Day 2 of the 2017 Australian Open saw most of the men’s and women’s seeds emerge victorious, as round 1 concluded with some marathon contests. On the women’s side, Lucie Safarova, down a set, and facing break point/match point at 5-6 in the second set, saved a total of nine match points, the most in any Grand Slam match since 2014, to go on and defeat Yanina Wickmayer 3-6 7-6 6-1. Safarova was under the gun both on her own serve, and in the ensuing second set tiebreak, but her steely resolve allowed her to outlast Wickmayer, who wilted in the third set.
Ivo Karlovic fired 75 aces in a 22-20 fifth set victory over Horacio Zeballos. The Croatian showed few signs of fatigue, or his rising age, as the five hour match was played out over the course of the day and into the night in Melbourne. Zeballos suffered the extra indignity of losing a marathon match, after being two sets to love ahead, and coming agonizingly close to putting Karlovic away. Karlovic completed the comeback 6-7 3-6 7-5 6-2 22-20 for a spot in the second round. Dr. Ivo has a habit of getting into lengthy matches, given how easy it is for him to hold his serve, and once the match was locked in a fifth set, he had a clear advantage, given Zeballos lacked the same consistency on serve.
Women’s Favorites Advance in the Bottom Half
Tournament favorite Serena Williams got the pair of breaks she needed to dispatch Belinda Bencic in round 1 6-4 6-3. Seeds Caroline Garcia, Barbora Strycova, Jo Konta, Caroline Wozniacki, Karolina Pliskova, Dominika Cibulkova, Elina Vesnina, and Yulia Putintseva also advanced, all in straight sets without much trouble. The reward for Safarova’s steely nerve is a date with Serena in round 2.
Some of the best women’s matches of the day including Daria Gavrilova‘s come from behind win against Naomi Broady 3-6 6-4 7-5. Timea Bacsinszky‘s 6-4 3-6 7-5 victory over Camila Giorgi, and Heather Watson knocking off home favorite Sam Stosur with a third set bagel. Giorgi did her best to save match points against her Swiss opponent, but Bacsinszky refused to relent. Aga Radwanska was shaky for a set against Tsveta Pironkova, but won with a pair of breadstick sets, with a set dropped in between. Ekaterina Makarova found herself in the same situation, dropping a set, but otherwise dominating Ekaterina Alexandrova. Alize Cornet won in three sets against countrywoman Myrtille Georges.
Timea Babos was the only other women’s seed besides Stosur to see her lottery ticket torn up after round 1. Babos fell to Nicole Gibbs in straight sets.
Veteran ATP Stars Ease into Round 2
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Gael Monfils, and Richard Gasquet were among the veteran ATP men who had no trouble winning their round 1 contests. Djokovic put a beat down on a mentally checked out Fernando Verdasco, while Nadal debuted some newly aggressive groundstrokes against Florian Mayer, who lacked the pace to trouble him. Monfils won his first match of the season, in an easier than expected fashion against Jiri Vesely, while Aussie qualifier Blake Mott was no match for Gasquet’s quality.
David Ferrer, Gilles Simon, Roberto Bautista Agut, and Philipp Kohlschreiber are all at a level slightly below the above names in terms of star status, but they also made quick work of their opponents to reach the second round. Only Kohlschreiber dropped a set. RBA continued his great form thus far in 2017, while Simon and Ferrer boosted form and kicked off rust against Michael Mmoh and Omar Jasika respectively.
Only #28 seed Feliciano Lopez suffered a defeat among the men’s seeds in day 2 action. Lopez simply lacked fine tuning in his game, as Fabio Fognini dominated all aspects of the match and defeated him in three sets.
Other Women’s Results
Anna Blinkova upset Monica Niculescu in three sets, Jelena Ostapenko dispatched Lin Zhu, Ana Konjuh eased past Kristina Mladenovic, Danka Kovinic extended a bad day for Chinese women with a straight set win,while Mirjana Lucic-Baroni did the same in three sets.
Mandy Minella beat Magda Linette, Jennifer Brady beat Maryna Zanevska, Maria Sakkari beat Anett Kontaveit, Su-Wei Hsieh got a retirement against Karin Knapp, Sara Errani beat Risa Ozaki, Donna Vekic dominated Aussie Lizette Cabrera, Naomi Osaka won a thriller against Luksika Kumkhum in three sets, veteran Andrea Petkovic eased past Kayla Day, Irina Falconi beat Xinyun Han, and last but not least, Oceane Dodin beat fellow fan favorite Cagla Buyukakcay in three sets.
Young American Men Suffer Crushing Defeats
Young Americans Jared Donaldson, Reilly Opelka, and Taylor Fritz all suffered disappointing losses on the day. Donaldson endured a total collapse from 6-3 6-0 love up against veteran journeyman Rogerio Dutra Silva. RDS won the final two frames 6-4 6-4 for a rare tour level victory for the Brazilian, in what was a disaster for Donaldson. Opelka pushed David Goffin to the limit, but when it mattered he buckled under pressure and relented, while Goffin was rock solid. Goffin came through a marathon winner 6-4 4-6 6-2 4-6 6-4, as Opelka lost focus in the third and fifth sets, despite showing the variety of his game for such a physically imposing player. Fritz fell victim to Gilles Muller‘s redlining form, the veteran serve and volleyer dominated him in straight sets.
ATP Next Gen Players Find Winning Starts
Frances Tiafoe found success against tour veteran Mikhail Kukushkin, finishing strong with a four set victory. Tiafoe setup a an all-teen matchup with Alexander Zverev, who muddled through five sets against Robin Haase, eventually pulling it out 6-2 3-6 5-7 6-3 6-2, after losing control of the match midway through. Zverev always had the match on his racquet, but it wasn’t until the 5th set that he upped his game.
Ernesto Escobedo, Yoshihito Nishioka, Hyeon Chung, Kyle Edmund, and Dominic Thiem are the other members of team next gen who won their round 1 matches on Tuesday. Escobedo beat fellow young gun Daniil Medvedev in impressive fashion, Chung and Edmund both won in straights, and Thiem snuck out a close victory in four sets over J.L. Struff. The Austrian still doesn’t look to be at his best, but he did come back after dropping the first set, as Struff wasn’t mentally tough enough to force a fifth set.
Nishioka broke his opponent, Aussie qualifier Alex Bolt, in the final game of the match for a four set victory. One of the few Australian bright spots on the day was Andrew Whittington, who posted the biggest win of his career in four sets over Adam Pavlasek. The victory gives him a real chance at the third round, with Karlovic likely exhausted. Jordan Thompson likewise posted a big win, outlasting a fatigued Joao Sousa in five sets, from two sets down. Thompson didn’t change his level of play much throughout the match, but Sousa simply lacked the fitness to put him away, as the Portugese never got close to taking a decisive third set.
Three players advance via retirement on the Men’s side
Marcos Baghdatis, Pablo Carreno Busta, and Benoit Paire all advanced via retirements. Mikhail Youzhny was unwell early on against Baghdatis, Peter Polansky’s attempt at a comeback from two sets down against PCB was scuttled when he had to retire in the 5th set, and veteran Tommy Haas didn’t seem prepared for best of five tennis, as he played a close match with Paire only to succumb due to poor fitness.
Other Men’s Results
Alexandr Dolgopolov fought off Borna Coric’s valiant comeback attempt from two sets down, winning a crucial fourth set tiebreak for his first victory since the middle of last year. Carlos Berlocq and Denis Istomin were both winners in four sets, as they narrowly prevented their opponents from forcing fifth sets. Qualifier Radek Stepanek had few problems with Dmitry Tursunov, and gets a tired Goffin next. American Donald Young got off to a winning start against qualifier Thomas Fabbiano
Last but not least, both Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov, possible tournament dark horses, turned away unseeded opposition. Raonic wasn’t touched by Dustin Brown, while Dimitrov beat Christopher O’Connell in the Australian’s first Grand Slam main draw contest. Overall, day 2 wasn’t quite as exciting as day 1, but it went smoothly, including no breaks for inclement weather.
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