It was a tough opening match at the Australian Open in 2018 for Spanish 10th seed Pablo Carreno Busta. Playing in his first Grand Slam since reaching the semi-finals at the US Open for the first time, Carreno Busta took on wildcard Jason Kubler. Carreno Busta was unconvincing at times, but emerged the victor 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Carreno Busta earned the first break after a marathon 18 point game. Kubler broke back to love immediately before taking a shock 5-2 lead. Carreno Busta took advantage of a tight game to get back on level terms, before edging the set.
Kubler looked unfazed from having dropped the first from a winning position. On the contrary, the Australian looked encouraged of having competed so strongly. Serving first, the young Aussie always had the scoreboard on his side in the second. He used that to his advantage in the tenth game. Break point happened to be set point, and Kubler took it to the delight of the home crowd.
Kubler led briefly in the third. However, Carreno Busta stopped the rot, winning six of the last seven games to take the set, breaking crucially with a well judged short volley winner in game eleven.
Kubler’s challenge faded quickly after that, as superior conditioning started to play a role, Carreno Busta dropped just one game in winning the fourth. The result showcased Kubler, who though a talented junior, had struggled with knee injuries throughout much of his pro career.
Also into the second round is American Ryan Harrison, though it took the Brisbane finalist five sets to edge Israel’s Dudi Sela. Harrison won the first before dropping sets two and three. Sela served for the match in the fourth at 5-4. Cue a storming comeback from Harrison, who the won nine of the last eleven games to win 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Harrison sets up a meeting with 31st seed Pablo Cuevas. The Uruguayan defeated Mikhail Youzhny 7-6, 6-3, 7-5. Youzhny had served for the first set in the tie break, but the Russian rarely challenged after that.
23rd seed Gilles Muller secured his passage with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 win over Federico Delbonis. Muller is into the second round. For Delbonis his season record now moves to 0-3.
Denis Istomin may have knocked out Novak Djokovic last year. The Uzbekistani may not have faced a six-time winner, but he did beat Pierre-Hugues Hebert 6-2, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6. Alexandr Dolgopolov is also through after a 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Andreas Haider-Maurer.
