* 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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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