Djokovic cedes Australian Open set in 1st round

MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic did something he hadn’t in 14 years: He dropped a set in a first-round match at the Australian Open.

That didn’t bother him, though. He actually looked upon the challenge he faced Monday night under the closed roof at Rod Laver Arena as a good thing.


“I actually like tough first rounds — in Grand Slams, particularly,” the defending champion at Melbourne Park said after getting past 37th-ranked Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (5), 6-2, 2-6, 6-1. “Because it gets me going. From the beginning, I have to be alert. I have to be on a high level. And I think I was.”

Djokovic last ceded a set in an Australian Open opener all the way back in 2006, during a loss to Paul Goldstein. Since then, the 16-time Grand Slam champ had produced 13 consecutive straight-set wins in the hard-court tournament’s first round; add in the initial pair of sets against Struff, and the streak was at 41.

But then came a bit of a blip.

Struff managed to break Djokovic three times in that third set alone.

“He turned it around. He was not missing much,” the second-seeded Djokovic said. “Credit to him for fighting. He’s a very powerful player.”

Also worth mentioning: Djokovic helped his opponent by faltering with two double-faults on the last two points of the set.

Soon, though, he regrouped, taking eight of nine points to begin the fourth and was on his way to the 900th match win of his career. The last set took all of 22 minutes.

The first set offered its own hiccups for Djokovic. He was a point away from taking it while serving for the set at 5-3 before finding himself locked in a tiebreaker against the big-hitting Struff, who has lost in the first round in 16 of his 26 career major appearances.

Djokovic began to show signs of frustration, rolling his eyes and spreading his arms wide, as if to say, “What is going on here?!” after one miss, hanging his head and slumping his shoulders after another. Eventually, he came through there.


All in all, even with some less-than-perfect patches, Djokovic considered the evening a satisfactory way to launch his bid for a record eighth title in Melbourne.

“I ended this match in a good fashion, in the right way,” Djokovic said, “and this is very positive.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Nadal blazes into fourth round with Murray, Federer at Aussie Open

MELBOURNE — World number one Rafael Nadal played his best match of the tournament to join title-contenders Andy Murray and Roger Federer in the fourth round at the Australian Open on Saturday.

The Spaniard was relentless in dispatching French 25th seed Gael Monfils 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in just over two hours in a dynamic night performance on Rod Laver Arena.

Nadal will next play Kei Nishikori in the round of 16 after the Japanese star ousted American Donald Young in straight sets.

“Gael is always a big test, he’s a great player, but I think today I played my best match in the tournament so far, so very happy for that,” Nadal said.

The top seed is bidding to win his second Australian Open title and become only the third man to win each of the four Grand Slam titles twice, after Australians Roy Emerson and Rod Laver.

Murray, a three-time Melbourne finalist, tossed aside Spanish 26th seed Feliciano Lopez in straight sets and Grand Slam record-holder Federer also did it in regulation sets over Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili.

Murray, the British fourth seed, extended his dominance of Spanish left-hander Lopez to 8-0 with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-2 win in two hours 15 minutes on Hisense Arena.

The Scot will next play French journeyman Stephane Robert, who is the first-ever ‘lucky loser’ to reach the last 16 at the Australian Open.

Federer, chasing his fifth Australian crown, made the round of 16 at Melbourne for the 13th straight year after an unruffled 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win over the unseeded Gabashvili in one hour 41 minutes.

It was his 71st match victory at Melbourne Park, extending his record at the Australian Open, and set up a clash against 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Tsonga needed only three sets to get past fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-2 in one hour 53 minutes in a night match on Hisense Arena.

Federer, the 17-time Grand Slam champion, said he was over the back pain that dogged him last year and was in good shape heading into the second week, with battles looming against his main rivals.

“Right now I feel very fresh and very good physically,” Federer said.

“That’s why I do a lot of prevention work. You make sure you sleep enough and do all these things. You eat healthy and so forth. But it’s been a good spell now.

“I didn’t have any setbacks since Hamburg (last July) really, and that’s very good looking forward.”

It was a confident Federer performance against the 79th-ranked Russian as the stylish Swiss looks to become the second man after Roy Emerson to win five Australian Open singles titles.

Murray, who had back surgery in September, briefly appeared in pain early in the first set against Lopez, but through the match he moved unhindered to progress through to the last 16.

Robert, ranked 119, failed to come through qualifying but was handed a spot at the tournament when Philipp Kohlschreiber pulled out injured.

On Saturday, he beat fellow lucky loser Martin Klizan 6-0, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. It was the first Grand Slam third round match between two lucky losers since Wimbledon in 1973.

“I’m very happy. You know, it’s not a dream because I lost in the qualies (qualifiers), but now after I got this opportunity, now I’m really in the tournament,” Robert said.

Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov also won through to the fourth round and a meeting with Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut after ousting Canadian power-server Milos Raonic in four sets.

Bautista Agut continued his winning run with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 win over French 27th seed Benoit Paire.

source: sports.inquirer.net