As play begins at the 2012 Australian Open on the blue hard courts at Melbourne Park, there are several key matches in both the men’s and women’s draws which are definitely worth following closely.  The matches include:

WOMEN:
•    Lucie Safarova versus Christina McHale
•    Laura Robson versus Jelena Jankovic
•    Aravane Rezai versus Shuai Peng
•    Tamira Paszek versus Serena Williams
•    Gisela Dulko versus Maria Sharapova
•    Madison Keys versus Jie Zheng
•    Jelena Dokic versus Anna Chakvetadze
•    Maria Kirilenko versus Jarmila Gajdosova
•    Vera Dushevina versus Petra Kvitova

MEN:
•    Nicolas Mahut versus Radek Stepanek
•    Robin Haase versus Andy Roddick
•    Janko Tipsarevic versus Dmitry Tursunov
•    Andy Murray versus Ryan Harrison
•    Michael Llodra versus Ernests Gulbis
•    Viktor Troicki versus Juan Carlos Ferrero
•    Mardy Fish versus Gilles Muller
•    Philipp Kohlschreiber versus Juan Monaco
•    Bernard Tomic versus Fernando Verdasco
•    Jurgen Melzer versus Ivo Karlovic
•    Jeremy Chardy versus Grigor Dimitrov