Tennis superstars Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova cruised to convincing wins in Day One of the 2015 Australian Open on Sunday in Melbourne, Australia.

Nadal, who is looking to regain his confidence after being slowed down by injuries last year, was on target in his opening match as he ran away with an easy 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.

The 14-time Grand Slam champion, who said before the tournament started that he should not be among the title favorites this year, had an impressive night, hitting 37 winners in the match.

The third-seeded Nadal, who won the Australian Open title in 2009 and finished runner-up to Stan Wawrinka last year, admitted that he is lacking confidence this year, but his win against Youzhny is a big morale booster for him.

"I think very good start. Very important," Nadal told reporters after the match. "Always before the first match you always have the doubts, especially in this situation I'm arriving here. Never easy, but it was an important match for me. Every match is very important for me today. Was a comfortable victory that gives me some confidence."

On the other hand, second-seeded Federer also started his campaign on the right track as he scored a 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Lu Yen-Hsun of Chinese Taipei on Monday morning at Rod Laver Arena.

Federer, who is looking to win his fifth Australian Open title, served well right from the opening set. He looked contented in holding serve in the third set, but the 17-time Grand Slam champion shifted to next gear in the 11th game of the final set to break Lu's service en route to the win.

Following Federer's victory over Lu, women's second seed Maria Sharapova also proved why she is considered as one of the favorites to win the title this year as she cruised to an easy 6-4, 6-1 win over Petra Martic of Croatia.

"I think I'm in a much more comfortable situation than I was last year," Sharapova said after the match. "My goal last year at this time was just to play as many matches as I could to get a good feeling to see where my shoulder was, where I was physically, you know, how I would cope with playing a lot of matches."

Complete Day One results are available on the official Australian Open 2015 website through this link, while fans can watch match highlights here.

For the latest sports news, follow Latin Post Sports on Twitter.

FOR MORE AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2015 UPDATES, CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VISIT LATIN POST.COM'S SPORTS PAGE.

Related