After a build-up dominated by Novak Djokovic’s botched visa, the Australian Open was lastly in a position to emerge from its political shadow on Monday and stage a drama strictly of a sporting selection.
The graduation of precise tennis can have arrived as a welcome aid for drained followers and beleaguered organisers alike, with the embittered world No 1 within the air en route residence to Belgrade when the primary ball was struck mercifully struck contained in the Rod Laver Area.
That honour belonged to Tatjana Maria, the world No 287, who was duly thrashed by fifth seed Maria Sakkari because the favourites barely faltered on the primary day in Melbourne. For a very long time, Naomi Osaka’s defence of her title had been as uncertain as Djokovic’s, with the 24-year-old solely returning to the court docket final week after an prolonged break, however there have been few indicators of rust as she swept previous Colombia’s Camila Osorio in straight units.
Nor was there ever the faintest trace of an upset derailing world No 1 Ashleigh Barty’s hopes of following up Wimbledon glory with a primary grand slam on residence soil. The Australian totally dominated her struggling opponent Lesia Tsurenko, with Barty not often getting out of first gear as she raced to 6-0 6-1 win in lower than an hour. “The place I’m in the meanwhile is a product of all of the experiences that I’ve had, the onerous learnings, the unbelievable moments, and I’m the place I’m,” Barty stated of her imperious type and expertise, having now spent over 100 consecutive weeks as world No 1, regardless of nonetheless being simply 25.
One of many few main shocks of word belonged to China’s Qiang Wang, who spent most of 2021 wrestling with a woeful lack of type however recaptured it on Margaret Courtroom Area to sentence American teenager Coco Gauff to a first-round exit.
The boys’s singles draw may need been blown open with risk by Djokovic’s absence, however the brand new order of favourites established the same sample. Rafael Nadal has solely received one Australian Open in his embellished profession however a first-round assembly with America’s Marcos Giron by no means promised to quantity to greater than a glorified warm-up. Nadal is wanting match observe, having missed each Wimbledon and the US Open final 12 months as a consequence of a foot damage, however dispatched his opponent conclusively 6-1 6-4 6-2.
Alexander Zverev was made to work tougher to defeat his German compatriot Daniel Altmaier, with the world No 3 struggling on his second serve and lamenting that “nothing went to plan besides successful”. However after victories on the Olympics and within the ATP Finals, he stays one of many foremost contenders to inherit Djokovic’s crown. He will definitely tackle the position of villain to the group, too, when he faces residence favorite John Millman within the second spherical.
Matteo Berrettini, who misplaced to Djokovic within the Wimbledon last final summer time, additionally made it safely via to the second spherical, albeit below some duress after shedding the opening set in opposition to Brandon Nakashima. However no seed toiled fairly like Aslan Karatsev, who dashed the hopes of each Dan Evans and Andy Murray to clinch the Sydney Worldwide title final week. If these exertions had been draining, a titanic near-five-hour duel in opposition to Spain’s Jaume Munar may need emptied the tank utterly, with the No 18 seed finally triumphing 3-6 7-6 6-7 6-4 6-4.
It was as a substitute by the hands of Sebastian Korda, the big-hitting American prodigy, that resigned one other Briton to defeat. Cameron Norrie loved the best season of his profession final 12 months, reworking from underdog to No 12 seed, however he merely had no reply to Korda’s energy and was clinically dismantled 6-3 6-0 6-4 in below two hours.
“I don’t know why I performed the way in which I did right now,” Norrie stated. “I used to be feeling good bodily, and, yeah, I performed a whole lot of matches, however that is what we’re paid to do and [it’s] simply not adequate. Simply want to boost my requirements, observe, matches, and execute rather a lot higher,” he stated.
For British followers, consideration now turns to Andy Murray, Dan Evans and, in fact, Emma Raducanu on Tuesday. The opening day of the Australian Open may not have delivered any awe-striking shocks nevertheless it did a minimum of see the event reclaim its goal. After all of the authorized wrangling and public rancour, the floodlights above Melbourne Park had been lastly shifted again onto the tennis itself.
Kaynak: briturkish.com