is South African qualifier Kevin Anderson, ranked 147, with the winner likely to face Gicquel of France in R2.

Go, Andy

That went well!

Magnificently, all three Brits in the singles main draws have progressed into round 2

Elena Baltacha set the bandwagon rolling albeit she had to give it a mighty push! Pauline Parmentier of France, world #40 only 18 months ago albeit now #105, served 13 aces with a 69% first serve percentage. Bally had to hang tough and take her chances when they came few and far between. But after 2 hours 26 minutes she nailed it 6-4 3-6 7-5

Round 2 last year saw Bally take the first set off the seeded Mauresmo but eventually go down in the third; she has another chance to take down a seed this time, Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine who is the 30th seed and the younger sister of Alona who Bally happened to down at Wimbledon last year. Go, Bally

The second British success was entirely more straightforward with Andy Murray beating his South African qualifier opponent 6-1 6-1 6-2 in just 97 minutes and next faces world #57 Marc Gicquel of France. Go, Andy

Katie O'Brien had to wait until day 2 before she could get on the matchcourt owing to rain (wot? at Melbourne Park?!) but she made no mistake against a player ranked just 3 places below her on the WTA computer. Patricia Mayr of Austria was put to the sword 6-3 6-3 in 74 minutes. Hugely impressive display by Katie who must have been nervous having never won a Slam main draw match outside Wimbledon before (and in fact only once at Wimby, in 2007). Took her chance with aplomb

8th seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia next up for Katie; anything from that will be a bonus; just enjoy it, Katie!

Another great day!

4 winners and only 2 losers from the British contingent on day 3 at Melbourne Park!

No cause for dismay for Katie O'Brien after a hugely encouraging battle with 8th seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia where for long periods Katie was matching her hit for hit. It'll be closer than 2&2 next time!

Agony for Ross Hutchins, though, going down with partner Jordan Kerr (AUS) in the first round of the mens doubles against the 7th seeds 4-6 6-2 7-6(4)

Better news from the mens doubles first round is Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski winning by the relatively comfortable 7-5 6-4 to face, in all likelihood, the 4th seeds in round 2. Go, Flemski

Which brings up back to the singles...

Andy Murray made light work of the world #57 Marc Gicquel on France taking comfortably under two hours to dispatch him 6-1 6-4 6-3
Andy conserving energy nicely so far in readiness for the challenges ahead

Same can't be said of Andy's next opponent world #64 Florent Serra also of France who took nearly four hours to win his round 2 over 5 sets...

And then there's Bally

She nearly did for Mauresmo last year; she DID do for 30th seed Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine today

6-2 7-5 in 1 hour 34 minutes

Wonderful stuff

2nd seed Darina Safina of Russia next...

Mind you, Safina didn't exactly steamroller the world #67 in today's match before going through and Bally does seem to like Melbourne; today was Bally's 5th win out of 8 Main Draw career matches so who's to say #6 from 9 isn't a chance? Go, Bally!

It just keeps getting better!

Day 4 produced another set of results beyond the Brit fan's wildest dreams in the womens doubles; 100% success rate; 3 wins out of 3

GB #1 Sarah Borwell and her now regular partner Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) won 6-4 7-6(3) against Hercog & Martic (SLO/CRO)

Next up 13th seeds Dulko & Pennetta (ARG/ITA). Go, Sez!

GB #1 for singles, but rarely seen playing doubles, Elena Baltacha and her scratch pairing with Liga Dekmeijere (LAT) came up trumps after going 0-3 down in the first set to win 7-5 6-2 against Safarova & Wozniak (CZE/CAN)

Next up 15th seeds Kirilenko & Radwanska (RUS/POL). Go, Bally!

Laura Robson, 16 years old today, celebrated in style with Aussie partner 18 year old Sally Peers, by justifying their wild card downing the American pairing of Craybas and Spears 6-3 7-5

Next up 12th seeds Chuang & Peschke (TPE/CZE). Go, Laura!

And so it came to pass that every British woman in Main Draw action this Australian Open has won at least one match

Day 5 still good albeit not another 100%-er

The fantasy-like results of day 4 were always unlikely to be repeated on day 5 and so it proved; but still much to cheer!

Andy Murray served up another impressive display taking, once again, less than 2 hours to dispatch his opponent in straight sets; the score this time was 7-5 6-1 6-4

His supposed 4th round against 12th seed Monfils has failed to materialise with the Frenchman going down in R3 to 33rd seed John Isner (USA) 1-6 6-4 6-7(4) 6-7(5); although seeded 33 Isner is actually up to world #28 on the back of lifting the ATP250 title in Auckland; he's clearly on a hot streak at the moment so it'll be Andy's first stern test, methinks. Go, Andy

The other excellent result from day 5 came from Laura Robson, now 16 years and one day old, who with Sally Peers put out the womens doubles 12th seeds 6-3 6-4 in their round 2 encounter. This is really impressive stuff from Laura and Sally!

Next opponent not yet known but definitely unseeded...

That was the good news; the "bad" news is only bad if we've become greedy; which we probably have, having been fed a diet of win, win, win yesterday!

Elena Baltacha only managed to show glimpses of her best tennis against 2nd seed Safina who was on more or less her best form; the scoreline of 6-1 6-2 is probably a fair reflection of the match; but Bally will bounce back; it's been a great week for her

And she's still in the doubles; her R2 will be on day 6.

Sadly, Sarah Borwell and Raquel Kops-Jones had to contend with a clearly on-fire Dulko who also put Ana Ivanovic out of the singles on day 5; 13th seeds Dulko and Pennetta went through 7-5 6-2; Sarah and Raquel can move on with a first Slam match victory under their belt so it's been a good week for them too

Flemski have their mens doubles R2 on day 6 plus, as a bonus for British fans, Ross Hutchins also takes to the matchcourt on day 6 in the Mixed with Liezel Huber (USA) who just happens to be one half of the world #1 womens doubles pairing. Good luck, Guys

It couldn't last forever

It's happened deeper into the tournament than usual and that's a good sign for the future but day 6 was the first wipeout day of this year's AO from the British perspective.

Ross Hutchins in the mixed, Elena Baltacha in the womens doubles and Flemski in the mens doubles all went down leaving just Andy Murray in the mens singles and Laura Robson in the womens doubles to carry the flag into day 7 and, hopefully, beyond.

Bally went down 0&2 but she's had a great tournament overall, however, and to have gone any further in the doubles would have been an unexpected bonus. And Kirilenko is having a dream tournament so far including ousting Sharapova from the singles; Kirilenko shone brightly in 2008 and I was expecting her to go right to the top so her 2009 was perhaps just a blip. But I digress

Team Sally Peers and Laura Robson now know who they meet in R3 of the dubs: Dushevina (RUS) & Rodionova (AUS). Good luck Laura

Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski went down in the mens doubles second round to Kohlmann (GER) & Nieminen (FIN) who had put out the 4th seeds in R1 so they are clearly a strong pairing despite being unseeded so the 3-6 6-4 3-6 scoreline is perhaps and in equal measure. Flemski have had a brilliant 12 months together and are definitely contenders at this level now

Ross Hutchins and Liezel Huber going down 2&4 in the first round of the mixed is perhaps a surprise but it's always a bit of a lottery; by the time the new partnership has started to gel the match can be nearly over already

Just Andy M and Laura flying the flag in the seniors now, then; plus Laura, Heather, Oliver, Jack and Tom in the juniors soon to start. Good luck all

Back to 100% success rate on day 7!

OK, it's only out of two now in the senior events but still well worth a cheer!

Andy had to dig deep in the first set of his 4th round against 33rd seed and world #28 John Isner (USA) facing a barrage of aces from his huge (6'9" tall) opponent, albeit Isner was also throwing in unforced errors aplenty. Andy had to save a set point before taking it in 59 minutes 7-6 (4) whereafter the match became progressively a case of when rather than if.

For the first time this tournament Andy was taken beyond the two hour mark but only by 12 minutes as he closed it out in the next two sets 6-3 6-2 to get to the quarterfinals of an Australian Open for the first time.

Next up is defending champion and world #2 Rafa Nadal of Spain who is still not entirely at the top of his game after an injury lay-off; fingers crossed for Andy

Incredibly, Laura Robson who only turned 16 earlier in the week and her Australian partner Sally Peers, on the Margaret Court Arena show court won their third round womens doubles 6-3 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal against either the third or 15th seeds.

The junior events are under way with good news, bad news

No senior matches involving Brits on day 8 so chance to focus on the junior round 1s...

World #3 and 2nd seed in Melbourne, Heather Watson fell at the first hurdle (exams, I understand, getting in the way of full preparation) going down in 3 sets to Tang of China

Laura Robson made short work (literally, in 35 minutes!) of Woolcock (AUS) 6-0 6-1 to set up a R2 against 11th seed and world #13 Putintseva (RUS); well done & good luck Laura

Laura and Heather were due to play together in the doubles but doubtless Laura still being in the senior doubles prompted them to withdraw; and Heather can head back to Britain for the Sutton ITF $25k perhaps

All 3 Brit Boys faced seeds in the first round of the singles with Tom Allen (3&4 to the 11th seed) and Jack Carpenter (2&4 to the 10th seed) both going down; but they're still alive playing together in the doubles beating an unseeded Korean pairing 6-1 6-3

Oliver Golding had the opposite experience; lost his dubs but won his singles against 12th seed Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan 4&4 to set up a round 2 against Sam Barry of Ireland. Excellent, Oliver, and good luck

Back to 100% success rate again then!

OK, Laura's womens doubles QF didn't get on court today but it was a clean sweep of all matches involving Brits

Mens singles QF Andy Murray, 5th seed, against Spain's Rafa Nadal, 2nd seed, was yet another straight sets win, albeit Rafa retired injured before the end when 2 sets down [6-3 7-6(2)] and 0-3 down in the third. Andy was taken deeper into the third hour but at the time of the retirement still only precisely on the 2.5 hour mark.

Given that his SF opponent, 14th seed Marin Cilic of Croatia, was detained on court for the full 5 sets by Andy Roddick in his QF our Andy's economy of effort in reaching the last 4 must hold him in good stead if he has to play a long one.

Last year's 4th round was his then best at the AO so that's another bound forward in career best terms for our Andy, not to mention 780 ranking points in the locker.

Laura Robson did get some court action today in the Girls' singles taking 3 sets to get past 11th seed Putintseva 6-2 3-6 6-2 to face unseeded Dinu (ROU) for a place in the last 8

Meantime in the Boys' singles Oliver Golding was able to shake off the disappointment of losing the first set tiebreaker of his R2 against Sam Barry of Ireland 8-10 to take the next two sets 6-3 6-4 and now faces unseeded Aussie James Duckworth for a QF berth

Completing the roll call of British wins today were Jack Carpenter and Tom Allen who cruised through their Boys' doubles R2 6-2 6-3 ; next up second seeded German pair; good luck lads

These are exciting times!

It's Andy against Cilic for a place in the mens singles final against, we now know, Federer or Tsonga. Go, Andy!

We also now know that, sadly, Laura's wonderful foray deep into the womens doubles came to a halt at the QF stage. The fantastic seemed possible when Laura and Sally raced into a 4-0 first set lead against 15th seeds Kirilenko and Radwanska today; but reality stepped in as the youngsters couldn't quite nail down their chances and the older pairing won 12 of the next 13 games.

Playing so many senior matches will have been a terrific bonus experience for Laura though

Better news for Laura is that her campaign to go one place better than being last year's runner-up remains very much on track today brushing aside her 3rd round opponent in the Girls' singles, world #35 junior Cristina Dinu of Roumania 6-3 6-3 in only 67 minutes

Next up for Laura is Ester Goldfeld (USA) who is world #44 junior with the likely reward for the winner a semi-final against top seed and world #2 junior Timea Babos of Hungary. Go, Laura!

Sadly, R3 was the end of the road in the Boys' singles today for Oliver Golding who went so close against James Duckworth (AUS), 7-6(6) 7-5 ; and likewise in the Boys' doubles for Tom Allen and Jack Carpenter who went down 3&0 to the second seeds

Magnifico!!

Two magnificent results today:

Andy Murray started his SF against Cilic by dropping his first set of the tournament but roared back to take the next three 6-4 6-4 6-2 to seal it in 3 hours 2 minutes. Stunningly good stuff, Andy!

Federer v Tsonga tomorrow for the other finalist...

Laura Robson trounced her Girls' QF opponent for the loss of only one game

Next up not Babos; she lost a marathon 7-5 in the 3rd set ; it's Krystina Pliskova (CZE) who is 17 and full time on the senior circuit these days with a senior ranking of world #474. Go, Laura

Krystina's twin Karolina is in the other semi against Tang who was Heather's conqueror in R1; that was a tough draw first up, it transpires.

Easy peasy!

Laura Robson put Krystina Pliskova to the sword today in their Girls' singles SF 3&1 in a fraction over an hour to earn her second successive AO Junior singles final

Laura may have a severe case of deja vu in the final as her opponent is the other Pliskova twin Karolina who is in fact stronger with a senior world ranking of #223; here's hoping it's deja vu, more or less, on the scoreline!

Good luck Laura; lift the title please!

So near and yet so far!

Although Laura didn't quite manage to bring her A game to the table today and the first set went quickly (1-6 in 22 minutes), she showed considerable pluck in making a fight of it in the second set against Karolina Pliskova (who is a seasoned campaigner and established title winner on the senior tour already having won a $25k ITF singles title in Italy in May and then another in Japan in September).

Laura managed to break Karolina when the Czech was serving for the match at 5-4 ; and then took it into the tie-break and in fact went 4-1 up in that. If she had managed to close that out the chances are the momentum would have been with her for the final set. As it was, her nerve perhaps betrayed her for the first time in the whole tournament; a couple of untimely double faults and it was gone 7-6(5).

On such small margins do titles hang...

It's been a fantastic fortnight in Melbourne for Laura, though, and in Perth earlier in the month; and even today may stand her in better stead for the challenges ahead. Bad luck today, Laura, but overall this month has been

Federer still reigns supreme

6-3 6-4 7-6 in 2 hours 41 minutes

Andy Murray just came up against the best male player of all time (16 grand Slam singles titles now for Roger Federer compared to the 14 of Pete Sampras: don't think the statistics lie in this instance even though comparing different generations is only ever guesswork!); on a day when for the majority of the time his level just didn't drop.

Andy had a couple of fleeting opportunities especially in the third set to take it to a fourth but at the end of the day the better player won.

Andy showed plenty of grit before going down 11-13 in the breaker and has much to be proud of today and from the tournament as a whole. He'll be up to world #3 again tomorrow and feel, I'm sure, that he's closing in on the Fed at the Slams; it's just a matter of time...