When the draws for the Australian Open were announced, there were a number of heavy-duty first-round clashes earmarked to be blockbusters for the quality of the opponents.
On the first day, Coco Gauff vs Venus Williams lived up to its billing, even in straight sets. Fabio Fognini vs Reilly Opelka served a five-setter while Sam Querrey knocked out seeded Borna Coric.
On Tuesday, Karolina Pliskova got past Kristina Mladenovic while 2019 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova was knocked out by veteran Svetlana Kuznetsova and Donna Vekic crushed wildcard and former champion Maria Sharapova.
But perhaps, the most keenly-awaited first-round clashes, on the men’s side, were fourth seed Daniil Medvedev versus last year’s Australian Open quarter-finalist Frances Tiafoe and seventh seed Alexander Zverev facing former French Open semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato – an early test for the Next Gen challengers.
Both matches were extremely high quality encounters for the first round, even as the seeded players advanced.
Zverev through in straight sets at a Grand Slam
First things first: Zverev won a Grand Slam match in straight sets. The last time that happened was the French Open and the last time it happened in the first round was at Australian Open 2019. This was also his first win of the year after losing all three of his singles matches at the ATP Cup.
As countless jibes, some by even himself, have said: Zverev doesn’t like to make it easy on himself, especially when it comes to a best-of-five at Majors.
That he was playing Cecchinato, a player who has actually gone further than him at Grand Slams, even if he isn’t ranked as high, was always going to be a potential banana peel for the youngster. On his part, the Italian looked in good nick with a highlight reel of drop shots and tricky returns to stretch the tall German all over the court.
It took Zverev two hours and 23 minutes but he managed a morale-boosting 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-3 win. Crucially, he recovered from 2-4 down in the first set, 3-5 in the second set and losing serve in the first game of the third set. He had just four double faults to eight aces, with 84% first serves in and 72% points won on first serve.
If one has watched the 22-year-old for a while, you will know why these things count for a lot, even in the first round.
It is no secret that the young German has a problem with both his morale and serve during tough moments in a match. Nick Kyrgios was seen doing push-ups every time he hit a double fault at the ATP cup and his meltdowns and racquet smashes have a highlight reel dedicated to it.
In a now viral video from last year’s Laver Cup, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were seen giving him advice on how to stay positive and not react negatively to lost points. It worked intermittently, but he is still searching for a big title after winning the ATP Finals in 2018. So for him to stay calm, hold his nerve and serve and battle out against a tough opponent in the first round of a Grand Slam showed maturity and pause that he often lacks.
He has never gone past the fourth round in Melbourne, but there will be a lot more fans rooting for him to make it further after his post-match interaction. In a touching gesture, he said he will donate $10,000 for every win at Melbourne Park and every cent of his winnings if he lift the trophy. As he candidly admitted, he isn’t the favourite, but will always be hopeful if he can get his mental and physical game to click together.
Medvedev shows maturity in first-round test
The last time the Russian played a Grand Slam match, he came agonisingly close to his first title. He lost to Nadal in a five-setter at the US Open but the experiences gained in a roller-coaster fortnight in New York shows.
After his blistering run on hard-courts at the end of 2019 – four titles from six straight finals, two of them Masters 1000 – he was drained out at the end. But he has shown the same form at the ATP Cup, losing just the one match to Novak Djokovic.
He was up against Tiafoe, who had beaten Kevin Anderson and Grigor Dimitrov in his run to the quarters in 2019. The 23-year-old Russian himself has not gone beyond the fourth round at Melbourne, losing to Djokovic in four.
But a lot has happened in the last year and now ranked fourth, he is seen as a title contender. He was up on the Rod Laver Arena and put on a show in his 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-2 win in two hours and 26 minutes. However, he was not running full steam in his opener and said he
The American refused to stay down and kept returning everything thrown at him, pushing the Russian all over in an enthralling exchange. Some of their rallies were a highlight package in itself as they parried volleys and ran for full-tilt flicks. Medvedev has 42 winners in the end, but could not maintain his momentum for long with 14 breaks of serve in the match (9 for the winner.)
Medvedev had to mix his defence with aggression to counter Tiafoe’s power, not be fazed by the netcords and fine margins on line calls, not be rattled by the very vocal support for his opponent – something that bothered him at US Open a lot – and stay calm as he saved six break points of 11 and not be forced into a decider.
But he managed it fine in the end, and was candid in his most match chat. “I have a lot of things to improve regarding today’s match. Especially the serve, I was not happy at all with my serve… [but] the most important [thing] is to win, to just win the match,’ he said. That’s the kind of mentality champions need to have and Medvedev is slowly becoming the part.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!