One less favorite: Medvedev and Khachanov made it to the third round, and Nadal sensationally flew out of the Australian Open

Warm-up for Medvedev and Khachanov

In the tenth year of his stay on the ATP tour, Daniil Medvedev still comes across athletes whom he has never met before.

But it's one thing when it comes to young debutants, another thing about experienced tennis players like John Millman.

In 2018, he reached the quarterfinals of the US Open, sensationally removing Roger Federer from his path.

True, that success did not become a turning point in his career.

Subsequently, the Australian never overcame the barrier of the third round of the TBSH, and got into the current home tournament only thanks to the wild card.

However, in the first set, Millman pretty much ruffled Medvedev's nerves, although the favorite was partially to blame for himself.

The Australian looked helpless on his own pitch and immediately allowed the Russian to take two games at the reception.

The problem is that Daniel was also extremely unstable.

Three times he gave the opponent the opportunity to restore parity, and with a score of 5:4, he did not realize the set point.

As a result, out of seven break points, the Russian won back four and almost brought the matter to a tie-break, but still managed to pull himself together.

As it turned out, Millman did not have enough strength for more.

During the entire meeting, he never filed right through, which had not happened to him since October 2022, and he was incapable of arguing with Medvedev on live balls.

Moreover, Daniel himself concentrated and stopped giving gifts to the enemy.

If in the first game he had 20 unforced errors, then for the remaining two - only 12. Both sets ended with the same difference, and John was able to demonstrate his character only in the very end.

The Australian heroically played three match points, but still capitulated - 5:7, 2:6, 2:6.

It was a little more difficult for Karen Khachanov, who also met with the owner of the courts, Jason Kubler.

He "showed his teeth" in the first round, when he unexpectedly blocked the way for the 44th racket of the world, Sebastian Baes, did not give up without a fight and in the confrontation with the Russian.

In the first set, he lost with a minimal gap, and in the second he made an impressive comeback.

The 29-year-old Australian was trailing 3-5 but took four games in a row.

One of the key ones from a psychological point of view was a long draw of 70 strokes, which ended in favor of the native of Brisbane.

At the decisive moment, he hit the cable, but the ball rolled over half of the Russian.

Khachanov took this as a signal for action: he began to hit the first ball more often and practically stopped making mistakes on his serve.

If in the first two sets he allowed Kubler to earn five break points, then in the next two he did not allow a single one.

Karen took over 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 and repeated his best result at the Australian Open.

For the first time, Francis Tiafoe will try to prevent him from breaking into the fourth round of the tournament.

Unlike Medvedev and Khachanov, Roman Safiullin completed his speech in Australia.

Like a year ago, a fiasco befell him in the very first round - this time his opponent was Denis Kudla.

For the Russian, everything started more than not bad.

In the first game, he made only four unforced errors and took the lead, but then everything literally began to fall out of his hands.

The percentage of the first serve dropped to almost 50%, and the number of misfires increased markedly.

Despite this, the domestic tennis player imposed a fight in each of the subsequent sets, but none of them managed to take - 6:3, 5:7, 6:7 (6:8), 3:6.

Surprises from Potapova and Gracheva

The next game day was not the most successful for the representatives of Russia in the women's singles tournament.

True, it was difficult to expect anything else.

At the time of the postponement of the first round meeting, Oksana Selekhmetyeva was losing to Donna Vekic 1:5 in the decisive tie-break and had practically no chance of a comeback.

Nevertheless, she was able to create a small miracle and won back four match points, but still capitulated - 2:6, 6:2, 6:7 (7:10).

Failed to create a sensation and 18-year-old Diana Schneider, who went to rival Maria Sakkari.

In the first set, the Russian woman looked great and completed it in her favor, but could not withstand the pressure of the sixth racket of the world for a long time.

The Greek woman seized the initiative, made her opponent nervous (39 unforced in two games) and tipped the scales in her favor - 3:6, 7:5, 6:3.

At the same time, Schneider can only be praised for his unbending character.

At the end of the meeting, she twice did not allow her opponent to convert match points, and in the second she won a handicap of three games and three set points with a score of 4:5.

The Russian woman quite emotionally celebrated this success, which Sakkari did not like.

The Greek woman complained to the judge that she “shouted in her face” and threatened to call the supervisor if this happened again.

Diana herself did not agree with the claims against her and stated that she did not try to provoke Mary.

“I didn’t hear it and I didn’t know about it at all.

I had no idea that she thought so.

I didn't do it on purpose.

It was a tough match, I tried to support myself.

There were long and difficult draws that I won, and I needed to throw out emotions, to relieve tension a little.

But in her direction, especially in her face, she never screamed, ”Schneider said in a comment to Sports.ru.

Anastasia Potapova, who was drawn by lot with Sloan Stevens, was not among the favorites either.

And even though the winner of the US Open 2017 has not demonstrated high-level tennis for a long time, and in Melbourne she could not overcome the first round barrier for three years, the Russian woman was in for an extremely difficult test.

As a result, in an equal match with an abundance of breaks (11 for two), luck turned out to be on the side of the domestic athlete, and a confident game on the first serve became the key factor.

According to this indicator, she significantly surpassed the American (65% - 53%).

At the next stage, she will have to converge with Nuria Parrizas-Diaz.

The Spaniard became one of the main newsmakers of the day, knocking out the 14th racket of the planet, Beatriz Haddad-Maya, from the tournament.

Surely the fans were counting on a fierce fight in a purely Russian duel, but the expectations were not destined to come true.

Varvara Gracheva allowed Daria Kasatkina to take only two games and literally swept her off the court - 6:1, 6:1.

Thus, for the first time in her career, she dealt with a representative of the top 10 in the WTA rankings.

The strongest tennis player in the country looked helpless and in 55 minutes she recorded only three actively won goals against her opponent's 23.

“I burned out because I spent two days in a (tennis. -

) club, it didn’t suit me.

It is not very good for me to cook for a long time in this state.

Next time, I hope, a similar situation will be met more worthily than today ... In the last two days, the weather situation has been lousy.

It turns out that I did not play on the first day, and on the second day Melbourne gathered all the delights of weather conditions.

My match was postponed yesterday because of the heat, then because of the rain.

It has been raining all day today.

All this uncertainty doesn't help.

But tennis is not fair to everyone, so you need to accept this situation and be better next time in such a case, ”Kasatkina explained her failure.

Fiasco Nadal

The main event of the day was the departure of the record holder for the number of victories in the Grand Slam tournaments.

The current form of Rafael Nadal raised serious questions in the first round, when he dealt with the 38th racket of the world, Jack Draper, in only four games.

And in the course of the confrontation with Mackenzie McDonald, a chronic injury again reminded of itself.

During one of the draws, the Spaniard felt pain in his left thigh and was forced to seek the services of a physiotherapist.

By this time, Nadal was already “burning” 4:6, 3:5 and only vaguely resembled himself a sample of his best years.

The Spaniard clearly felt out of place and even lashed out at the judge.

In one of the episodes, he complained that Maryana Velovich does not even allow him to go for a towel and makes him rush, immediately starting the countdown for serving.

In the end, it did not go to Raphael's benefit.

He still managed to hold out to the end and even offered McDonald some kind of resistance, but lost outright in sets and for the first time since 2016 failed to reach at least the third round of TBS.

Then he sheathed his racket at the start of the Australian Open, having been defeated in five sets by Fernando Verdasco.

Thus, according to the results of the competition, he will lose 1955 points and fall out of the top 5 ATP rankings.

“He played well, I didn’t play very well, and at some point it was all over.

Hip problem.

It has been bothering me for the past few days, but not in the way it is today.

I don’t want to talk about it now, because I don’t know what’s the matter - in the muscle, in the joint.

I already had problems with him.

In the past, I had to treat him.

But it wasn't all that serious.

Now I feel like I can't move.

In general, I'm already tired of talking about injuries.

I understand everything, but I lost the match, ”Nadal said.

According to the 22-time winner of the TBSH, he thought about refusing to continue the performance, but still decided to fight to the end.

Although due to problems with the hip, he had difficulty both with movement and with striking from the backhand.

“The team did not ask anything.

I'm old enough to make my own decisions.

I'm the reigning champion, so I didn't want to act.

It is better to end the match, congratulate the opponent.

It's a sport, you have to give it your all.

It doesn't matter what your chances of winning are.

This is the philosophy and essence of the sport.

And I tried to follow this principle throughout my career.

Right now I'm having a hard time, but I need to accept it and move on.

I can't complain about life.

Although I’m lying if I say that now I’m not morally destroyed, ”added Nadal.