It was held in Rod Laver Arena at 2 pm and lasted about 90 minutes; tickets cost A$10 for adults and were free for children under 12.
Men's singles play was started by Andy Roddick on the main courts as he defeated Thiemo de Bakker in straight sets 6–1, 6–4, 6–4.
The Belgian trio of Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin and Yanina Wickmayer all won their matches on the first day.
Spanish player María José Martínez Sánchez was the first to win, scoring a double bagel over Evgeniya Rodina.
Louk Sorensen became the first Irish player to advance to the second round of a Grand Slam in defeating Lu Yen-hsun 6–4, 3–6, 6–2, 6–1.
Nikolay Davydenko won in straight sets and David Ferrer did not drop a single game against Frederico Gil before the Portugal native retired 6–0, 6–0, 2–0.
On the women's side, world number one Serena Williams defeated Urszula Radwańska 6–2, 6–1, and Australian Samantha Stosur won her match at Rod Laver Arena 6–1, 3–6, 6–2.
Juan Martín del Potro survived against American James Blake 6–4, 6–7(3), 5–7, 6–3, 10–8 and Marin Čilić against Australian wildcard Bernard Tomic 6–7(6), 6–3, 4–6, 6–2, 6–4.
Russians Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Alisa Kleybanova, Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko all recorded straight sets victories.
Day 4 saw world number one Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, 2009 semifinalist Fernando Verdasco, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Mikhail Youzhny and Nikolay Davydenko win in straight sets.
they were followed by Vera Zvonareva, good friends Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwańska, Slovakian Daniela Hantuchová, Francesca Schiavone, Shahar Pe'er and Carla Suárez Navarro.
The two remaining Australian in the women's draw also won in straight sets as Samantha Stosur defeated Kristina Barrois 7–5, 6–3 and Wildcard Casey Dellacqua outlasting Karolina Šprem 7–6(4), 7–6(6).
Day 6 began with the announcement that 20th seed Mikhail Youzhny was withdrawing from his third round encounter with Łukasz Kubot due to a right wrist injury.
The encounter between Australian Lleyton Hewitt and Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis ended with a retirement from the latter at 6–0, 4–2, due to a shoulder pain.
Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki cruised through against Tathiana Garbin and Shahar Pe'er respectively, both winning in straight sets.
Sixth seed Venus Williams ended the comeback of Australian wildcard Casey Dellacqua in straight sets 6–1, 7–6(4).
Marin Čilić defeated defending US Open Champion Juan Martín del Potro 5–7, 6–4, 7–5, 5–7, 6–3 to advance to the quarterfinals.
Titleholder Serena Williams was successful against Australian Samantha Stosur, making Victoria Azarenka her next combatant.
Men's Singles ranking number 1 Roger Federer won against Lleyton Hewitt 6–2, 6–3, 6–4 in a continuously one-sided match.
The longest matches of the day were presented by Nikolay Davydenko who beat Fernando Verdasco and Nicolás Almagro defeated by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in both five sets.
The last Quarterfinal of the day featured 2008 Australian Open finalists Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Djokovic then broke in the sixth game and serve for the set at 5–3 but Tsonga crawled back in to push it to a tie-break, which he won 10–8.
At that point three successive breaks then transpired as Li served it out to win the set 7–5 and the match to join compatriot Zheng Jie in the Semifinals.
The Women's singles semifinals saw Chinese players Li Na and Zheng Jie taking defending champion Serena Williams and Justine Henin respectively.
Serena then held serve to lead 3–2, and then Henin won the next four games and 10 straight points from 3–3 deuce to win the set 6–3.
The defending champion then won the next four games and closed it out in her second championship point to win the set 6–2, which gave Serena her fifth Australian Open title.
[15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] The Bryan brothers won their fourth title in men's doubles by winning over the team of Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić in three sets by a score of 6–3, 6–7(5), 6–3.
In the girls' single final Karolína Plíšková from the Czech Republic avenged the defeat of her twin sister, winning 6–1, 7–6(5), against British player Laura Robson.
India's Leander Paes and Zimbabwe's Cara Black won the mixed doubles title against the pair of Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and the Czech Republic's Jaroslav Levinský in straight sets 7–5, 6–3.
[22] In the men's final, Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray to win his 16th Grand Slam title and increase his own record.