The Argentine tennis players Francisco Cerúndolo, Tomás Etcheverry and Nadia Podoroska surpassed this Monday the first round of the Australian Open, where the defending champion, the Spanish Rafael Nadal, spent moments of discomfort to beat a young British man in his debut at the central stadium Rod laver sand.
Cerúndolo (30th) prevailed over his compatriot Guido Pella 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in his world debut in Melbourne, celebrated his first victory in Grand Slam tournaments and in the next round he will face the French Corentin Moutet, number 51 in the ATP ranking.
The 32-year-old from Bahia, currently unranked, played his second game on the major circuit after his return from a chronic knee injury that put him on the brink of retirement. He played again last November at the Montevideo Challenger one year after his previous meeting, which he lost to the Spanish Pedro Martínez at the ATP 250 in Moscow.
Tomas Etcheverry (80°) He also tasted a baptismal triumph in the major competitions, after eliminating Frenchman Grégoire Barrére with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The man from La Plata, who had been fired in R1 in the four majors last season, will face a tough obstacle in the next phase when he comes across the Italian Jannick Sinner, winner of the British Kyle Edmund in three sets (6-4, 6- 0, 6-2).
the rosarina Nadia Podoroska (192) she scored her second personal victory at the Aus Open without too much urgency: she beat Frenchwoman Leolia Jeanjean (lucky loser) 6-0, 6-3 in one hour and 16 minutes.
For much longer and with the opposite result was the premiere of the santafesino Frederick Coria, defeated in five sets by the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (8) and 6-2 after 4 hours, 17 minutes. Coria (76th) suffered her third straight elimination in the first round of the Australian Open, where she was never able to win a match.
The Buenos Aires Sebastian Baez (41st) Nor could he with the local tennis player Jason Kubler (86th), who beat him by a triple 6-4 at the John Caine Arena, the third most important stadium within the Melbourne Park complex.
Candidate wins
In the central venue, Rod Laver Arena, Nadal -first favorite- ended his losing streak of results (6 losses in 7 games), although with too much effort against Jack Draper, 21, who demanded it for 3 hours and 41 minutes until the resolution of the final score: 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 and 6-1. “I needed the victory, that’s the main thing. It doesn’t matter the way. The most important thing is the victory against a tough rival, one of the toughest in the first round being seeded,” he admitted at the press conference after the debut.
The Spaniard hopes to have a more accessible commitment in the second instance of the tournament when he faces the American Mackenzie McDonald (63rd), executioner of his compatriot Brandon Nakashima in a hard-fought game with a score of 7-6 (5), 7-6 ( 1), 1-6, 6-7 (10-12) and 6-4.
Five other contenders for the final instances in Australia started their participation on the right foot: Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece, 3rd) beat Quentin Halys (France) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6); the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (6th), to his compatriot Vasek Pospisil 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3; Russian runner-up Daniil Medvedev (7th), defeated Marcos Giron (United States) 6-0, 6-1, 6-2; Hubert Hurkacz (Poland, 10th), against Pedro Martínez (Spain) 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-2 and Cameron Norrie (United Kingdom, 11th), against Luca Van Assche (France) 7 -6 (7-3), 6-0, 6-3.
Australian tennis suffered a severe blow on the opening day with the announcement of the abandonment of Nick Kyrgios (21st), the country’s first racket, as a result of a knee injury. Doubles champion last year and finalist at the last Wimbledon, the eccentric player confessed to being “devastated” by the impossibility of playing this year in Melbourne.
In the women’s draw, the world number one, the Polish Iga Swiatek, defeated the German Jule Niemeier 6-4, 7-5) and will play her next match with the Colombian Camila Osorio (84th), the second best South American tennis player from the actuality.
For the second day of the Australian Open, the debut of the other three registered Argentines and the maximum champion of the tournament, the Serbian Novak Djokovic -seeded fourth-, who returns to the first Grand Slam after the scandal that occurred last year due to his refusal, is expected. to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
Diego Schwartzman (26th), paired with the Ukrainian Oleksii Krutykh, coming from the qualifying tournament, conditioned his participation to the improvement of the injury that forced him to defect in the ATP in Auckland, New Zealand, last Wednesday.
The “Little” suffers from a muscle strain in his left leg and will evaluate his departure to the competition until the hours before the game, scheduled for tonight at 9:00 p.m. in the first shift of field 17.
At the same time, but on court 7, Facundo Bagnis from Rosario will play against the British Daniel Evans (17th); while Pedro Cachín will do it against the Spanish Pablo Carreño Busta (14th) in the second game on field 8.
Djokovic, a nine-time champion in Melbourne, will take the court on Tuesday morning against the Spanish Roberto Carballes Baena (75th), who has never been able to get past the second round in any of the 19 Grand Slams played.
After being detained and finally being deported from the country hours before the start of the 2022 edition, the Serbian returns to the Aus Open with a clear objective: to add his tenth conquest and equal the record of 22 Grand Slam titles held by Nadal.
The former world number 1 has 21 consecutive wins in the tournament after his last loss to Korean Hyeon Chung in the round of 16 in 2018.