The ESPN coverage of the Australian Open is underway for 2014 and the TV schedule has a full slate of matches for the grand slam on ESPN2 and streaming on WatchESPN for Monday and Tuesday and names like Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray as well as Victoria Azarenka are in action over the first round.
The women's draw has just three winners in Sharapova, Williams and Azarenka and those ladies appear to be the favorites in the draw and Williams looks to continue her dominance from last season after losing just four matches and she comes in after winning the U.S. Open. ESPN has hours of live coverage from the event and will be on TV and streaming online on Tuesday with coverage from 9 pm on Monday to 7 am Tuesday live and it will pick up for the same times for the early rounds on Tuesday into Wednesday as well and then coverage picks up with same day coverage after that during the afternoon on the following day.
The Monday/Tuesday matches have a number of big name players going at it and some of the early first round matches include Victoria Azarenka, Carla Suarez-Navarro, Caroline Wozniacki and Milos Raonic, while "tomorrow", which it already is in Australia, has more first round matches that includes Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martin del Potro, Roger Federer and many more.
Check here for the ESPN TV Schedule. And here is the ESPN streaming from WatchESPN.
Serena Williams got off to a strong start as she tries to win another Australian Open and it comes after Williams won the US Open last year and her sister Venus is now out after losing in the first round and here is more on her match from Reuters.com: Williams kicked off her bid for an 18th grand slam title on Monday with a 6-2 6-1 demolition of local wildcard Ashleigh Barty to advance to the Australian Open second round.
In ominous form after winning the Brisbane International warmup event, the American did not concede a point on her first serve under the lights of Rod Laver Arena and roared to her 23rd straight victory.
A former girls' champion at Wimbledon, 155th-ranked Barty has been touted as the future of tennis in Australia.
After ending a sequence of losing games, the 17-year-old raised her arms aloft in mock triumph when she held serve in the fifth game of the second set, sparking a rare roar from the crowd.
"I just think she's so cute," Williams told reporters. "I like her a lot. She's so young.
"I'd like to see her do really well. I think she has a game to do really well," added the world number one after setting up a clash with Serbia's Vesna Dolonc.
A five-times champion at Melbourne Park, Williams has not won the event since 2010 and was hampered by foot injuries in 2012 and 2013.
The 32-year-old appears in peak fitness this year and made a conscious effort to race to the net whenever an opportunity arose.
"It's just something I think I need to do," said Williams. "I've been doing it for a while. I just haven't been actually coming in.
"In my mind I've been at the net but now I'm physically going there a little more. No pressure. My next match I might stay at the baseline the whole time.
"It's nothing I'm permanently working on. I'm just trying to have fun and do what I want to do out there."
Williams, who can match the grand slam tally of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova with triumph at Melbourne Park, could face world number 104 Dolonc in stifling heat on Wednesday with temperatures forecast to exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in the coming days.
"It's okay. I have to be ready for it," she said. "I'm happy to be in the second round so I can't complain about the weather at this point.
"It doesn't matter whether I win or lose as long as I have fun. As long as I'm able to stay relaxed, I'll be okay." (Reuters)