Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Former champion Maria Sharapova and third seed Simona Halep notched wins, while former runner-up Ana Ivanovic was a stunning opening-round loser on Day 1 at the Australian Open. The second-seeded former world No. 1 Sharapova eased past Croat Petra Martic 6-4, 6-1. The reigning French Open champion titled here in 2008 and was an Aussie runner-up in 2007 and 2012. Sharapova opened her 2015 season with a title in Brisbane two weeks ago. Her second-round opponent on Wednesday will be fellow Russian Alexandra Panova. Last years French Open runner-up to Sharapova, Halep, handled Italian Karin Knapp 6-3, 6-2 at Melbourne Park. Halep opened her latest season with her ninth career title in Shenzhen, China, two weeks ago. Shell meet Aussie Jarmila Gajdosova on Day 3 this week. Meanwhile, Czech Lucie Hradecka sent shockwaves by ousting fifth-seeded Ivanovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena. The Serbian Ivanovic, who was the Aussie runner-up to Sharapova in 2008, suffered her earliest exit at a Grand Slam event since the French Open in 2011. She was a quarterfinalist in Melbourne last year. I think the whole match I didnt really feel like myself out there, Ivanovic said. It was really tough for me to find a rhythm a little bit. In the third set, I really felt like she raised her level. Hradecka, playing her first Grand Slam main draw since last years Aussie Open, lost in qualifying at the other three majors in 2014. The doubles specialist entered the week ranked 142nd in singles play. She has 18 doubles titles, but none in singles. In the first set I was so nervous, Hradecka said. I couldnt hit any balls in the court. When I went outside, I started to serve in the second set, I thought, Okay, it cannot be the worst. Lets play every point and lets see what will happen. Its the earliest exit by a top-5 seed since 2003, when then No. 3 Jennifer Capriati was ousted by Marlene Weingartner. Seventh-seeded Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard doused German Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-2, 6-4, while another upset saw Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania beat No. 9 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany, 6-4, 0-6, 6-1. Bouchard was the only woman to appear in three Grand Slam semifinals last year. Bouchards second-round opponent will be Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens. In other action involving top-16 seeds, No. 10 Russian Ekaterina Makarova whipped Belgian An-Sophie Mestach 6-2, 6-2, No. 14 former Roland Garros runner-up Sara Errani drilled American Grace Min 6-1, 6-0 and Kazakhstans Yaroslava Shvedova upended No. 16 Czech Lucie Safarova 6-4, 2-6, 8-6. In other play involving seeds, German Carina Witthoeft took out No. 17 Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-1; No. 21 Peng Shuai of China beat Germanys Tatjana Maria 6-4, 7-5; No. 22 Czech Karolina Pliskova defeated Russian Evgeniya Rodina 7-5, 6-1; Belgiums Yanina Wickmayer downed No. 23 Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; Frances Caroline Garcia upset No. 27 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-4, 6-2; Frances Kristina Mladenovic doused No. 28 Sabine Lisicki of Germany 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; No. 31 Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan overcame Pole Urszula Radwanska 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; and Germanys Julia Goerges vanquished No. 32 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-1. Several other women moved on, including Americans Christina McHale and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Puerto Rican Monica Puig and Italian veteran Roberta Vinci. On Tuesday, top seed Serena Williams will meet Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck and fourth-seeded Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova will face Dutchwoman Richel Hogenkamp. The reigning U.S. Open champion Williams owns 18 career Grand Slam titles, including a whopping five Aussie crowns. Also slated for opening-round action on Day 2 are sixth-seeded former Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska, eighth-seeded former No. 1 and 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki, 11th-seeded 2014 Aussie Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova, and 18th-seeded former top-ranked star and former Aussie finalist Venus Williams. Cheap Jerseys Paypal .I shared with him how much I appreciated all he had done for us, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said of that Thursday night farewell. Wholesale Jerseys For Sale . Listen to the Raptors vs. Jazz live tonight on TSN Radio 1050 at 9pm et/6pm pt. The Raptors are 1-1 so far on the five-game junket after defeating Denver and losing to Portland. https://www.chinajerseysfreeshipping.com/ . The South Africa international, who rejoined the club last month on loan from Tottenham, opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a powerful shot into the roof of the net. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . And he said Sunday that players believe nobody in Sterlings family should be able to own the Los Angeles Clippers if hes gone. Discount China Jerseys . -- Once again, Carlos Santana was a huge hit in Kansas City.Four years ago the Washington Capitals participated in a Winter Classic in Pittsburgh, but Alex Ovechkin and company will get to host the New Years Day outdoor contest for the time when they host the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2015 edition at Nationals Park. The Capitals can become the first team to earn two Winter Classic victories on Thursday. Washington beat the Penguins, 3-1, at Heinz Field in 2011, with Eric Fehr scoring two goals to lead the Caps to victory. Todays battle among the elements also marks the second Winter Classic appearance for the Blackhawks, who lost to Detroit, 6-4, at Wrigley Field on Jan. 1, 2010. Chicago and Washington join the Penguins, Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers as the only two-time participants in the Winter Classic. The Blackhawks will be playing in their third outdoor game overall, having also hosted an NHL Stadium Series game at Soldier Ford on March 1 of last season. Chicago routed the visiting Penguins, 5-1, in that contest. The Winter Classic is one of two outdoor games on the NHL docket for this season. The other one is a Stadium Series clash between Los Angeles and San Jose on Feb. 21 at Levis Stadium, home of the NFLs San Francisco 49ers. More than 40,000 fans are expected to be in attendance for todays battle at the home of Major League Baseballs Washington Nationals and the Caps are hoping to give the hometown crowd something to cheer about. When it comes to the Capitals, all eyes are usually on Ovechkin, the clubs superstar winger, but Fehr is getting his share of the attention in D.C. at the moment thanks to his memorable two-goal performance in the 2011 Winter Classic. Any fan that talks to me, generally thats the first thing they say, is thanks for the Winter Classic, Fehr recently told the Washington Post. They say thank you, like I did something. Its kind of funny. The 29-year-old Fehr has 10 goals and five assists in 33 games this season, and he is hoping to add to those numbers by grabbing the spotlight again on Thursday. Washington had a strong December, as it recorded at least a point in 11 of 13 games by going 8-2-3 during the month. However, the Caps have lost two of three heading into the Winter Classic and are coming off Mondays overtime loss against the New York Islanders. The Caps went 1-1-1 on their three-game road trip and lost the finale at Nassau Coliseum by a 4-3 count after Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk buried a slap shot less than three minutes into the extra session. Boychuks goal came just seconds from the end of a four-minute power play New York received after Washingtons Evgeny Kuznetsov was whistled for a highh sticking double-minor late in the third period.dddddddddddd. Although they lost in OT, the Capitals were glad to come away with a point. Washington was down 3-0 before scoring three consecutive goals in the third period. Ovechkin tied it the with 2:41 left in regulation, scoring on a wrist shot for his 17th goal of the season. Fehr and Nicklas Backstrom also scored for the Capitals, while Braden Holtby stopped 35 in the loss. Holtby is expected to start today against Chicago No. 1 netminder Corey Crawford. Holtby is 2-1-0 with a 3.28 goals against average in his career against the Blackhawks, while Crawford has a lifetime 2-2-1 record and a 3.62 GAA in this matchup. Chicago will aim for a third straight win today, as the Central Division leaders are coming off recent wins over Colorado and Nashville. The Blackhawks scored five goals in each victory, beating the Avalanche 5-2 on the road this past Saturday before recording a 5-4 shootout win Monday against the visiting Predators. Like the Caps did in their last game, the Blackhawks needed to dig themselves out of a hole to get Mondays test to overtime. The difference is Chicago was able to win the game after captain Jonathan Toews registered the only goal of the shootout. Chicago rallied from 3-0 down to tie the game in the second period, but the Blackhawks would need another comeback to push the game to an extra session. Nashvilles James Neal put the visitors ahead 4-3 with a power-play tally in the final minute of the second and the score stayed that way until Bryan Bickell tallied for the Blackhawks with Crawford pulled in favor of the extra attacker. Bickells goal was his fifth of the season and tied the contest at 4-4 with 1:13 remaining in regulation. Brad Richards, Andrew Shaw and Marian Hossa also scored in regulation for Chicago. Crawford turned aside 36-of-40 shots in regulation and overtime before stopping all three Nashville attempts in the shootout. Weve been in a lot of situations over the years where we know that were never out of it, said Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith. Washington hopes to continue its recent success against the Blackhawks, as the Caps have claimed two straight and five of the last seven games in this series. On the injury front, Washington defenseman Brooks Orpik expects to be a game- time decision with an injured right knee. For Chicago, defenseman Michal Rozsival is expected to play after sitting out Mondays game with a lower-body injury. The game is scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. ET, but there is a chance the start time could get pushed back if sun glare becomes a problem. ' ' '