Medvedev's success, Khachanov and Rublev’s victory, Sharapova’s departure from the top 350: results of the second day of the Australian Open

Male trio success

The main hopes of Russian fans and experts were associated with Daniil Medvedev, Karen Khachanov and Andrei Rublev. The domestic three did not face the dirt and overcame the barrier of the first round, but did so not without problems. Each of them lost one game.

Despite the title of the fourth racket of the world, it was Medvedev who was less fortunate than others with a draw. In rivals, he got the 50th number of the rating of Francis Tiafo, who had already managed to declare himself in Melbourne. Last year, he cracked down on two-time Grand Slam tournament finalist Kevin Anderson and Grigor Dimitrov, making it to the quarter finals. And only the future finalist Rafael Nadal could stop him.

But this time he was unable to repeat last year’s result. All that the Frenchman could be content with is a victory in the second set. Medvedev surpassed him in almost all key aspects, and even serious problems did not prevent him from achieving success. So, he made 12 double mistakes (though he compensated them with 13 aces) and 42 unforced. In general, both tennis players were not very confident in serving, which resulted in 25 break points for two.

In a similar vein, a match was held with the participation of Khachanov, which was opposed by Mario Villella Martinez. For the little-known Spaniard, this Australian Open was the first major tournament of his career, and so far his best achievement has been reaching the third stage of the US Open qualification. Like Tiafo, he was stronger in one of the sets, but he didn’t have enough for more.

The Russian acted in the first number, made a lot of mistakes (46:31), but more than compensated for this with a huge number of points actively won (59:31). The key was success in the third installment, during which the Spaniard seriously hooked and even brought the matter to a tie-break. True, there he was content with only four points, after which he clearly lost interest in what was happening and almost did not resist.

Rublev also made him a little worried. The triumph of the tournaments in Doha and Adelaide successfully began a meeting with Australian Christopher O'Connell, but in the second installment he lost “dry”. It might seem that this failure would break Andrey, but he quickly pulled himself together and resolved all the issues in 60 minutes. Thus, his track record included 13 consecutive victories in official matches, and his last defeat occurred at the Kremlin Cup.

As for the second round, the star troika of Russians will fight with opponents who are much inferior to them in the class. Medvedev got the 189th racket of the world Spaniard Pedro Martinez Portero, Rublev - located on the 91st line of the Japanese Yuiti Sugita. Khachanov was the least fortunate, but 21-year-old Swede Mikael Imer can hardly be called equal in level, which confirms his place in the eighth dozen of the rating.

The Russian rises to the top 👊 @ DaniilMedwed breaks Frances Tiafoe to take an entertaining third set, 6-4. The World No.4 leads two sets to one. # AO2020 | # AusOpenpic.twitter.com / QM21R1B7Jp

Departure Sharapova

One of the main disappointments of the second day of the Australian Open was the performance of Maria Sharapova. The five-time winner of the TBSh was unable to cope with Donna Vekic and was to complete the performance. The Russian woman made too many unforced errors (31), which ultimately led to her defeat with a score of 3: 6, 4: 6.

It is worth noting that at times Sharapova looked pretty good, but suddenly released the threads of the game. This was brilliantly used by Vekic, who won four games in a row in the first installment and five in the second. It is noteworthy that by that time, Maria was leading 4-1 and was close to restoring parity.

For the Russians, this defeat was the fourth in a row in all tournaments. The last time she won the Masters in Cincinnati, where in the first round she defeated Alison Risk. Such unsatisfactory results will lead to the fact that at the end of the Australian Open Sharapova will fall out of the top 350 tennis players on the planet.

“I can talk about my difficulties and the things that I had to go through in connection with a shoulder injury, but this is not in my character. I was in the game, I tried. I had a hard time. The meeting was not held the way I would like, ”the press service of the tournament quoted Sharapova as saying.

Failures of Russians

Sharapova’s defeat was not the only loss for Russia in the first round of the Australian Open. In addition to her, five more domestic athletes parted with dreams of a successful performance in Melbourne, and three of them in the women's singles. In men, the only loser was Eugene Donskoy, who failed to cope with Fernando Verdasco. He lost in three games and could not repeat his last year result. Then he reached the second round, where he lost to Philip Krajinovic.

Meanwhile, the defeat of Daria Kasatkina was the most offensive in the women's net. Back in October 2018, she was considered the most promising domestic tennis player and was one of the ten strongest on the planet, but since then she has not won a single tournament and dropped to 69th place. As a result of this, the lot identified her opponent Madison Keyes. The American took only 58 minutes to win. At the same time, the Russian woman rendered all possible assistance to the favorite, having made nine double and 20 unforced errors. But the most noticeable was the difference in actively won goals - 5:29 in favor of the American. As a result: a total of four games taken and a fourth defeat in the first round on the last five “majors”.

In addition to Kasatkina, Margarita Gasparyan, Lyudmila Samsonova and Vitaly Dyachenko had to leave Melbourne ahead of schedule. The first two lost to Maria Sakkari and Elena Ostapenko, respectively, without taking a single set, and the third put up more serious resistance. In the confrontation with Danielle Collins, she won the second game, but the same mixture of double and unforced errors prevented her from developing success.

The triumphs of Anna Blinkova and Svetlana Kuznetsova became a bright spot. The first did not leave a chance for the Italian Yasmine Paolini and the second time in her career she entered the second round, and the second sensationally stopped Marketa Vondroushova. Two-time winner of the Australian Open managed to avenge the Czech Republic for the defeat in the 1/8 finals of the competition in Istanbul and to interrupt a series of failures at the Grand Slam tournaments. The last time she went beyond the first round at the 2017 US Open. It is worth noting that Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Veronika Kudermetova also had to hold their meetings, but because of the tight schedule, they were postponed to January 22.

Welcome back Svetlana 🇷🇺

After two years away, @ SvetlanaK27 upsets 15th seed Marketa Vondrousova 6-2 4-6 6-4 to advance to the #AusOpen second round for the 14th time. # AO2020pic.twitter.com / hrzcaJIqIs

Favorites

In men, the first seeding numbers cost no losses. Rafael Nadal easily dealt with Hugo Delin, and his compatriot Roberto Bautista-Agut did not experience problems in a duel with another Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. The famous master of the game on the ground, Dominic Tim managed to rehabilitate for the early flights in London and New York and easily figured out Adrian Mannarino. It is noteworthy that the best achievement of the Frenchman is to enter the third round of the championship in 2018, where he also lost to the Austrian.

Then followed Alexander Zverev, Gael Monfils and David Goffen, who in the third round could become Rublev's rival, and only Jo-Wilfried Tsong’s failure was a serious loss. The French veteran was forced to withdraw due to back problems and lose to the dear local athlete Alexei Popyrin. Rublev’s rival in the semifinal of the competition in Adelaide also got out of the fight. Felix Auger-Allassim lost to Ernest Gulbis and allowed the Latvian for the first time in a year and a half to enter the second round in the major.

In women, leaders also confidently began their journey to the finals. Simone Halep, Elina Svitolina and Belinda Bencic easily dealt with rivals below the class, and Karolina Plishkova was the least fortunate with lots. She got the experienced Kristina Mladenovich, but she was forced to surrender in two parties. Czech for the 15th time in a row overcame the barrier of the first round at the most prestigious championships, and the Frenchwoman will be able to concentrate on performances in doubles.

At the same time, Johanna Konta and Amanda Anisimova became one of the main losers. Athletes are located in the top 25 strongest on the planet, but could not confirm their class. The first did not cope with Ons Jaber, and the second with Zarina Diyas.

All smiles after beginning her # AO2020 campaign with a win.

Can the two-time Grand Slam champion go all the way this fortnight? #AusOpen | @ Simona_Haleppic.twitter.com / wsDGWM4ZpV

Strength of will

One of the most impressive comebacks of the day was Fabio Fognini. Together with Riley Opelka, they presented the audience with a real thriller, which lasted 3 hours 46 minutes. The Italian lost in the first two games, but packed up and won the match. And this despite the fact that the American was simply excellent in the pitch and chalked up 35 aces.

The confrontation turned out not only tense, but also emotional. Fognini was especially zealous, who threw a racket on the court several times, and in one of the episodes he hit his inventory and was injured with his index finger. In addition, both entered into confrontation with the judge on the tower, and Opelka completely accused him of bias. True, then he realized that he had behaved too rudely.

It is worth noting that Fognini earned the right to be considered a comeback specialist and recouped from the score 0: 2 in all four Grand Slam tournaments. At Roland Garros, he prevailed over Monfils, at Wimbledon - over Michael Russell and Alex Kuznetsov, and at the US Open - over Teymuraz Gabashvili. In addition, of the 34 five-set meetings in his career, he won 21, and in the last ten he even suffered only one failure.

Fognini hurt his hand quite stylishly, though (assuming this is the moment). (h / t @Galloots) #AusOpenhttps: //t.co/xQcDJXIFyj

Events

Among other things, the second day was remembered by a number of interesting points. So, the Italian Marco Trungelliti was unable to take a set in a duel with Tennis Sandgren, but attracted the attention of fans with his appearance. On the court, he appeared in a T-shirt with an original ornament, which local fans had already remembered.

Fashionista Marco Trungelliti served one last look in his R1 loss today to Tennys Sandgren (who himself is exploring new frontiers in sleevelessness). # AusOpenpic.twitter.com / ZPTFPf8dwd

His compatriot Lorenzo Sonego was defeated by the local public's favorite Nick Kirios, which contributed to the fight against the effects of forest fires in Australia. At the end of the meeting, legendary tennis player John McEnroe promised the owner of the courts that he would donate for this purpose a thousand dollars for each set he won.

It is noteworthy that Zverev promised to give $ 10 thousand dollars for each match won in competitions. And in case of victory, he intends to transfer the entire fee ($ 2.8 million - RT ) to combat the consequences of the disaster.