MEN’S TENNIS NEWS & RESULTS & STORIES FROM THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Written by: Staff on 19th January 2015

MEN'S TENNIS NEWS & RESULTS & STORIES FROM THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN

epa04568388 Novak Djokovic of Serbia watches Australia's Sam Groth playing Serbia's Filip Krajinovic in their first round match at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 19 January 2015. EPA/JULIAN SMITH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

PRO TOUR NEWS – MEN

TIDBITS OF NEWS :

* Federer wins #1001; opponent Lu likely to lose Top Fifty spot

* Nadal comes out of funk, trounces Youzhny, who will fall to around #55

* Murray, Berdych also win in straight sets; Dimitrov wins shotmaking battle with Brown

* Robredo’s injury real; retires after five games against Roger-Vasselin

* Kyrgios survives marathon with Delbonis

* Solid day for Australians: Tomic, Groth, Duckworth, Matosvic win; Kokkinakis tops Gulbis 8-6 in fifth; no Top Ten spot for Gulbis

* Troicki beats Vesely in battle of last week’s champions; Troicki likely to hit Top Fifty, but Vesely will lose new Top Forty spot

* Melzer surprises Estrella Burgos to revive hopes for a return to Top Hundred

* No Top Fifty spot for Struff after loss to Sela

* Baghdatis continues resurgence with upset of Gabashvili

* Coric no match for Chardy; Seppi needs five sets to knock Istomin out of Top Fifty

AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Switzerland’s Roger Federer in action against Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu in their first round match at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 19 January 2015. EPA/JOE CASTRO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

Second seed Roger Federer led fellow tennis elites Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray into the second round of the Australian Open on Monday’s opening day with a crushing 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 defeat of Lu Yen-Hsun.

The Swiss followed on nicely from his ATP title eight days ago in Brisbane. Federer, 33, is bidding to become the second man in history to win five Melbourne singles titles. The only one manage the feat was Roy Emerson, who won a sixth in 1967.

The Swiss wrapped up victory in less than two hours with nine aces, 57 winners and breaks on four of 14 chances. “The match was played at a very good level,” said the 17-time grand slam champion. “Lu played a tough match and I had to step it up, I’ve played him before and I know what he can do – he didn’t disappoint.

“It’s sometimes tough to get rhythm in the first match, but this court plays well so it was a nice match.”

Nadal erased nagging doubts as he played his first grand slam match in more than half a year, posting a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Mikhail Youzhny.

The Spanish third seed missed the US Open with injury and was bundled out of Wimbledon in the fourth round by Australian Nick Kyrgios. After playing just a handful of matches last autumn before having his appendix removed while recovering from back and knee injuries, the 28-year-old Spaniard’ outlook was far from positive after losing an opening round in Doha a fortnight ago.

But victory in just under two hours against the veteran Russian who had beaten him four times put a spring in Nadal’s step. “A win like this gives me confidence.”

Nadal was joined in the second round by three-time finalist Andy Murray, who dominated Yuki Brambri of India 6-3. 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). Seventh seed Tomas

Berdych got away to a winning start as he beat Alejandro Falla 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 and will next play Austrian Jurgen Melzer, a winner over Victor Estrella Burgos 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.

Tenth seed Grigor Dimitrov advanced over Dustin Brown of Germany 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in blustery conditions. Spanish 15th seed Tommy Robredo quit injured after five games against Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Grigor Dimitrov from Bulgaria in action against Dustin Brown from Germany in the first round of the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 19 January 2015. The Australian Open tennis tournament will go from 19 January until 01 February 2015. EPA/Made Nagi

A LOOK AT THE MENS DOUBLES DRAW FROM DOWN UNDER

Men’s Look Forward: Australian Open Doubles

And the #1 seeds are… do we even need to tell you? The Bryans, of course. There wasn’t much doubt about that. We did wonder who would be #2, since we weren’t sure what the pairings would be.

It turns out that they’re mostly familiar. The #2 seeds are Roland Garros champions Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin. The #3 seeds, in the Bryan half, are Granollers/Lopez. Dodig/Melo are #4 and in the Frenchmen’s half. Peya/Soares are #5 and drawn to face Granollers/Lopez in the quarterfinal. #6 Rojer/Tecau are #6 and in the Bryans’ quarter. We finally get a new team at #7 — Bopanna/Nestor, hot off winning Sydney; they are in the same quarter as Dodig/Melo. Also new this year are #8 seeds Qureshi/Zimonjic, who are in the same quarter as Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin.

With the exceptions of #11 Cabal/Farah and #16 Murray/Peers, most of the lower-seeded teams are new this year. That may be especially bad news for #9 seeds Lindstedt/Matkowski, who are drawn against Bopanna/Nestor; Lindstedt is the defending champion, and he doesn’t look in good form to defend. The other lower seeds are #10 Klaasen/Paes, the Auckland champions, who would face Peya/Soares; #11 Cabal/Farah, who are drawn against Qureshi/Zimonjic; #12 Butorac/Groth, in the same part of the draw as Rojer/Tecau; #13 Knowle/Pospisil, drawn against Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin (note that Jack Sock isn’t playing with Pospisil; Sock isn’t here); #14 Inglot/Mergea, who have the bad luck to be up against the Bryans; #15 Draganja/Kontinen, in the Granollers/Lopez part of the draw; and #16 Murray/Peers, who would face Dodig/Melo.

Looking for interesting unseeded teams, Mahesh Bhupathi will be teaming with Jurgen Melzer; they could face Inglot/Mergea in the second round. Australia’s favorite Davis Cup team of Guccione/Hewitt would face Rojer/Tecau in round two. The strong stealth team of Cuevas/Marrero could face Granollers/Lopez in round two. Lukasz Kubot, who won last year with Lindstedt, this year is with Jeremy Chardy; they could face Draganja/Kontinen in the second round. Klaasen/Paes have a tough double-up — first Lipsky/Ram, then perhaps Johnson/Querrey. Bopanna/Nestor might face Lopez/Mirnyi in round two. Jonathan Erlich, now that Andy Ram is retired, is with Treat Huey, and could face Lindstedt/Matkwoski in round two. And Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin could face Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Santiago Gonzalez in the second round.

The Rankings

Last year, this was the Slam where… the Bryans weren’t a factor. They lost in the third round. As did Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin and Peya/Soares. Granollers/Lopez lost in the second round. The only current Top Ten players to reach even the quarterfinal were Nestor/Zimonjic (who went on to the semifinal). The other semifinalists were Llodra/Mahut (who aren’t back; Mahut is unseeded with Herbert and Llodra isn’t in the draw); Butorac/Klaasen (who have split) were the finalists; and Kubot/Lindstedt (who have split) were the champions.

That means a lot of mid-ranked players could fall hard. Lindstedt, #13 coming in and with more than half his points on the line, is around #33 in safe points; Kubot, #18 to start the week, is below #40. Butorac and Klaasen, #20 and #19 to start, are a little below #30.

The Bryans, though, are entirely safe at #1; they’ll be #1 by at least 5000 points, and it could easily be 7000 or more. We show the Top Ten in safe points as follows:

1..(1) Bryan………….12570

3..(3) Zimonjic………..5560

4..(4) Nestor………….5400

5..(5) Benneteau……….5180

6..(6) Roger-Vasselin…..4880

7..(7) Melo……………4860

8..(8) Granollers………4750

9..(9) Lopez…………..4570

10.(10) Peya……………4400

10.(10) Soares………….4400

Thus we have exactly the same Top Ten in safe points as we had entering the event! But the gap from #3 to #10 is so small that anyone could end up just about anywhere. Interestingly, the gap from co-#10 Peya/Soares to co-#12 Dodig is almost 300 points, so it is quite possible that we will have no new Top Ten

RANKINGS

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings

As of January 19, 1015

Rank &

Prior…Player………..Points

1..(1) Djokovic……….11055

2..(2) Federer…………9200

3..(3) Nadal…………..5430

4..(5) Nishikori……….4855

5..(8) Raonic………….4495

6..(6) Murray………….4360

7..(9) Cilic…………..4105

8..(7) Berdych…………3985

9.(10) Ferrer………….3795

10..(4) Wawrinka………..3380

11.(11) Dimitrov………..3330

12.(12) Tsonga………….2560

13.(13) Gulbis………….2420

14.(14) Lopez…………..2050

15.(15) Anderson………..1990

16.(16) Bautista Agut……1940

17.(17) Robredo…………1845

18.(19) Monfils…………1690

19.(21) Isner…………..1685

20.(22) Goffin………….1664

21.(20) Simon…………..1650

22.(18) Fognini…………1620

23.(24) Kohlschreiber……1460

24.(23) Dolgopolov………1420

25.(27) Karlovic………..1400

26.(26) MayerL………….1389

27.(25) Benneteau……….1355

28.(28) Gasquet…………1305

29.(30) Rosol…………..1245

30.(29) Cuevas………….1217

DRAWS

Australian Open — Week of January 19

1 Djokovic

31 Verdasco

19 Isner

13 Bautista Agut

12 Lopez

17 Monfils

25 Benneteau

8 Raonic

4 Wawrinka

27 Cuevas

21 Dolgopolov

16 Fognini

9 Ferrer

18 Simon

30 Giraldo

5 Nishikori

7 Berdych

26 L Mayer

22 Kohlschreiber

11 Gulbis

14 Anderson

24 Gasquet

28 Rosol

3 Nadal

6 Murray

32 Klizan

20 Goffin

10 Dimitrov

15 Robredo

23 Karlovic

29 Chardy

2 Federer

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Djokovic

2 Federer

3 Nadal

4 Wawrinka

5 Nishikori

6 Murray

7 Berdych

8 Raonic

9 Ferrer

10 Dimitrov

11 Gulbis………..lost 1R (Kokkinakis)

12 Lopez

13 Bautista Agut

14 Anderson

15 Robredo……….lost 1R (Roger-Vasselin)

16 Fognini

17 Monfils

18 Simon

19 Isner

20 Goffin

21 Dolgopolov

22 Kohlschreiber

23 Karlovic

24 Gasquet

25 Benneteau

26 L Mayer

27 Cuevas

28 Rosol

29 Chardy

30 Giraldo

31 Verdasco

32 Klizan

******** SCORES

Australian Open

Singles – First Round

[2] Roger Federer (SUI) d. Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) 64 62 75

[3] Rafael Nadal (ESP) d. Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 63 62 62

[6] Andy Murray (GBR) d. Yuki Bhambri (IND) 63 64 76(3)

[7] Tomas Berdych (CZE) d. Alejandro Falla (COL) 63 76(1) 63

[10] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) d. Dustin Brown (GER) 62 63 62

Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) d. [11] Ernests Gulbis (LAT) 57 60 16 76(2) 86 – saved 4 MP

[14] Kevin Anderson (RSA) d. Diego Schwartzman (ARG) 76(5) 75 57 64

Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) d. [15] Tommy Robredo (ESP) 32 ret.

[20] David Goffin (BEL) d. Michael Russell (USA) 63 63 57 60

[22] Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) d. Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) 62 62 61

[23] Ivo Karlovic (CRO) d. Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) 64 62 64

[24] Richard Gasquet (FRA) d. Carlos Berlocq (ARG) 61 63 61

[26] Leonardo Mayer (ARG) d. John Millman (AUS) 63 63 62

[28] Lukas Rosol (CZE) d. Kenny De Schepper (FRA) 46 62 67(4) 63 64

[29] Jeremy Chardy (FRA) d. Borna Coric (CRO) 36 64 75 64

[32] Martin Klizan (SVK) d Tatsuma Ito (JPN) 76(6) 62 64

Federico Delbonis (ARG) vs Nick Kyrgios (AUS)

Bernard Tomic (AUS) d. Tobias Kamke (GER) 75 67(1) 63 62

Sam Groth (AUS) d Filip Krajinovic (SRB) 63 76(4) 64

Marinko Matosevic (AUS) d. Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS) 64 67(5) 36 75 63

James Duckworth (AUS) d. Blaz Kavcic (SLO) 62 57 76(9) 36 62

Simone Bolelli (ITA) d. Juan Monaco (ARG) 63 36 63 61

Viktor Troicki (SRB) d. Jiri Vesely (CZE) 63 36 62 62

Malek Jaziri (TUN) d. Mikhail Kukukshkin (KAZ) 62 63 26 76(3)

Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) d. Lukas Lacko (SVK) 46 62 75 67(4) 61

Jurgen Melzer (AUT) d. Victor Estrella Burgos (DOM) 61 64 62

Ricardas Berankis (LTU) d. Igor Sijsling (NED) 26 64 76(2) 67(6) 64

Jordan Thompson (AUS) d. Joao Sousa (POR) 64 76(5) 64

Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) d. Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS) 62 67(5) 36 64 64

Tim Smyczek (USA) d. Luke Saville (AUS) 76(2) 75 64

Andreas Seppi (ITA) d. Denis Istomin (UZB) 57 63 26 61 64

Dudi Sela (ISR) d. Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 64 46 36 63 75

***

CONTENT VIA Bob LARSON TENNIS NEWS

Topics: Andy Murray, AO15, Atp, Australian Open, Federer, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Melbourne, Nick Kyrgios, Rafa, Tennis Results, Tomas Berdych

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January 19, 2015 at 5:54 pm

MEN’S #TENNIS NEWS & RESULTS & STORIES FROM THE @AustralianOpen- http://t.co/GIZKmJapxP #AusOpen #ATP #Melbourne #AO15 #RafaelNadal #Federer