Murray River Open: Dan Evans through but 'question mark' for Nick Kyrgios
Britain’s Dan Evans reaches semi-finals but “question mark” over Nick Kyrgios as frustrated Australian struggles with a knee injury.
Britain’s Dan Evans reaches semi-finals but “question mark” over Nick Kyrgios as frustrated Australian struggles with a knee injury.
Eighth seed Daniel Evans put in a double shift on Friday to book a place in the Murray River Open semi-finals, where he will challenge France’s Jeremy Chardy.
Having first overcome American Marcos Giron 6-4, 7-6(5) in the third round, the 30-year-old Briton returned to edge fourth-seeded Croatian Borna Coric 7-5, 7-6(1) in two hours. Evans struck 14 aces and won 84 per cent of his first service points. He broke Coric’s serve at 5-5 in the first set, but needed to save one set point when serving at 4-5, 30/40 in the second set.
Last year, Evans reached three ATP Tour semi-finals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (l. to Tsitsipas), the European Open in Antwerp (l. to Humbert) and the Erste Bank Open in Vienna (l. to Sonego). Earlier in the day, Coric had ended Australian No. 13 seed Nick Kyrgios’ return tournament with a solid 6-3, 6-4 third-round victory.
[WATCH LIVE 3]Chardy, who beat sixth-seeded American Taylor Fritz 6-2, 6-4 in the third round, moved into the semi-finals after top seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland withdrew due to fatigue. Former World No. 3 Wawrinka had rallied from the brink of defeat on Friday to reach the quarter-finals, defeating Australian Alex Bolt 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) after two hours and 23 minutes.
Britons Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie will play one another in the first round of the Australian Open, while Johanna Konta faces Kaja Juvan.
Serena Williams withdraws from her Yarra Valley Classic semi-final against world number one Ashleigh Barty with a right shoulder injury.
British doubles player Jamie Murray on Melbourne life, further concern about the Australian Open this week and his obsession with Football Manager.
Rafael Nadal will begin his quest to win a record 21st Grand Slam championship title against Laslo Djere of Serbia at the Australian Open, which begins on Monday. Nadal, who picked up the 2009 trophy in Melbourne, has been drawn in the same half as Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will need to come through a minefield if he is to capture his ninth Australian Open crown, potentially needing to beat 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev and last year’s finalist Dominic Thiem en route to a 28th major championship title match.
Nadal, who equalled Roger Federer’s haul of 20 majors with a 13th Roland Garros crown in October last year, could face Italian Fabio Fognini in the fourth round. Fognini memorably beat Nadal in five sets in the 2015 US Open third round. Tsitsipas, who lost to Nadal in the 2019 semi-finals, or Matteo Berrettini are potential quarter-final opponents.
Nadal won his first hard-court major at the 2009 Australian Open, but despite adding four US Open titles since then, he has failed to add to his trophy haul at Melbourne Park. The 34-year-old has finished as runner-up on four occasions – in 2012 (l. to Djokovic), 2014 (l. to Wawrinka), 2017 (l. to Federer) and 2019 (l. to Djokovic). Should Nadal win this year’s tournament, he will join Rod Laver and Roy Emerson as the only players to have won all four majors at least twice. Nadal has a 65-14 record at the Melbourne major.
View Singles Draw At Official Website
Top seed Djokovic opens his campaign against France’s Jeremy Chardy, but may need to beat big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic or Wawrinka, who defeated Djokovic in the 2015 Roland Garros final and the 2016 US Open title match, in the Last 16. Wawrinka has won their past two matches, including at the 2019 US Open, when Djokovic retired when he was down two sets. The Serbian, who won the first of his eight Australian Open titles as a 20-year-old in 2008 and has a 75-8 match record at the tournament, could potentially reunite with Zverev in the quarter-finals, so soon after their epic singles and doubles group stage clashes at the 2021 ATP Cup on Friday.
Third seed Thiem, who beat three Top 10 players including Gael Monfils, Nadal and Zverev, en route to his third Grand Slam championship final last year, will attempt to get his title bid off to a strong start when he plays Mikhail Kukushkin in the first round. Last year’s US Open titlist has been drawn in the same quarter as eighth-seeded Argentinean Diego Schwartzman, No. 11 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada and No. 18 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
Fourth seed Medvedev starts with a tricky test against Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, and if the Russian is to improve upon two consecutive fourth round showings (2019-2020), he may need to overcome No. 13 seed David Goffin in the fourth round. His compatriot and seventh seed Andrey Rublev, who captured five ATP Tour titles and recorded 41 match wins in a standout 2020 season, could stand in his way in the quarter-finals. Rublev takes on Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann in the first round, with No. 12 seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain a potential fourth-round opponent.
There will be some outstanding first-round clashes, including Shapovalov challenging 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion Jannik Sinner for the first time. Ninth-seeded Italian Berrettini meets former World No. 4 Kevin Anderson, Dimitrov tackles 2018 finalist Marin Cilic of Croatia and Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta takes on Japan’s Kei Nishikori in other eye-catching opening matches.
In 2019, the Australian Open began to feature deciding set tie-breaks at 6-6, with the first player to score 10 points – and leading by two points – winning the match. The men’s draw will also continue to implement its heat policy, with the potential for a 10-minute break for the heat after the third set. Main draw play will get underway on 8 February.
Borna Coric spoiled Nick Kyrgios’ return tournament on Friday at the Murray River Open.
The Croatian was too solid for the Aussie, defeating the 13th seed 6-3, 6-4 in 65 minutes to reach the quarter-finals. This was Kyrgios’ first event since Acapulco last February.
Coric dominated on his own serve, winning 82 per cent of his service points to take a 3-2 lead in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series. The fourth seed hit more aces than one of the biggest servers on the ATP Tour by an 11-9 margin, and he did not face a break point.
[WATCH LIVE 3]The World No. 25 will next play eighth seed Daniel Evans or American Marcos Giron. Coric is pursuing his first title since 2018 Halle and his third tour-level trophy overall.
Kyrgios beat Alexandre Muller and Harry Bourchier to reach the third round at his first event in more than 11 months.
“The conditions were so tough for me. I was struggling to find any rhythm. I served bad. I don’t expect anything less from him,” Kyrgios said of Coric. “He’s a great player. That’s why he’s an unbelievable player, he brings that consistency every day.”
Frenchman Jeremy Chardy also advanced just before the rain began falling at Melbourne Park. The World No. 66 defeated sixth seed Taylor Fritz 6-2, 6-4 in 67 minutes. The American had won their only previous clash at 2016 Acapulco.
Chardy will play top seed Stan Wawrinka or home favourite Alex Bolt for a spot in the semi-finals. All third-round winners are scheduled to play their quarter-final later in the day on Friday, but heavy rain could force a late finish to get all the matches in.
There was a battle of big bangers on Court 5 at Melbourne Park Friday, but only one was able to advance.
Second seed Karen Khachanov battled past former World No. 5 Kevin Anderson 6-3, 7-6(5) to reach the quarter-finals of the Great Ocean Road Open.
Khachanov won 82 per cent of his first-serve points and saved all five break points he faced to advance after one hour and 38 minutes. There was only one service break in the match, and that came against the 6’8″ Anderson in the first set.
The South African had won the pair’s only previous ATP Head2Head meeting at the Miami Open presented by Itau in 2018. At that point, Anderson was entrenched in the Top 10, and Khachanov was fresh off his appearance at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in 2017.
[WATCH LIVE 2]Khachanov lost three of his final four matches of the 2020 season, but he is off to a quick start in 2021, claiming both of his victories in the Great Ocean Road Open in straight sets. Anderson is currently World No. 82, and he is battling back into form after struggling with injuries over the past two seasons.
Khachanov will play Botic Van de Zandschulp for a spot in the semi-finals. The Dutchman upset big-serving American Reilly Opelka, the sixth seed, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) after one hour and 46 minutes.
Van de Zandschulp, the World No. 159, began the week with zero tour-level wins. Now the 25-year-old has three, and he has only lost one set. The unseeded player won 92 per cent of his first-serve points, dropping only four points behind his first delivery.
Did You Know?
All third-round singles winners on Friday at Melbourne Park will play their quarter-final match later in the day.
Pablo Carreno Busta guaranteed Spain’s spot in the ATP Cup semi-finals on Friday with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Greece’s Michail Pervolarakis.
World No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who led Spain to last year’s championship match against Serbia, has not yet competed in this edition due to a stiff lower back. But Spain has battled on with two of the Top 20 players in the FedEx ATP Rankings: World No. 16 Carreno Busta and World No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut, who will face 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in this tie’s No. 1 singles match.
“I knew that we needed this point. With this victory, we are into the semi-finals, so it was very important to us,” Carreno Busta said in his on-court interview. “I tried to be focussed on myself, to try to play my [best] game].”
Carreno Busta has stepped up well for his country, winning both of his singles matches — he also defeated Australian John Millman on Tuesday — in straight sets. The Spaniard broke in his first return game of the match, and he never looked back.
The 29-year-old Carreno Busta made few mistakes from the baseline, forcing Pervolarakis to play outside of his comfort zone and go for too much. The World No. 462 battled hard to hang in there despite losing the first five games of the match, even eliciting a round of applause from Nadal after he won his first game. But the Greek was unable to consistently go blow for blow with the four-time ATP Tour titlist in longer rallies.
Carreno Busta maintained his steady level throughout to triumph after 70 minutes. The former World No. 10 has only lost 13 games in four sets.
“At the beginning of the match, I think it was perfect. I played really good,” Carreno Busta said. “Then he started to play better, to play more aggressive and I tried to continue. Finally 6-3, 6-4 I won and I’m happy.”
[WATCH LIVE 1]Pervolarakis was pursuing the first ATP Tour win of his career. The Greek had to defeat Carreno Busta to give his country a chance at advancing to the semi-finals.
Tsitsipas and Bautista Agut have clashed once before, in the 2019 Australian Open quarter-finals. The Greek triumphed in four sets to become the youngest Grand Slam semi-finalist since a 20-year-old Novak Djokovic at the 2007 US Open.
Andy Murray travels to Italy and will make his return in qualifying for an ATP Challenger tournament.
