Djokovic, Nadal Cruise Into Melbourne Second Round

January 17, 2017 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff

Six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic had no problems with his first round test on Tuesday, moving past Spain’s Fernando Verdasco 6-1, 7-6(4), 6-2 in a rematch of last week’s Doha semifinals.

“I started really well…the second set was a long set with a lot of unforced errors from both sides. It was a gamble, really. He was two or three times a break up. I had my chances at four-all, five-all, many break points,” said Djokovic. “But at the end of the day, I knew that winning the second set would be crucial, because I definitely didn’t want to give him wings. I didn’t want to have him start swinging at the ball as he knows.

I’m very pleased with the first round, considering I had one of the toughest first-round draws, definitely considering his form and how well we played in Doha.”

Djokovic jumped out to a quick 5-0 advantage in the match’s opening set and even after Verdasco gained his footing to force a second-set tiebreaker, the world number two was just too focused on Tuesday.  He built a 3-0 lead in the third set to ensure there would be no comeback from Verdasco, moving past the 40th ranked Spaniard in two hours and 20 minutes.

In search of his seventh Melbourne crown, Djokovic will take on Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. Istomin ousted Croatia’s Ivan Dodig 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to push his way into the second round.

Rafael Nadal made sure that 2016 would not repeat itself as he kicked off his Melbourne campaign.  A year ago, Nadal lost to the aforementioned Verdasco, but looked dominant on Monday. The Spaniard rolled past Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

“I am happy with the way I am playing. I had good weeks of practice. [It] is never easy in the first round. [There] is always little bit more nerves at the beginning,” said Nadal. “I didn’t play against an easy opponent. The way that he plays is not a conventional game…so I’m just happy with the way that I played. I played all the key points well. That’s very important for me.”

The ninth-seeded Nadal moves on to play Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus who led Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 3-0 when the Russian retired.

Milos Raonic, the third-seed, dismantled Germany’s Dustin Brown 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to win his Australian Open opener in one hour and 32 minutes.

“It’s obviously tough to have necessarily a solid performance all the way through, but I did what I needed to. I took care of my serve and I broke quite early in all the sets,” said Raonic. “I just dropped off a little bit where I faced a few sort of dangers on my service games in the beginning of the third, end of the second. I returned pretty solid when I had to. I stepped up and I played well.”

Overall, Raonic hit 46 winners to 25 unforced errors to advance in straight sets. He will meet Gilles Muller of Luxembourg next; Muller knocked off American Taylor Fritz 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 6-3.

Gael Monfils, Dominic Thiem, David Goffin, Grigor Dimitrov, Richard Gasquet, and David Ferrer were other notable winners on Tuesday, as Americans Donald Young and Frances Tiafoe also advanced into the second round.  

Croatia's Ivo Karlovic and Horacio Zeballos set a record for most games played in an Australian Open with 84, as Karlovic came back from two sets down to win 6-7(6), 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 22-20 in a match that lasted five hours and 14 minutes, just 38 minutes shy of the record for longest match ever in Melbourne.

"This match is what I will, after my career, remember," said Karlovic. "It it was easy match or I lost easily, I wouldn't remember it. But this one I will definitely remember forever."

 


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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