The 2008 Australian Open described in detail, in the form of day-by-day summaries.
All dates are AEDT (UTC+11)
Day 1 (14 January)
Day 1 saw few upsets, as favourites Justine Henin, Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Tatiana Golovin, Maria Sharapova, Shahar Pe'er, Amélie Mauresmo, Nicole Vaidišová, Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko, Richard Gasquet, and Mikhail Youzhny all advanced. Jelena Janković, world No. 3, also advanced but was heavily tested by Tamira Paszek, having to win 2–6, 6–2, 12–10 in three hours, saving three match points; the match featured an exceptional 15 breaks of serve. Finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga scored his best victory to that point in a four set win over number 9 seed Andy Murray, 7–5, 6–4, 0–6, 7–6. Home favourite Alicia Molik also advanced into the second round. Seeds out: Men's singles: Andy Murray [9], Carlos Moyá [16], Juan Ignacio Chela [18] Women's singles: Vera Zvonareva [23], Julia Vakulenko [32]
Day 2 (15 January) Favourites Roger Federer, Tomáš Berdych, James Blake, Novak Djokovic, Fernando González, Lleyton Hewitt, Marcos Baghdatis, David Nalbandian, David Ferrer, Marat Safin, Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic, Anna Chakvetadze, Daniela Hantuchová, and Svetlana Kuznetsova all advanced. Other seeded players such as Li Na, Nadia Petrova, Sania Mirza, Agnieszka Radwańska, Dmitry Tursunov, and Juan Carlos Ferrero also advanced. Sofia Arvidsson caused the upset on the women's side, as she defeated No. 10 Marion Bartoli 6–7, 6–4, 6–3, and Dinara Safina went down to qualifier Sabine Lisicki. On the men's side, the upset of the day came when Dutch qualifier Robin Haase defeated No. 17 Ivan Ljubičić 6–7, 6–3, 6–0, 7–6. Day 2 saw the completion of all the remaining first round matches. Seeded players out: Marion Bartoli, Dinara Safina, Ágnes Szávay, Lucie Šafářová; Ivan Ljubičić, Nicolás Almagro, Radek Štěpánek
Day 3 (16 January) The Australian crowd were treated to an upset from one of their own as Casey Dellacqua sent No. 15 seed Patty Schnyder crashing out in the women's draw, while No. 13 Tatiana Golovin and No. 19 Sybille Bammer also struggled, losing to Aravane Rezaï and Hsieh Su-wei respectively. Maria Sharapova defeated comeback queen Lindsay Davenport in somewhat easy fashion 6–1, 6–3, and Justine Henin, Serena Williams, and Jelena Janković also advanced with wins. Joining them were numerous lower seeds including Elena Dementieva, Nicole Vaidišová and Amélie Mauresmo. In the men's draw, Mardy Fish dominated No. 11 seed Tommy Robredo to send him crashing out 6–1, 6–2, 6–3, while Stanislas Wawrinka retired against Marc Gicquel down two sets to one. Rafael Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick and Richard Gasquet all progressed in straight sets, whilst Mikhail Youzhny was tested before eventually winning 4–6, 7–5, 6–3, 7–6. The doubles competition also began on Day 3. Seeded players out: Tatiana Golovin, Patty Schnyder, Sybille Bammer; Tommy Robredo, Stanislas Wawrinka Doubles seeds out: Maria Elena Camerin / Gisela Dulko
Day 4 (17 January) In the pick of the second round matches, former finalist Marcos Baghdatis dispatched former champion Marat Safin in five sets; 6–4, 6–4, 2–6, 3–6, 6–2. Seeds Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Fernando González, David Nalbandian, Tomáš Berdych and James Blake all came through unscathed; with Federer dropping only 3 games against Fabrice Santoro. Nineteenth seed and home favorite Lleyton Hewitt came through in typically gritty fashion, defeating Denis Istomin 7–6, 6–3, 5–7, 6–1. On the women's side, Ana Ivanovic defeated Tathiana Garbin 6–0, 6–3 in the night match preceding Baghdatis vs. Safin. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anna Chakvetadze, Venus Williams, Daniela Hantuchová, Nadia Petrova and form player Li Na all navigated their way into the third round too. Seeded players out: Alona Bondarenko; Fernando Verdasco, Dmitry Tursunov Doubles seeds out: Nathalie Dechy / Dinara Safina, Lisa Raymond / Francesca Schiavone, Maria Kirilenko / Ágnes Szávay, Vania King / Nicole Pratt; Max Mirnyi / Jamie Murray, Simon Aspelin / Julian Knowle, Marcelo Melo / André Sá
The total attendance figure for Day 4 was 62,885, setting a new world record for a combined day/night attendance at a Grand Slam event. The previous record was 61,083, set during the 2007 US Open.