There is a big bush fire in Victoria at the moment and this morning there was smoke haze across the city. Luckily it soon disapeared to leave behind clear skies and sunshine. I went down to Melbourne Park for 9am, despite the doors not opening until 1oam, but i didnt want to be queueing for ages to get in. Once inside i bought a programme and schedule of play for all the courts, and went to the shop before it got too busy and bought some souvenirs. I then went for a walk around some of the outised courts and saw Clijsters practising. No sign of Andy Murray though. Then i went to take my seat in Rod Laver Arena. My seat was inline with the net the opposite side of the court to where the umpire is and only 6 rows back so it was a good seat. First up was Mauresomo who won fairly easily, the it was Federer. I was looking forward to seeing him play, but he did lose his serve a few times before finally winning in straight sets. I enjoyed seeing him play. Next up was Baghditis who was the runner up last year and who i havent seen play before. There was a group of cypriot fans always cheering him on and singing and was amusing to see! THis match was good too. This matched finished my 5pm, so i had a few hours until the night session started so i went to Margaret Court to see Thomas Johansson play. In one and a half hours i saw three sets. it was a close match, with neither player playing the great.

At 7.30pm the night session started and Serena Williams was the first match on. I was happy to see Williams play as she hasnt really played for a while and despite lacking match fitness she won easily. The next match iw as looking forward to as i really wanted to see Marat Safin play. He went 'crazy' a few times, which the crowd loved and this was a 5set thriller of a match with all the crowd supporting Safin by the 5th set and him fially winning at 12.45am!!! i think all the spectators where glad it was over. After the match he was interviewed on court by Jim Courier. (i know most of these names wont mean much to most of you but i know there is one or two tennis fans reading this!!)