This was one of the most potentially exciting first days of a Grand Slam that I can remember in a long time. So many of the top seeds got challenging draws that there seemed certain to be someone major sent home early. Honestly, the way the top players responded to their tricky situations was nothing short of astounding. So, without further ado, let's see who stood out on Day 1 of the 2015 Grand Slam season.

Honor Roll:

Rafael Nadal (defeated Mikhail Youzhny 63 62 62)- This wasn't peak Rafa playing, but it was impressive nonetheless. Rafa had a tricky opponent who came out swinging early. Nadal never let Youzhny's strong groundstrokes faze him, and turned it into a pretty routine victory. Nadal's shots still aren't at the level he needs to win this major, but as long as he keeps himself in the tournament he can play his way into it.

Philipp Kohlschreiber (defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu 62 62 61)- People don't often think of Kohlschreiber as having Grand Slam potential anymore (most once did), but if he wins a few more matches like this some will have to remember the old attitudes about him. He won 86% of the points behind his first serve. If you can do that, you can really beat anyone.

Grigor Dimitrov (defeated Dustin Brown 62 63 62)- Dustin Brown can be a tricky opponent. He was not on his best game today, but his aggressive style can sometimes overpower even the best of defenders. Dimitrov never flinched. He took full advantage of open courts and finished with an absurd 30:6 winners to unforced errors ratio. He looks dialed in to start this tournament. We'll see if it can last for two weeks.

Room for Improvement

I can't really criticize anyone for being too subpar today. I could point out that Lukas Rosol should never have been forced into a fifth set by Kenny de Schepper, but Rosol is still getting used to being a favorite and has never had great results in Grand Slams, shocking upset of Nadal at Wimbledon notwithstandin). It was a very middle-of-the-road day of tennis, with favorites taking care of business and matches between unseeded players being pretty tight and well-played. It was a good, strong introductory day to this year's first Grand Slam. No complaints here.

Match of the Day:

When a match involving an Aussie goes five sets in Melbourne, it's always a strong contender for Match of the Day. That's exactly what James Duckworth and Blaz Kavcic did today.

First of all, let me just say how impressed I was, once again, by James Duckworth. He is fearless and has a dominant backhand when it can stay consistent. The first time I saw him play was at Brisbane in 2012. His talent is clear, although he hasn't been able to really create a consistent game. Still, when his game is on, it is very pretty to see.

Consistency, though, was the story of this match. Each player hit over 15 more errors than winners. Still, they weren't bad errors on the whole. This was a match of both players just trying to outhit the other. The player who kept the important shots in the court more won.
The match was back-and forth with no player winning consecutive sets. Duckworth was firing early and took a quick one-set lead while Kavcic was missing everything. Kavcic settled in, though, and we had a match on our hands. As the match went further and eventually hit the fifth set, the small but loud crowd was eagerly participating. Tucked away on Court 6, Duckworth's fans made sure everyone knew who the favorite was. The fifth set itself did not contain too much drama, but it was good to see the young Aussie walk off with a win. Richard Gasquet is up next in what could possibly be a formative match in Duckworth's career–if he can keep his shots in the court as winners and not as errors.

Due to the time change between Australia and the eastern United States, reviews of night matches in Melbourne will appear with reviews of matches on the following day.