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Tennis

And great to see Emma Raducanu open her 2022 Australian Open journey with the opening round win against American Sloane Stephens at Margaret Court Arena (0-6, 6-2, 1-6) as she will now meet Danka Kovinic from Montenegro in Round 2 tomorrow.

The reigning US Open champion is back on form after her heavy defeat last week in the Sydney warm-up tournament v Elena Ryabakina, she was too good at the start and although her 2nd set run may be need some fine tuning where Stephens tied 1-1 but she wrapped this up quick and easy in the end that can go all the way on potentially winning another Grand Slam here.

And Stephens gutted to be out of the running this early where she kept herself in contention thanks to a brilliant response in the 2nd set, but she was ultimately outclassed by Emma Raducanu & just couldn’t keep up to her standards with such heavy losses in the 1st and 3rd sets for the majority.

#Tennis #MargaretCourtArena #AustralianOpen #GrandSlam #WTATour #EmmaRaducanu #SloaneStephens

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Another Aussie who advanced into Round 2 of this year’s Australian Open tomorrow is Nick Kyrgios, he too defeated Briton Liam Broady in straight sets early in three stages at John Cain Arena (4-6, 4-6, 3-6) & will face 2nd seed & reigning US Open men’s champion Daniil Medvedev from Russia.

Kyrgios and Broady were always side by side for the whole time when they both tussled for every game and point, however, Kyrgios produced the better conversion first ahead of Broady before he sprinted a few blocks in the 3rd set & dominated this tie in the end.

And Broady is disappointed with the loss where he showed a good build-up base from the start & was so close to winning those two sets, but he just couldn’t provide the 2nd half consistency that gave Kyrgios the upper hand having felt like he’s fallen off a cliff & then couldn’t keep in contention.

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How good was Alex De Minaur last night when he went from the opening set down to a terrific all-round performance ever since at Margaret Court Arena, he had some tough moments against Lorenzo Musetti but De Minaur found it easy as the game went on where he found the finish line first.

Meanwhile, Musetti would be disappointed not to kick on having responded beautifully with the opening set win. However, these poor starts he struggled to keep up with De Minaur was his main weakness and that’s where he was exposed with plenty of valuable lost games followed by the eventual elimination.

Final Score: 6-3, 3-6, 0-6, 3-6

De Minaur’s next opponent for Round 2 tomorrow will be Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak.

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It’s been just over 3 1/2 hours of Tennis this afternoon in Round 1 of the 2022 Australian Open at Court No.3 between the Aussie Jordan Thompson and American Steve Johnson, with Johnson off on a flyer before Thompson bounced back and almost touched the home base after he won the next two sets.

However, Thompson just couldn’t hold a way to execute at all before it’s too little, too late as Johnson went from behind, won the remaining two sets and eliminated him out of the running after the best of five. Johnson will advance into Round 2 on Thursday where he will face 11th seed Jannik Sinner from Italy.

The final score is 7-6 through 7-5 tiebreaker, 6-7 via 6-8 tiebreaker, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

So unlucky from Thompson, who battled it out on such a hard-fought contest, and deserved to win that tie, he showed plenty of fight after he went the opening set down and felt like he was almost there towards the finish line having won the 2nd & 3rd sets. He just ran out of gas, unfortunately, when Johnson renewed that momentum from then on & executed better ahead of him.

Meanwhile, hats off to Johnson where he got past a lot of hurdles ahead of Thompson before that winning moment came to him in the end. Now he might have almost been eliminated after the 2nd & 3rd set lost despite a great start, but he never gave up when he closed in to Thompson which led to the 5th set decider, re-took the lead and ultimately came out on top as it’s job well done.

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It’s great to see another Aussie advance into Round 2 of this year’s Australian Open when John Millman nailed down Feliciano Lopez from Spain last night at Margaret Court Arena, he fired off well with an nice and easy first two sets.

It may not have gotten easier as this opening match-up goes on when Millman lost the 3rd set, but he already had a decent lead in front of him where he rebound after the break in the 4th set that is enough to secure the win (1-6, 3-6, 6-4, 5-7).

His next opponent in Round 2 tomorrow will be 3rd seed Alexander Zverev from Germany, it won’t be a easy again for sure but he has the whole country’s backing to extend his run in this tournament.

He played very well when Millman built an early lead with the first two sets bagged to his name, yes this tie gets challenging as it gets but Millman held his shape before he found the hometretch first which is all but done.

And Lopez would be disappointed wth the early elimination in Melbourne, he saw that 2nd set as his fresh start and began showed some fight against the Millman along the way that includes the 3rd set stage win. However, he didn’t have a good start & him being two sets down saw Lopez fell even further in the race, as his rebound later during this Opening Round tie was just backfired against such a difficult opponent like Millman.

#AustralianOpen #MargaretCourtArena #FelicianoLopez #JohnMillman #Australia #Spain #MelbournePark #Tennis #ATPTour

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Ash Barty’s bid to win the Australian Open at home began with a super-easy Round 1 tie v Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko at Rod Laver Arena, she wrapped this up in just under one hour through straight sets (6-0, 6-1) as her next opponent for Round 2 will be Qualifier Lucia Bronzetti from Italy.

She’s done it from top to bottom which is what her fans have paid for to see her play at Center Court, better to take it one tie at a time before that ultimate dream will come as her best finish here was the Semi-Finals in 2020 and Quarter-Finals last year.

It’s always for Tsurenko tough to break down against such an elite opponent which is something anyone will not like to face as she’s already eliminated here in Melbourne, she did take a game or two but then it’s Barty at the same time pulling it off by more than a mile towards the homestretch.

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Thanasi Kokkinakis may have won the Adelaide International Men’s Tournament Part 2 on Saturday that hopefully extend his run in this year’s Australia’s Open, but it’s not happening as he was clean swept by Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann in straight sets (6-2, 6-3 & 6-2) at Court No.3.

Congratulations to Hoffmann on his first-ever Grand Slam win at the age of 30, he was outstanding left, right & center with an easy start before Hanfmann built a very big lead over the Aussie over time & proved too good in the end.

He will have to go through 6th seed Rafa Nadal from Spain, however, if he was to continue his campaign here past Round 2.

And Thanasi is disappointed to be eliminated on the very first day of the Australian Open having came here with plenty of hype after that Adelaide International win, he did pick up some consolation games as this tie goes on but just couldn’t show the balance that Hanfmann demonstrated from start to finish.

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Such a competitive 2nd game between Australian Alex De Minaur & Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics where De Minaur had a great start even in the toughest of rallies that was enough to pull off in the 1st set at 7-5, But Fucsovics bounced back with a 1-1 lead at 2-6 having been too good after the break while De Minaur have struggled to keep the momentum on his end.

And these two players never stopped fighting for top spot until the every end via the tiebreaker as De Minaur wrapped this gruelling three-hour encounter with the win v Fucsovics for Australia, who secured their first win of this year’s Davis Cup finals in Group D.

Final Score: 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 in 7-2 tiebreaker.

Then we wrap up Australia’s day in the office (Alex Bolt & John Peers) v Hungary (Fabian Marozsan & Zsombor Piros) with the doubles as Australia have the upper hand at the beginning in a nice 1st set lead at 6-3, although they couldn’t hold off at the first attempt in straight sets via an extremely competitive tiebreaker 11-13 after the break (6-7) but found their way home first that secured a 2-1 series win for Australia.

Final Score: 6-3, 6-7 via 11-13 tiebreaker & 6-3.

All Australia can do now is pray for the other results to go their way & take the last two remaining Quarter-Final spots as the 1st & 2nd best runner up later today.

#Tennis #DavisCup #DavisCupFinals #Australia #Hungary #AlexBolt #JohnPeers #AlexDeMinaur #MartonFucsovics #PalaAlpitour #FabianMarozsan #ZsomborPiros

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What a turnaround from John Millman when he fell behind at the beginning, began to catch up for Australia & held back Hungarian Zsombor Piros 6-4 for the first set lead.

However, he wasn’t able to hold off the first attempt towards victory in straight sets after Piros managed to rebound in the 2nd set 4-6 that leads to a 3rd set decider showdown at Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy.

Although Millman has shown brilliance of fightback as he never giving up but just couldn’t find the execution where Piros went from the opening set down to a fantastic turnaround that found his way towards victory, Final Score: 6-4, 4-6 & 3-6.

Next up is Alex De Minaur v Marton Fucsovics as Australia still yet to register a win in Group D of the 2021 Davis Cup Finals.

#DavisCup #DavisCupFinals #Tennis #Australia #Hungary #JohnMillman #ZsomborPiros #PalaAlpitour

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It’s not been a great day in the office for Australia today in the 2021 Davis Cup Finals when they were clean swept by Croatia 3-0 during their first of two Group D encounters at Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy.

Yes, that first game between Croatian Borna Gojo and Aussie Alexei Popyrin was really intense with really great battles from both players that gone down to the very end but it’s always Gojo who nailed Popyrin down first in straight sets (Final Score: 7-6 via 7-5 tiebreaker & 7-5).

Then we turn our attention to Marin Cilic & Alex De Minaur where De Minaur redeemed himself in the second set after a poor start earlier on, but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to hold off the win De Minaur wanted for Australia despite that early lead in the third set (Final Score: 6-1, 5-7, & 6-4).

And last but not least the doubles tie with Croatia (Nikola Mektic & Mate Pavic) being too good along the way here to wrap up a 3-0 whitewash v Australia (Alex De Minaur & John Peers), Australia might have the early fire off but just wasn’t able to produce the goods needed to hold Croatia back (Final Score: 6-3, 6-1).

With that being said Australia’s next encounter in Group D is Hungary on 8pm Saturday Night AEDT as they needed to smash something big & win all three ties via both singles & a doubles game
if an unlikely Quarter-Finals berth comes their way.

#DavisCup #Croatia #Australia #Tennis #PapaAlpitour #DavisCupFinals #BornaGojo #AlexeiPopyrin #MarinCilic #AlexDeMinaur #JohnPeers #NikolaMektic #MatePavic

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