Melbourne: Spain’s Rafael Nadal, the top seed in the Australian Open tennis series, advanced to the 2nd round.
The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tennis series of the year, started yesterday in Melbourne. In the men’s singles category, Spain’s Rafael Nadal, the first seed, played against Britain’s Jack Draper, the 40th seed. Nadal won the first set 7-5 and lost the second set 2-6.
Nadal won the close 3rd set 6-4. Nadal dominated the 4th set from the start and won the set 6-1. In the end, Rafael Nadal won the match 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in a fight that lasted 3 hours and 41 minutes.
Stephanos Tsitsipas of Greece, the third seed, defeated Quentin Hollis of France 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6). 10th-seeded Hubert Hurcox of Poland, 16th-seeded Francis Tiafoe of the United States, 18th-seeded Karen Kachanov and 20th-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada also won their first-round matches.
In the first round of the women’s singles, third seed Jessica Pegula of the United States defeated Romania’s Jacqueline Christian 6-0, 6-1 and sixth seed Maria Zachary of Greece defeated China’s 119th seed 6-1, 6-4. They also defeated Yuen Yi and entered the 2nd round.
Seventh-seeded Cory Goff of the United States defeated Kateryna Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4, 13th-seeded Danielle Collins of the United States defeated Russia’s Ana Kalinskaya 7-5, 5-7, 6-4, and 17- Second seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Diana Yastremska of Ukraine in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. 15th seed Petra Vitova of the Czech Republic advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 win over Alison van Uytwang of Belgium.
