Australian Open Day 1: Where it all begins

Yes, it’s the first day of the main draw and overall it was a mixed day results wise though for others it may have been fantastic.

As it was warm today, the courts are quicker with the balls much harder than usual making the conditions quicker than usual at the Aus Open. Nadal would have had fun with his forehand getting the ball to jump high to the opponents backhand.

Naturally all the matches I wanted to see where on at the same time, so as per usual I managed to get some help with some matches which is always appreciated.

Estrella Burgos vs. Bedene

Wouldn’t say this was my first choice of an opener but we take what we’re given. This match was between the out of form and the underdone. Towards the end of last season Estrella Burgos was in very poor form hardly winning matches and Bedene seemed to have some injury issues.

All things considered this wasn’t a bad match which essentially came down to whose weaknesses would hold under pressure better. Estrella Burgos for a small guy has a good serve and a heavy forehand which was getting some good bounce but he slices that backhand almost as much as Emilio Sanchez.

Bedene is the much better overall player but he was struggling especially on the forehand side. It would be a case of two or three forehands, then an error into the net and the odd one long for some variation.

Estrella has never won a match here and the first set was key for this to happen. Both players were very tight but the Dominican manages to take it. After this his self belief grows, he is opening the court up well with his forehand using the slice backhand to stay in the point most of the time.



While the Dominican’s confidence grows there is still the feeling that the extra class of Bedene especially on this surface will get him through but Estrella Burgos gets the 2nd set has a letdown in the 3rd and Bedene strolls through it to love, there is definitely a bit of tanking going on.

Bedene had an early break in the 4th but Estrella Burgos has switched back on mentally, fighting hard making Bedene hit extra shots and his forehand is really just breaking down which Estrella Burgos is taking advantage of just getting one more ball back.

Estrella Burgos eventually takes the match and delighted with his first ever win in Australia. Sure it always seemed that Bedene would get this done, it’s great the veteran Estrella Burgos got the victory and Bedene left the court swearing loudly in Slovenian as he knew this was a lost opportunity.

Robert vs. Lajovic

This is a big year for Stephane Robert to back up his great 2016 season and this on paper was a winnable match, though anyone with a functioning brain cell knows matches aren’t won on paper.

Lajovic started well and was able to adjust to the faster and higher bouncing courts using his forehand to dominate in the rallies. The enigmatic Frenchman who has gone back to his original coach was struggling to deal with the balls flying and since he has a low margin of error, the adjustments that needed to be made weren’t.

The Serbian who had a loud but fair fan base were cheering him on and he was enjoying the conditions not making many errors. Robert wasn’t serving well enough, not able to hit the groundstrokes with enough penetration often enough to trouble Lajovic.

There was an incident at 30 all in a service game of Lajovic where a ball girl fainted on court. Straight away Lajovic grabbed the girl and took her into the shade, made sure she was looked after before continuing play.

After the break in play the match continued in the same pattern with Lajovic solid from the baseline being the aggressor. Robert was too inconsistent to put pressure on Lajovic and when he managed to break in the 3rd he lost it straight away.

There were a couple of shocking overrules against Robert at vital times, one of them was on his break point, the ball was clearly long which would have given Robert the break. Who knows whether that changes the momentum or not, but there has to be a clear mistake for an overrule, except it was a ball width out, yet called in.

It wasn’t a great performance by Robert but Lajovic was just too good overall.

Jaziri vs. Soeda

This match report comes via my friend Sammy since I have not been cloned and can’t be in a few places at once.

Jaziri has definitely slimmed down significantly and was able to have a solid 2016 through playing mostly on the main tour with some Challengers. He was playing well and was able to expose the Soeda forehand, he is in many ways the typical Asian hardcourt player bar Nishikori or Daniel where there isn’t much margin for error in their groundstrokes. When it’s on, then it’s very difficult to play but when off it’s a festival of errors.


Jaziri

The Tunisian is a very talented player when it comes to ball striking and creativity with the ball, but was never the fittest or best trainer around. He has managed to lose some of the beef in the second set he served for it, he played a poor game and was broken. Jaziri was able to overcome that setback and now plays the talented young Russian Bublik who is representing Kazakhstan who upset Pouille.

Cuevas vs. Schwartzmann

There really isn’t that much I can say about this match that is positive for Cuevas. The Boca Juniors fanatic Schwartzmann is now coached by Chubby Chela, so his grinding skills should improve and Chela is someone while not the most exciting to watch was able to maximise his ability which is all you can ask for a player.

Schwartzmann was very solid from the baseline and this pressured Cuevas into error. Some players enjoy when they are pressured whereas others like Cuevas tend to struggle plus he is much better on slower hardcourts. The last set just wasn’t good enough.

Chela summed it up well. “Yes, Diego played well but Pablo was really really bad”. Though after doubles Cuevas will have some time for surfing, definitely it won’t be at St Kilda beach.

Seppi vs. Mathieu

You knew it was coming there is no Aus Open report from here without some Seppi coverage. Both of these lads got married at the same time, definitely Mathieu is in the southern part of his career and Seppi might not be too far away.

This was Seppi’s first match of the season after getting married, growing a magnificent beard. He decided to take a 1 month holiday to Fiji and New Zealand with his new wife. He has played so many tournaments over the years that the extended break will work.

It wasn’t a great match but it was good for Seppi to get a hitout though Mathieu wasn’t exactly giving rhythm. It was ballbashing Paul-Henri style though with less patience than before after 3 strokes he’d go for the huge winner, there were times when it was happening and others where it was on the back fence.


Seppi


There was a memorable moment in the 3rd set when Mathieu won a point with a drop shot then he reverted back to the “Hands of Stone”. Seppi was never in any danger of losing this match, yes he had to save some break points but Mathieu was never going to be consistent enough to take advantage.

Seppi was glad to get through and for the first match of the season it wasn’t bad but don’t see him really challenging Kyrgios at all, though would love to be wrong.

Sela vs. Granollers

It’s not the Aussie Open without David Dudi Sela aka “The Hebrew Hammer” battling on the outside courts. Sela loves coming to Melbourne, every person that speaks Hebrew in Melbourne comes out to support him and he thrives on it.

Granollers can be a tricky customer with his defensive skills, sneaky forehand, and willingness to come to the net. They split the sets both of these guys will provide chances to break serve. The third set was going to be very important as I expected this one to go five.

Sela who won the Canberra Challenger last week, played well in Chennai in the first week has started the season strongly. Granollers is the guy who can play well from nowhere but Sela who thrives in loud atmospheres and the Israeli fans provide that. He was able to seize the initiative in the 3rd set not making errors, hitting deep and punishing the short balls from Granollers.


Dudi Sela

Sela who was willed on by the boisterous but fair Israeli crowd was loving it and steamrolled Granollers in the 4th set who didn’t even grunt on the slice backhand which he is famous for. The last set was just the Sela show.

After the match it took Sela at least 30 minutes to leave the court. He made sure he took photos with the fans on both sides of the court, shook as many hands as possible. He does this even when he loses but Sela has always been a likeable guy.

Sela will plays Lacko next and couldn’t get two more contrasting characters or games but that makes tennis interesting this plus it’s a brutal sport with no hiding when things are tough.

On a side note “The Mailman” John Millman is here working in the media doing commentary while doing rehab on his hip injury. Yes, he will be taking a Protected Ranking as he recovers.

That ends the grinding for Day 1 and same as it ever was.