Juan Martin Del Potro beat US Next Gen player Frances Tiafoe 6-3 6-4 6-3 to start his Australian Open campaign a few days after reaching the final in Auckland. In the first set and returning to the top 10 for the first time since August 2014.
Del Potro needed a single break in each set to take a 2-0 lead. In the first set he saved an early break point before breaking on his only chance in the sixth game to take a 6-3 lead. The Argentine player rallied from 0-30 down to close out the first set in the ninth game by 6-3. Del Potro went up a set and a break in the first game of the second set. Del Potro faced three break points, as he was serving out for the second set, but he saved them to seal the second set. Del Potro broke in the fifth and hit a forehand crosscourt winner in the eighth game to open up a 5-3 lead and sealed the win after two-and-a-quarter hours, as Tiafoe made a forehand error.
“It’s amzing to be back in Melbourne after four years. It’s been a while and I am happy to be playing tennis again. This tournament is so good. The atmosphere here is so unbelievable. I think people here liked my effort to come back and play tennis after three wrist surgeries, and I was close to quit tennis a few years ago. But now I am here. I am healthy. I am playing tennis again. The crowd make me feel so happy playing this tournament”, said Del Potro.
Number 5 seed Dominic Thiem cruised past Argentina’s Guido Pella 6-4 6-4 6-4 in under 2 hours and 20 minutes in his first match since withdrawing from the semifinal in Doha to secure his spot in the second round at the Australian Open for the third consecutive year. In the second round the Australian player will take on US player Denis Kudla, who fought back from losing the first set at the tie-break to beat his countryman Steve Johnson 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 6-2. Thiem scored his first win in his three head-to-head matches against Pella.
Thiem saved all the six break points he faced and broke serve once in each set. Pella had a break point chance in the final game of each set.
Thiem faced a break point in his first service game but saved it before getting the only break of the first set in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. The Austrian player had to save a break point in the 10th game and served out the first set on his third set point in a long tenth game.
Thiem broke serve in the fifth game before holding off two break points in the sixth game and another in the 10th game to close out the second set. Pella held to love in the first game of the third set, but Thiem broke serve in the third game. The Austrian player served out for the match in the 10th game after saving a break point.
Danil Medvedev followed up his maiden ATP title in Sydney with a 6-2 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 win over Thanasi Kokkinakis after 3 hours and 29 minutes. Medvedev had to save eight of the nine break points he faced and converted on four of the seven break points he created.
Medvedev got an early lead to open up a 4-1 lead, when Kokkinakis sent a backhand long in the fifth game. Medvedev fended off a break point in the 8th game to clinch the opening set with a backhand winner after 27 minutes. The 22-young Russian player got the break in the fifth game of the second set, after Kokkinakis made a double fault. Kokkinakinakis converted his fourth break point chance in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Kokkinakis edged Medvedev by 8-6 in a tight tie-break.
Both players missed two break points in the third set which was also decided by a tie-break. Medvedev did not convert three set points at 6-3 and another chance at 7-6 before Kokkinakis hit a forehand winner on the 15th point to bring up his set point. Medvedev fended it off with a backhand down the line winner before converting his fifth set point with a backhand drive volley winner to seal the tie-break by 10-8. Medvedev earned a decisive early break in the opening game of the fourth set to seal the win, as Kokkinakis sent a backhand long.
Tomas Berdych beat Australian 18-year-old wild-card and Alex De Minaur 6-3 3-6 6-0 6-1 to score his first win of the 2018 season and reach the second round at the Australian Open for the 13th consecutive year. The Czech star will face Guillermo Garcia Lopez, who overcame the loss of the second set at the tie-break to beat Benoit Paire 6-0 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 6-4. Berdych, who reached the Australian Open semifinals twice in a row in 2014 and 2015, won 47 of the 56 points on his first serve and ended the match with 46 winners to De Minaur’s 13.
De Minaur saved two break points in the fourth game of the first set but dropped his serve at love to win the first set 6-3. The 18-year-old Aussie broke serve in the second game of the second set at deuce to open up a 3-0 lead. Berdych broke back at deuce in the seventh game for 3-4. De Minaur got his second break at 15 to seal the second set. De Minaur broke three times to take a bagel win in the third set.
De Minaur, who reached the semifinal in Brisbane and the final in Sydney in the first two weeks of 2018, saved two break points but dropped his serve in the sixth game to lose the fourth set 6-1.
“Those wins and these couple of weeks now have made me realise that I have got the level and now I have just got to maintain day by day. That’s something I have been really proud of myself throughout the whole Australian summer. I have been able to back up good matches. I don’t think I have had a bad match this summer. I now believe I can do. This is what I want to do. I want to be playing these high-level opponents week in, week out, hopefully have some more good results. That’s what I am looking forward to do for the rest of the year”, said De Minaur.
