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

Tennis – Australian Open – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 14, 2024 Italy’s Jannik Sinner celebrates after winning his first round match against Netherlands’ Botic Van De Zandschulp REUTERS/Issei Kato

By Nick Mulvenney

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – 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.

Tennis – Australian Open – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 14, 2024 Italy’s Jannik Sinner signs an autograph after winning his first round match against Netherlands’ Botic Van De Zandschulp REUTERS/Issei Kato

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.

Tennis – Australian Open – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 14, 2024 Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in action during her first round match against Czech Republic’s Sara Bejlek REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

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.

“It’s my first match of the season and it means a lot to get a win,” said Sinner, who was cheered on by the “Carota Boys”, a band of fans dressed as carrots.

“It’s a tournament where I would like to play as good as possible … hopefully I can show more as I go along. The first match is never easy, I think I can be happy.”

Sinner is one of a band of young guns looking to dethrone 24-times Grand Slam champion Djokovic, who gets his bid for an 11th title underway against Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic in the evening session on Rod Laver Arena.

Tennis – Australian Open – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 14, 2024 Canada’s Leylah Fernandez shakes hands with Czech Republic’s Sara Bejlek after winning her first round match REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

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.

Tennis – Australian Open – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 14, 2024 Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi reacts during his first round match against Australia’s Adam Walton REUTERS/Edgar Su

“I’m not going to forget this match,” said the relieved Russian.

“I was thinking about Daniil’s match at Roland Garros when I had my chances and couldn’t take them. Thiago is a super dangerous player, he was serving really hard, first and second serves, and hitting the ball really clean.”

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.

“The crowd was unreal,” said Sweeny. “I was really happy to take it to a fifth and push him to the very end.”

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, additional reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar and James Redmayne, editing by Peter Rutherford)