Australian Open 2012 Scores: 3 Eye-Popping Results from Jan. 17

There were three results from the second day of the Australian Open 2012 (Jan. 17) that will blow your mind. 

One is a tale of excellence from an expected source, one was a fight to the finish and the last was a huge upset nobody saw coming.

Novak Djokovic (1) defeats Paulo Lorenzi (109) 6-2, 6-0, 6-0

Djokovic is the man, and everybody knows it. He took his dominating play to a whole new level in his first-round matchup against Lorenzi, though.

This match was over in less than an hour-and-a-half. Djokovic hardly even broke a sweat as he dispatched his under matched (109th in the world) opponent. He was the hammer, and Lorenzi was the nail.

Djokovic won on his first serve 73 percent of the time, while only supplying four aces. That means his ball-striking and control were superb. He also won on break point 69 percent of the time, making this contest a laugher.

Vera Zvonareva (7) defeats Alexandra Dulgheru (61) 7-6, 6-7, 6-3

Zvonareva almost took an early exit in this tournament when Dulgheru gave her all she could handle in an epic back-and-forth match that lasted over three hours.

The catalyst for such an event? Unforced errors by both women. In fact, between the two of them, there were 119 unforced errors in the match. 

In the end, the savvy veteran outlasted her younger, less-talented opponent on her way into the second round of this prestigious tournament.

Sorana Cirstea (59) defeats Samantha Stosur (6) 7-6, 6,3

This is a stunner. Stosur is a hometown favorite who has done well in the Australian Open in the past.

I credit a poor performance by Stosur for this outcome more than a stellar performance by Cirstea.

After getting outlasted in the first set by Cirstea, Stosur wilted in the second set and made a surprising early exit from this tournament.

Stosur committed 33 forced errors and three double-faults, leading to her downfall to an inferior opponent.