Australian Open 2012 Scores: Most Bizarre Outcomes Thus Far

The opening round of the 2012 Australian Open is under way, and there have been just a few upsets to note with only a small portion of the total matches played.

The reason why there are such few upsets is the large disparity in ranking, player skill, experience and a number of other factors that separate the competition’s top seeds and the lowest ones, who oft face off against each other in the early rounds.

However, there were two major upsets in the first round, and it’s absolutely crazy that opponents have already eliminated these two players.

Sam Stosur

Stosur was the host country’s greatest chance of capturing the Grand Slam on the women’s side but came up woefully short.

Twenty-one-year-old Romanian Sorana Cirstea eliminated the 27-year-old Queenslander in 91 minutes earlier in the day.

This was a classic upset, with the No. 59 seed taking out the sixth seed in the tournament quickly and outplaying her to the tune of 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.

"Certainly not the way that I wanted, not just this tournament but the whole summer" to play out, said Stosur. "There's not any other word for it but a total disappointment."

It was quite bizarre that a home favorite choked in front of an extremely supportive crowd, but there have been bigger meltdowns before.

Fernando Verdasco

The No. 24-ranked Spaniard Verdasco was upset by 19-year-old phenom Bernard Tomic, a player ranked just No. 37, in the first round of the men’s tournament.

It was a disappointing outing for Verdasco, who went up two sets to love early in the afternoon but was eventually defeated by exhaustion in the sweltering sun.

The match ran for over four hours and finished in favor of Tomic, 4-6, 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-2 7-5.

It was an epic battle played in some of the hottest temperatures imaginable, which made it more of an even battle than many thought it would be on paper.