The Spanish Rafael Nadal and the Danish Caroline Wozniacki, the main favorites who came into play this Wednesday at the Open de tennis from Australia, passed the second round with mixed feelings, the first with clear signs of physical fulfillment and hitting accuracy and the second after being forced to overcome a 5-1 against in the third set.
Nadal was the only one of the first seeds who did not go through serious difficulties today on the tracks of Melbourne Park. He made an unbeatable impression in his confrontation with Argentine Leonardo Mayer and advanced without difficulty with a clear victory by 6-3, 6-4 and 7-6 (4).
It took two hours and 38 minutes for the number one in the world to solve the match and his next rival will be the Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, number 30 in the world ranking, who had previously beaten Australian John Millman 7-5, 3-6, 6 -4 and 6-1.
The first heat between Nadal and Mayer, 52 on the ATP list, was an exchange between equals that did not even become excessively unbalanced when the Argentine gave up his service and went 3-1 at a disadvantage.
With 5-2 and 0-40 against, the South American player brought out his best repertoire on the net and managed to come back and take the game, although in the next he definitively yielded the first set.
Nadal started the second set with a break that already allowed him to always go ahead. He barely made unforced errors and his rival did not have a single chance to return the ‘break’.
The third set, with a splendid Nadal to the rest with his crossed passes, was always in the face of the Spanish. But with the 5-4 Mayer had a start of aggressiveness and success and the top favorite snatched the serve. He endorsed it with his service, Nadal responded with a blank game, 6-6, and they went to the tiebreaker, which the Mallorcan dominated 7-4.
Dzumhur now awaits the Spanish in the third round. The two met at the 2016 Miami Masters 1,000, in a game in which Nadal retired due to a heat illness when he lost 2-6, 6-4 and 3-0.
In the women’s draw Wozniacki, second seeded, was shocked to see how the Croatian Jana Fett, 103rd in the world, snatched the opening sleeve, and especially how she placed 1-5 and 15-40 in the third. A slightly long serve from Fett on her first match point gave the Dane reason to react.
“I felt with one foot out of the tournament,” admitted Wozniacki, who then starred in an unusual comeback and returned the game to its logical channels. He finally prevailed 3-6, 6-2 and 7-5.
Another who was about to become the negative surprise of the day was the Bulgarian Igor Dimitrov, third seed, who sweated ink to defeat the American Mackenzie McDonald, inexperienced in Grand Slam tournaments except for a match at the US Open and that roams by the position 178 of the ATP classification.
After almost three and a half hours Dimitrov saw the 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6 and 8-6 reflected on the scoreboard that gave him the victory. He sealed it from the rest, against a rival who left everything on the court.
Frenchman Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, the fifteenth seed, also advanced to the third round. Canadian Denis Shapovalov used the freshness of his 18 years to hold his rival for five rounds. The fight lasted three hours and 37 minutes, in which Tsonga won 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4) and 7-5.
“This teaches me that physically I can still endure games like this,” said the Frenchman.
Croatian Marin Cilic, seeded sixth, had a more pleasant transition through the second round, with a 6-1, 7-5 and 6-2 win over Portuguese Joao Sousa.
Seventeenth seed Nick Kyrgios left signs of irregularity in his 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory over Serbian Viktor Troicki. The Australian’s 17 direct service points were the best news for him.
Nothing compared to the 53 that Croatian Ivo Karlovic signed in his victory over Japanese Yuichi Sugita by 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 7-5, 4-6 and 12-10.
Among the women, like Wozniacki, the fourth favorite, the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, also began hesitantly against the Czech Katerina Siniakova, number 49 in the ranking, although she settled the clash with a 4-6, 6-2 and 6-1.
In this way they closed a confrontation in the third round with the revelation of the tournament, the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, fifteen years old, who won 6-3 and 7-5 to the local Olivia Rogowska.
Kostyuk, lost in position 522 of the world classification, was in 2017 the junior champion of the Australian Open, comes from the qualifying phase and is the youngest player to reach the third round of a great since the Croatian did in 1997 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at the US Open.
“I’ll enjoy it. I will try to get my best tennis«, Kostyuk has said about his confrontation with Svitolina.
The Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, winner in 2017 of Roland Garros and here seventh favorite, beat the Chinese Ying-Ying Duan 6-3, 3-6 and 6-4
The team of favorites lost today on the way to the German Julia Goerges (12), and the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (15). EFE
Nadal was the only one of the first seeds who did not go through serious difficulties today on the tracks of Melbourne Park. He made an unbeatable impression in his confrontation with Argentine Leonardo Mayer and advanced without difficulty with a clear victory by 6-3, 6-4 and 7-6 (4).
It took two hours and 38 minutes for the number one in the world to solve the match and his next rival will be the Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, number 30 in the world ranking, who had previously beaten Australian John Millman 7-5, 3-6, 6 -4 and 6-1.
The first heat between Nadal and Mayer, 52 on the ATP list, was an exchange between equals that did not even become excessively unbalanced when the Argentine gave up his service and went 3-1 at a disadvantage.
With 5-2 and 0-40 against, the South American player brought out his best repertoire on the net and managed to come back and take the game, although in the next he definitively yielded the first set.
Nadal started the second set with a break that already allowed him to always go ahead. He barely made unforced errors and his rival did not have a single chance to return the ‘break’.
The third set, with a splendid Nadal to the rest with his crossed passes, was always in the face of the Spanish. But with the 5-4 Mayer had a start of aggressiveness and success and the top favorite snatched the serve. He endorsed it with his service, Nadal responded with a blank game, 6-6, and they went to the tiebreaker, which the Mallorcan dominated 7-4.
Dzumhur now awaits the Spanish in the third round. The two met at the 2016 Miami Masters 1,000, in a game in which Nadal retired due to a heat illness when he lost 2-6, 6-4 and 3-0.
In the women’s draw Wozniacki, second seeded, was shocked to see how the Croatian Jana Fett, 103rd in the world, snatched the opening sleeve, and especially how she placed 1-5 and 15-40 in the third. A slightly long serve from Fett on her first match point gave the Dane reason to react.
“I felt with one foot out of the tournament,” admitted Wozniacki, who then starred in an unusual comeback and returned the game to its logical channels. He finally prevailed 3-6, 6-2 and 7-5.
Another who was about to become the negative surprise of the day was the Bulgarian Igor Dimitrov, third seed, who sweated ink to defeat the American Mackenzie McDonald, inexperienced in Grand Slam tournaments except for a match at the US Open and that roams by the position 178 of the ATP classification.
After almost three and a half hours Dimitrov saw the 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6 and 8-6 reflected on the scoreboard that gave him the victory. He sealed it from the rest, against a rival who left everything on the court.
Frenchman Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, the fifteenth seed, also advanced to the third round. Canadian Denis Shapovalov used the freshness of his 18 years to hold his rival for five rounds. The fight lasted three hours and 37 minutes, in which Tsonga won 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4) and 7-5.
“This teaches me that physically I can still endure games like this,” said the Frenchman.
Croatian Marin Cilic, seeded sixth, had a more pleasant transition through the second round, with a 6-1, 7-5 and 6-2 win over Portuguese Joao Sousa.
Seventeenth seed Nick Kyrgios left signs of irregularity in his 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory over Serbian Viktor Troicki. The Australian’s 17 direct service points were the best news for him.
Nothing compared to the 53 that Croatian Ivo Karlovic signed in his victory over Japanese Yuichi Sugita by 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 7-5, 4-6 and 12-10.
Among the women, like Wozniacki, the fourth favorite, the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, also began hesitantly against the Czech Katerina Siniakova, number 49 in the ranking, although she settled the clash with a 4-6, 6-2 and 6-1.
In this way they closed a confrontation in the third round with the revelation of the tournament, the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, fifteen years old, who won 6-3 and 7-5 to the local Olivia Rogowska.
Kostyuk, lost in position 522 of the world classification, was in 2017 the junior champion of the Australian Open, comes from the qualifying phase and is the youngest player to reach the third round of a great since the Croatian did in 1997 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at the US Open.
“I’ll enjoy it. I will try to get my best tennis«, Kostyuk has said about his confrontation with Svitolina.
The Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, winner in 2017 of Roland Garros and here seventh favorite, beat the Chinese Ying-Ying Duan 6-3, 3-6 and 6-4
The team of favorites lost today on the way to the German Julia Goerges (12), and the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (15). EFE