Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic straight into the mood with crushing wins

Rafael Nadal's quest to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four grand slam titles simultaneously has captured the imagination but Federer and Djokovic will again offer the greatest challenge. The Swiss and the Serb were in imperious form today, Federer crushing Lukas Lacko 6-1 6-1 6-3 and Djokovic cruising to a 6-1 6-3 6-1 win over Marcel Granollers in a match which finished after midnight local time.

Record 16-time grand slam winner Federer was delighted with his display. "I thought I played great," he said afterwards. "I thought it was a good match. I don't think he played too bad himself. I saw some talent in him and that's why I was really happy I chose the tactic early on to pressure him. That it worked was great and I'm obviously very happy." Next up for Federer is Frenchman Gilles Simon, who has won both their previous two meetings.

Djokovic was arguably even better than Federer in the final match of the day on Rod Laver Arena. He claimed the Granollers serve seven times and never let the Spaniard settle.

"Definitely I'm satisfied with the performance today," he said. Eighth seed Andy Roddick enjoyed an equally emphatic start, beating Jan Hajek 6-1 6-2 6-2, while Gael Monfils staged an astonishing recovery from two sets and 5-2 down to overcome Holland's Thiemo De Bakker.

De Bakker looked poised to complete the best win of his career at a grand slam when he served for the match at 5-3 but the moment got to him on the Hisense Arena which allowed Monfils to storm back. The 12th-seeded Frenchman broke again to claim the set before running through the fourth and fifth to clinch a 6-7 (5/7) 2-6 7-5 6-2 6-1 win.

There were two notable upsets early on day one with 18th seed Sam Querrey and 23rd seed Nikolay Davydenko both going out. Querrey fell in a marathon five-set contest against Lukasz Kubot, while former world number three Davydenko was ousted by Florian Mayer 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-4.