Australian Open: Round One Recap

The first round of the Australian Open is in the books. Between the 64 men’s singles matches we have yet to see the huge upset common in grand slams opening rounds. Today we look back at the opening round of the year’s first slam, and preview some of the intriguing matchups ahead.

On the men’s side of the draw there was little to be surprised about. Out of the thirty-two seeded players only two, Chile’s Nicolas Jarry and Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, have been eliminated. Each major contender remains and with little trouble. 

In the bottom half of the draw world number 2 Carlos Alcaraz took down former top ten Frenchman Richard Gasquet in straight sets. The twenty year old Spaniard did not face much resistance outside of the first set, finding his way to a 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-2 straight sets victory. He faces Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the second round, and no possible seeded opponent until the fourth round at the earliest. 

Both Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev took their opening round matches with ease, only Zverev dropping a set between the two matches, and each inch closer to facing one another in the fourth round. Other top seeds such as Holger Rune, Hubert Hurkacz, and Daniil Medvedev also punched their tickets to the next round.

In the top half of the draw Russia’s Andrey Rublev was pushed to his limits by Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild. Rublev shot out to a two sets to love lead before Seyboth Wild fought back in the third and fourth sets 6-3, 6-4. In the fifth set the two found themselves in a ten point tiebreaker for the match, which Rublev was able to pull out 10-6. 

Novak Djokovic came out against Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic with audiences expecting a quick match. But the qualifier had other plans in mind as he clawed the second set of the match away from the World Number One and took the match into the late hours in Melbourne before Djokovic won it in four sets. 

For the American men in the draw all five seeds of Fritz, Paul, Shelton, Tiafoe, and Korda advanced. JJ Wolf retired in his match against Sebastian Baez, and qualifier Alexander Kovacevic advanced in five sets. Chris Eubanks won in straight sets and will play Andrey Rublev in the second round. Wildcard Patrick Kypson lost in four sets to Emil Ruusuvuori, while teenager Alex Michelsen won against Australian wildcard James McCabe. In the bottom of the draw both Marcos Giron and Mackenzie McDonald fell in five sets.