Australian Open 2012: 3 Outcomes That Have Us Scratching Our Heads

No tennis player ever wants to lose—you play to win the game, after all.

But for a top-ranked player or favorite, losing in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament is especially galling.

Here are a few results that had the tennis world surprised and the losing players upset with their performances.

31st-ranked Radek Stepanek falls in straight sets to Nicolas Mahut

Mahut, of course, is best-known for his marathon match against John Isner at Wimbledon in 2010.

If Mahut was ranked higher than 81st he might be known for a bit more at this point, which makes his straight-sets victory over Stepanek all the more surprising.

32nd-ranked Ivan Ljubicic blows a two-set lead in loss

And to the 119th-ranked singles player in the world, Lukas Lacko, nonetheless.

Croatian fans won't be pleased.

Australian and sixth-ranked Samantha Stosur upset by Sorana Cirstea.

It was an incredibly disappointing result for the Australian crowd that was hoping to see Stosur win the tournament, not bow out in straight sets in the very first round.

This is by far the most shocking—and unfortunate, really—result in the first round.

Hit me up on the Twitter—my tweets are FDA approved.