Australian Open: Djokovic, Kyrgios, Zverev & Thiem win, Monfils out
Novak Djokovic starts the defence of his Australian Open title in style, while Nick Kyrgios, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem also win.
Novak Djokovic starts the defence of his Australian Open title in style, while Nick Kyrgios, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem also win.
In one of the most highly-anticipated matches of the Australian Open first round, Denis Shapovalov and Jannik Sinner delivered a classic on Monday at Margaret Court Arena.
Shapovalov snapped Sinner’s 10-match winning streak with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win. The 21-year-old entered the match on a six-match losing streak, but he found his best level under pressure to hand the Great Ocean Road Open champion his first loss since last October’s Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
“Matches like this are so much fun for me to play,” said Shapovalov, in an on-court interview. “This is why I play the sport in front of fans like you guys, that are just so much fun for both guys. Win or lose, today is one of the matches that I am going to remember in my career, just because playing in one of these stadiums, the moment and the quality of tennis today, it was just so much fun to be out here.”
It was an incredible effort by Sinner, who was playing his fifth match in four days. The 19-year-old Italian played twice on Friday, saved one match point against Karen Khachanov in a three-hour semi-final at the Great Ocean River Open on Saturday and recorded a 7-6(4), 6-4 win over compatriot Stefano Travaglia in Sunday’s title match.
Shapovalov fired 62 winners and won 74 per cent of net points (39/53) en route to victory. The Canadian No. 1 completed a perfect opening day for his nation, adding to straight-sets victories earlier in the day from countrymen Milos Raonic and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Shapovalov was aiming to avoid a second straight loss in the Australian Open first round, after falling to Marton Fucsovics in four sets at the same stage last year.
Sinner made the perfect start on Margaret Court Arena, as he ripped forehands and flicked a backhand passing shot winner to break at the first opportunity. Shapovalov served an ace down the T to avoid falling behind a double break at 1-4, 30/40, but he could not find his way back into the set.
Sinner earned four break points in his opening two return games of the second set. Shapovalov saved them all. The 11th seed struck three unreturned serves and came to the net to escape danger and establish a 2-1 lead. When Sinner’s level dropped at 3-4, Shapovalov pounced. The Canadian took advantage of backhand errors to earn his first break points of the match and he converted his second opportunity with a powerful forehand down the line.
After holding serve to level the match, Shapovalov survived three more break points at the start of the third set as Sinner began to misfire on his forehand. The 6’1” left-hander found success coming to the net and he claimed back-to-back service breaks to move one set from victory.
Sinner committed forehand errors to concede serve early in the second set, but he trusted his groundstrokes and increased his aggression from 1-3 down to turn the set in his favour and force the match to a decider.
Shapovalov halted Sinner’s momentum in the opening game of the fifth set, as he moved the Italian out of position and fired forehands up the line to make an early breakthrough. The Canadian maintained that advantage to serve for the match at 5-4 and he clinched victory with a forehand winner up the line.
“You don’t want to play long five-set [matches] at the beginning of the tournament, but I am just really happy to get the win,” said Shapovalov. “Jannik is such a great opponent. Honestly, he is so talented, he is so great, such a great guy. I am really happy that he has been doing well. I am sure he is going to be a really, really good player. [He is] now, but in the future, for sure.”
Sinner leaves Melbourne with five wins from six matches. At last week’s Great Ocean Road Open, the San Candido native became the youngest player to win two ATP Tour titles since Novak Djokovic, 19, at 2006 Amersfoort and the Moselle Open in Metz.
Sinner’s title run at the ATP 250 was his first appearance on the ATP Tour since he claimed his maiden tour-level trophy at the Sofia Open last November. The Italian is the youngest player to win back-to-back titles since Rafael Nadal, 19, at the 2005 China Open in Beijing and the Mutua Madrid Open.
“[Shapovalov] is a great player,” said Sinner. “He served better than me today. There were some difficult points, especially in the first game of the fifth set. He returned good on some points and then he served quite well. There was not much difference between him and I… He deserved to win today.”
Shapovalov will face Australia’s Bernard Tomic in the second round. The former Top 20 player was leading Yuichi Sugita 3-6, 6-1, 4-1 when the Japanese retired from their match on Court 8.
“It is better to play two-and-a-half sets, [like Tomic did], but I am going to try to recover as much as possible and get ready,” said Shapovalov. “Bernard has been a great player and he is a really tough opponent. He has got a great serve [and] he is super solid from the back. It is definitely going to be another tricky match.”
If Shapovalov gets through that match, he could meet countryman Auger-Aliassime in the third round. The Murray River Open runner-up continued his strong run of form with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory against Cedrik Marcel-Stebe.
Auger-Aliassime broke serve on six occasions and struck 25 winners to record his first win at the Australian Open. The seven-time ATP Tour finalist will face James Duckworth in the second round. The Aussie moved past lucky loser Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 40 minutes.
To think that Rafael Nadal was just a promising young Mallorcan, albeit no sure thing, when he made his main-draw debut at the Australian Open in 2004. Just 17, he was a bullish baseliner with oodles of lefty topspin and a ‘til-the-last-ball mindset.
He would reach the third round that year, eventually succumbing to home favourite Lleyton Hewitt, 7-6(2), 7-6(5), 6-2. A strong early-career showing, no doubt. But, truth be told, nobody really knew what the future held for the clay-bred newcomer, who some mistakenly typecast as a one-surface wonder.
“He’s a hell of a prospect,” said Hewitt. “[But] clay’s his No. 1 surface at the moment… He’s just one of the next Spaniards coming up. There’s a lot of them.”
A slew of talented Spaniards? Hewitt had that right. But there’s only one Rafael Nadal.
Nadal returns to Melbourne some 17 years later, deadlocked with career-long rival Roger Federer with a record 20 major singles titles. Since that first appearance at Melbourne Park back in 2004, he’s reached the final on five occasions, winning it all in 2009, when he famously ousted a tearful Federer in five sets. He has a chance to make history in 2021, but only if the tricenarian’s body is up to the task.
The World No. 2 emerged from quarantine to join his fellow Spaniards at the ATP Cup, only to be sidelined with back tightness, something he says he’s been dealing with for more than two weeks. But Nadal insisted he was doing all he could to be ready for his Day 2 opener in Rod Laver Arena, where he’s scheduled to face 56th-ranked Serbian Laslo Djere.
“I was not able to practise the right way the last week and a half,” Nadal told reporters on Sunday. “I’m still not having the best feeling possible in my back, but I am practising again. I did a lot of things to recover. It’s not serious, but the muscle is still tight, so it’s difficult to play with freedom of movement. Let’s hope the situation keeps improving. We’re doing everything. My physio [Rafael Maymo] is here, the doctors are here — everybody is helping me in all possible ways.”
Also on the Rod Laver Arena line-up for Day 2 is fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who’ll open against Frenchman Gilles Simon. Some of the most exciting moments of the Athenian’s young career have come at Melbourne Park. In 2019, he stunned Federer, 6-7(11), 7-6(3), 7-5, 7-6(5), en route to the semi-finals.
Riding high after claiming their first ATP Cup title are Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev. Both players will be in action on Tuesday: The fourth seed Medvedev against Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, and the seventh seed Rublev against Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann. Medvedev, 24, swept his last 10 matches of 2020, including title runs at the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals.
Daniil Medvedev defeated three Top 10 players during Russia’s successful ATP Cup campaign last week.
With his 6-4, 6-2 dismissal of Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in the ATP Cup clincher, Medvedev has now won 10 straight against Top-10 competition in the FedEx ATP Rankings, and his winning streak has reached 14 matches.
“It’s a really big achievement,” said Medvedev. “It’s a big boost in confidence. Even when you lose, you know that you’re capable of playing this level, and it helps you for the next time to stand up.”
Russia’s ATP Cup triumph came against Italy, whose team included 33-year-old Fabio Fognini as its No. 2 player. The No. 16 seed in Melbourne, Fognini will face Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France.
Daniel Evans, the No. 30 seed, carries some serious momentum into his all-English first-round showdown with Cameron Norrie. Evans claimed the first ATP title of his career on Sunday, scoring a convincing 6-2, 6-3 victory over Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Murray River Open. He appears to be rounding into form at exactly the right time.
“I didn’t play great in the first two rounds,” said Evans. “I didn’t feel great at all. Hanging in, I found my level in the end and here we are. I played good tennis the past three matches, probably some of the best stuff I’ve ever played.”
David Goffin, the No. 13 seed and a quarter-finalist in 2017, will take the court against Australian wild card Alexei Popyrin. Also among the featured first-round matches are No. 21 Alex de Minaur vs. Tennys Sandgren; Guido Pella vs. No. 22 Borna Coric; and Sam Querrey vs. No. 31 Lorenzo Sonego.
Up to 30,000 fans are allowed at the Australian Open every day, although crowds appear sparser on the opening day of the Grand Slam.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic fired a warning to his Australian Open title rivals on Monday night with an awesome performance on Rod Laver Arena.
The eight-time champion experienced no let-downs in his quality of play after he swept past the experienced Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 in just one hour and 31 minutes.
“It feels great to play in front of big crowd,” said Djokovic, in an on-court interview. “We hope the circumstances will pass soon and I’m really glad to see a lot of people here. I have an ongoing love affair with Rod Laver Arena, and I hope to have these kind of performances again. I’m lucky to have a lot of good memories on this court.”
Djokovic is bidding to become the second man in history to win at least nine major championship crowns at the same tournament, after Rafael Nadal, who has won 13 Roland Garros titles.
Djokovic, who hit 41 winners, will next face American Frances Tiafoe, who knocked out Great Ocean Road Open runner-up Stefano Travaglia 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 51 minutes.
Djokovic bookended the 32-minute first set with service breaks, then ran through a 22-minute second set, hitting 11 winners from 25 points, with no unforced errors. Chardy ended a seven-game losing streak from 3-4 in the first set with a service hold in the sixth game of the second set.
The 33-year-old, who represented 2020 champion Serbia at the ATP Cup last week, playing each of the Group A ties on Rod Laver Arena, didn’t give Chardy an opportunity to get into the match.
Djokovic broke in the first game of the third set, then clinched another break with a superb, angled backhand winner off a Chardy drop shot. He closed out with his ninth ace, having lost just nine of his first-service points.
Serena Williams says it was a “vintage” performance as she begins her Australian Open campaign in devastating style.
Alexander Zverev was made to feel more than a little uncomfortable on Monday as he began his Australian Open campaign with a hard-fought victory.
Competing just two days after helping Germany reach the ATP Cup semi-finals, sixth seed Zverev dug deep to beat American Marcos Giron 6-7(8), 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and 42 minutes for a place in the second round.
“He played incredibly well and played really well on the big stage against a Top 10 player,” said Zverev in an on court interview. “He had me on the ropes and the second set could have gone either way. I didn’t want to go two sets down. I am happy to get through and in the end I played better. The first round of a Slam is never easy.”
Giron recovered from 2-4 down in the first set, but could not convert four set points in the tie-break at 6/3 and 7/6, before Zverev held a set-point chance of his own at 8/7. Giron held on, striking a forehand winner, and earned three consecutive points to clinch the 59-minute opener.
Zverev led 5-2 in the second set, but got frustrated with Giron’s potency — he won 20 of 22 first-service points — and let the American back in. But the lapse was temporary as Zverev performed strongly in the tie-break, and went on to break early in the third and fourth sets.
Zverev, who hit 50 winners, including 16 aces, against Giron, went 1-2 in singles play for Germany at last week’s ATP Cup in Melbourne. The 23-year-old will next play American qualifier Maxime Cressy or lucky loser Taro Daniel of Japan at Melbourne Park.
Elsewhere, French No. 32 seed Adrian Mannarino knocked out Dennis Novak of Austria 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(2) and now plays Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic, who defeated Kamil Majchrzak of Poland 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.
Britain’s Katie Boulter saves four match points but falls to Daria Kasatkina in the first round of the Australian Open.
Defending champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury will face a stacked draw packed with top singles champions and dangerous duos as they eye a second Grand Slam crown at the 2021 Australian Open doubles tournament.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, Denis Shapovalov and Nick Kyrgios are some of the standout singles names that lurk in the doubles draw. Tsitsipas, No. 6 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, is set to hit the court in Melbourne as a wild card partnering with younger brother Petros Tsitsipas. Shapovalov will join forces with fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil, while home hope Kyrgios will form an all-Aussie wild card duo with Thanasi Kokkinakis.
View Doubles Draw
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Hubert Hurkacz will team up for the first time since their breakout victory at the Rolex Paris Masters last year, a statement triumph in just their second tournament together. They’ll need to find that level as they seek to upset No. 16 seeds Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski in the first round.
Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah are the top seeds as they begin their hunt for a third Grand Slam title. The Colombian pair lifted the Wimbledon and US Open trophies in 2019 to finish that season as Year-End No.1s.Defending champions Ram and Salisbury are seeded fifth.
Second seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic are coming into the year’s first Grand Slam on a hot streak. Mektic and Pavic are on an eight-match winning streak after claiming their second title of the year at the Murray River Open, backing up their season-opening win at the Antalya Open.
No. 6 seeded Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares got off to a fast start in their partnership’s second chapter after winning the Great Ocean Road Open. The Australian Open 2016 champions have won two Grand Slam doubles titles together, and have paired up again after parting ways in 2019.
The #NextGenATP revolution has descended on Quimper, France.
One week ago, it was 20-year-old Sebastian Korda lifting his second ATP Challenger Tour trophy, and on Sunday fellow American Brandon Nakashima grabbed the spotlight himself. The 19-year-old also captured his second Challenger crown, streaking to victory at the Open Quimper Bretagne Occidentale 2.
Nakashima needed one hour and 18 minutes to dispatch Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles, dominating the final 6-3, 6-4. The California native turned in an efficient performance on the indoor hard courts of the Parc des Expositions, saving five of six break points faced to complete the #NextGenATP American double in Quimper.
Nakashima becomes the youngest American to win multiple ATP Challenger Tour titles since Frances Tiafoe in 2016. Tiafoe was 18 when he lifted his second trophy on the hard courts of Stockton five years ago.
“It feels great,” said Nakashima. “It’s definitely been a long two weeks, but I thought I played the matches really well. It’s exciting to come out on top. It’s my first Challenger victory in France, but I’m always very excited to come here. I played juniors at Roland Garros for two years and then qualified for the men’s tournament last year. I always enjoy coming out here and playing.
“I’ve been doing a lot of fitness, especially during the offseason. That is, to prepare for these exact moments. I’m just happy that it paid off and I was able to play well for all these matches.”
Both Korda and Nakashima were made to work to etch their names on the Quimper trophy. Last week, Korda saved a match point and rallied from 1/5 down in a deciding tie-break in the first round. And this week, Nakashima was forced to rally from a set and a break deficit in his semi-final enounter with Lukas Lacko. Trailing 4-6, 1-3, the teenager exhibited his trademark poise and steely resolve to storm back and upset the former World No. 44.
Nakashima will rise to a career-high No. 135 in the FedEx ATP Rankings on Monday, soaring 22 spots with his victory in Quimper. Also the champion in Orlando in November, he is now a combined 14-3 since the start of that maiden title run.
The teen, who joins Korda as instant contenders in the ATP Race To Milan, will look to continue the momentum next week in nearby Cherbourg. Both Americans will be seeking to punch their tickets to the Next Gen ATP Finals for the first time in 2021.
Youngest Americans To Win Multiple Challenger Titles (since 2010)
| Player | Age | Second Title |
| Taylor Fritz | 17 years, 11 months | 2015 Fairfield |
| Frances Tiafoe | 18 years, 8 months | 2016 Stockton |
| Brandon Nakashima | 19 years, 6 months, 4 days | 2021 Quimper |
| Michael Mmoh | 19 years, 6 months, 26 days | 2017 Lexington |
| Stefan Kozlov | 19 years, 8 months | 2017 Las Vegas |
Taberner Triumphs In Antalya
Carlos Taberner prevailed on the clay of Antalya on Sunday, defeating countryman Jaume Munar 6-4, 6-1 for the title. It was the 23-year-old Spaniard’s second Challenger crown, having previously triumphed in Iasi, Romania, last year.
Taberner exacted revenge on Munar, following a straight-set defeat one week ago at the same site. This time, he would not be denied, earning the upset after one hour and 45 minutes. The Valencia native is projected to rise 15 spots to a career-high No. 129 in the FedEx ATP Rankings on Monday.
