Sinner a Sunday winner, Rublev gets a scare at Australian Open

MELBOURNE (Agencies): Jannik Sinner picked up where he left off in 2023 by easing past Botic van de Zandschulp into the second round of the Australian Open as the year’s first Grand Slam got underway a day earlier than usual on Sunday. The Italian fourth seed, the hottest player on the men’s tour at the back end of last season with victories over Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev, was quickly back in his groove on Rod Laver Arena. Although far from perfect, he broke his Dutch opponent to open the contest and grabbed another break to serve for the second set before securing his place in the second round 6-4 7-5 6-3. Djokovic was dragged into a dogfight by talented teenager Dino Prizmic and had to dig deep to open his Australian Open title defence with a 6-2 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 victory in the first round on Sunday. At a shade over four hours, it was Djokovic’s longest first-round match at a major and he heaped praise on the Croatian qualifier for his performance on his Grand Slam debut. At 26, Andrey Rublev is probably a bit old to be considered a young gun and the redheaded Russian had a much tougher time getting into round two, pushed all the way by debutant Thiago Seyboth Wild in his 7-5 6-4 3-6 4-6 7-6(6) win. The often emotional Rublev was clearly furious at his inability to see off the Brazilian world number 78, who produced some sensational shots to frustrate the fifth seed and earn the support of the Margaret Court Arena crowd. Seyboth Wild, who stunned Medvedev in the first round of last year’s French Open, saved three match points at 6-5 down in the decider and raced to a 3-0 lead in the tiebreak before Rublev rallied for the victory.

Sweeny support:

The addition of an extra day to the tournament to help clear the first round matches left the early schedule a little light on star power. Czech Barbora Krejcikova was the only former women’s Grand Slam winner playing in the day session and the ninth seed was soon in trouble against Japanese wildcard Mai Hontama on Margaret Court Arena. Hontama, playing her first main draw match at Melbourne Park, took the first set and former French Open champion Krejcikova needed plenty of sideline coaching and a medical timeout for a foot injury before progressing 2-6 6-4 6-3. Women’s eighth seed Maria Sakkari had an easier time getting past her Japanese opponent Nao Hibino 6-4 6-1 but 13th seed Liudmila Samsonova crashed out 6-3 6-4 at the hands of American Amanda Anisimova. Czech qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova became the youngest winner in the main draw since Coco Gauff beat Naomi Osaka in 2020 with a 2-6 6-4 6-3 victory over Ana Bogdan at the age of 16 years and 287 days. Fruhvirtova will next face reigning women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka or German qualifier Ella Seidel, whose first-round contest is the last match of the day on the main showcourt. Marin Cilic played his first Australian Open before Fruhvirtova was born and reached the final in 2018 but he had little to celebrate after his 50th match at Melbourne Park, a 6-1 2-6 6-2 7-5 loss to Hungarian Fabian Marozsan. As usual, big crowds flocked to the Melbourne Park precinct for the year’s first Grand Slam even if there was no Nick Kyrgios to cheer on this year. Local qualifier Dane Sweeny gave fans on Kyrgios’s favourite court plenty to shout about in his gutsy 3-6 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-2 loss to Argentine Francisco Cerundolo on John Cain Arena. Former champion Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the second round of the Australian Open after four years away as last year’s semi-finalist Magda Linette retired due to injury while trailing 6-2 2-0. Dane Wozniacki came out of retirement last year after the birth of her two children and reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open where she lost to eventual champion Coco Gauff but showed she could still compete at the highest level.