AUSTRALIAN OPEN PART TWO OF DAY ONE FROM 10SBALLS – BOTH ROGER FEDERER AND MARIA SHARAPOVA MAKE QUICK WORK OF THEIR FIRST ROUND MATCHES!

Written by: Global Chick on 18th January 2016

AUSTRALIAN OPEN PART TWO OF DAY ONE FROM 10SBALLS - BOTH ROGER FEDERER AND MARIA SHARAPOVA MAKE QUICK WORK OF THEIR FIRST ROUND MATCHES!

epa05108633 Maria Sharapova of Russia in action against Nao Hibino of Japan during their first round match at the Australian Open tennis tournament, in Melbourne, Australia, 18 January 2016. The Australian Open Tennis Championship 2016 runs from 18 January until 31 Januray 2016. EPA/MAST IRHAM |

Global Chick’s Witching Hour – Day 1 – Part 2

While the rest of the world catches up with the daylight play over their cornflakes and some hot buttered toast, there are still a good few hours to get you all caught up on the tail end of Day 1 of the Australian Open.

There was another player joining the taxi ranks – Caroline Wozniacki continued an inexplicable backwards rotation through the tournament. In 2012 she made the quarter-finals but since then she has left one round early each year, and yes, sure enough she was out in the first round against fist-pumping Yulia Putintseva, whose match celebrations surely rival any Grand Slam winner we have seen this century! Seeing as the Dane is unlikely to revert to qualifying rounds, then perhaps in 2017 she will start going forward again?

The night stars shone the brightest though as Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer coasted through the night matches with consummate ease. Federer relinquished a game to Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first set before coasting through the second, allowing the Georgian just one came on the board.

He said, after the match: “That was a good match. I’m really pleased how I was able to play. Definitely gives me a bit of a lift in confidence, you know, because this year I haven’t been able to play properly yet. I mean, I had some decent matches in Brisbane, but it was all under, you know, sort of a cloud knowing that I wasn’t 100%. But this was a match where I was able to focus, you know, on my game, on tactics, all that stuff. So it was nice to play that way.”

Inevitably he was also asked in great detail about the match-fixing issue, and was succinct in his response.

Roger Federer of Switzerland plays a forehand to Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia during their match on day one of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 18 January 2016. EPA/LUKAS COCH

“Betting happens all across the world in all the sports. The players just need to know, we need to make sure the integrity of the game is always maintained because without that, I always would say, why do you come and watch this match tonight or any match, because you just don’t know the outcome. As long as we don’t know the outcome, the players, fans, it’s going to be exciting. The moment that gets taken away, there’s no point anymore to be in the stadium.

“That’s why it’s super important to keep it clean. In terms of having sponsors around there, I guess there is a lot of money there. Maybe, who knows, could it be helpful maybe? I don’t know. This is a question for more people in suits than a guy in a track suit, I don’t know.”

Federer will face Alexandr Dolgopolov in the second round.

Sharapova seemed equally as ruthless, toying with Nao Hibino, letting her save four break points before striking on a fifth in the first set to put her in the driving seat to serve that set out.

The second set? Well that was a tiny bit trickier, as she squandered two match points to be broken while serving for the match, and having to come back and break the Japanese player with a couple more match points to book her place in the second round.

Play continues on Tuesday starting at 11am. MELBOURNE time

Topics: 10sballs_com, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Australian Open, Caro Wozniacki, global chick, Maria Sharapova, Melbourne, Nao Hibino, Roger Federer, sports news, Tennis