Rafel Nadal started his first Grand Slam tournament of the season very confidently. The Spanish player defeated Hugo Dellien in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, 6-0.
Though, Rafa lost his serve against the Bolivian twice during the event, which is something pretty odd for him at this stage of the tournament. He wasn’t looking very shiny against Novak Djokovic at the ATP Cup finals, and there are some rumors that the 19-time Grand Slam champion isn’t ready for this competition.
The Bull from Manacor won just 70% on his first serve, and 59% on the second, along with one ace. Apart from that last sequence, when we saw Nadal at his full speed, the opening two sets weren’t at his level. And Rafa knows that.
“I think the third set was a great set. I think I played a very good level of tennis,” Nadal said. “The first two, I played with a little more caution… Just trying to play a solid game with not many mistakes.”
On the other side, Dellien played quite solid in the opening two sets, and we can say that he didn’t disappoint. Apart from showing that he can strike back, his game made a lot of problems for Nadal, who was a bit frustrated at certain moments.
But his inexperience with three-set matches eventually did the job, as we saw him collapsing in the last frame.
Sharapova Out
The result which stunned the majority of the fans in Australia was the former No.1 Maria Sharapova’s loss against Donna Vekic. The Aussie Open winner from 2008 lost pretty routinely to Vekic in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
“I put myself out there. As tough as it was, I finished the match and it wasn’t the way that I wanted,” she said.
This was the third straight Grand Slam in which she lost already in the first round. The downfall of one of the best players in the recent two decades and for sure one of the most beautiful started because of numerous injuries that struck the Russian.
“I can speak about my struggles and the things that I’ve gone through with my shoulder, but it’s not really in my character,” Sharapova added.
Vekic was through without any problems, and the 19th seed looked pretty fired-up following the event. This was her second appearance at the Rod Laver Arena and the one she probably won’t forget.
“I’m happy to leave with a win this time,” Donna added.
Wawrinka, Kyrgios and Medvedev all Advance
In other matches, the 2014 champion in men’s competition, Stanislas Wawrinka, defeated the Bosnian rival, Damir Dzumhur, after a three-hour battle, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.
This was a true test for the 34-year old Wawrinka, who hasn’t been playing very well over the past few years.
The bad boys of tennis and the home-crowd favorite Nick Kyrgios had a lot of troubles against Lorenzo Sonego and had to go deep in order to get this one. Kyrgios played two tiebreaks but eventually won, 6-2, 7-6, 7-6.
The No.4 in the ATP rankings, Daniil Medvedev, bet Frances Tiafoe with 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
