The Chinese Zheng Qinwen, finalist in Melbourne in 2024, the Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori and the world No. 6 Casper Ruud overcame difficult starts to qualify on Sunday for the 2nd round of the Australian Open, the first day of which was been largely disrupted by bad weather.
. Andreeva with turbo, Qinwen in diesel mode
The young Russian nugget Mirra Andreeva (17 years old), 15th player in the world, wasted little time entering the competition: the semi-finalist of the last Roland-Garros defeated the Czech Marie Bouzkova 6-3, 6-3 (42nd) in just over an hour and a half.
The victory of Zheng Qinwen (5th), finalist of the 2024 edition and first player to set foot on the court at the Rod Laver Arena, was slower to take shape against Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni (110th).
While serving for the set at 5-4, 40-0, Zheng Qinwen made, by her own admission, “stupid mistakes”, leaving Todoni to unbreak her and take control (6-5).
The round finally ended in a tie-break, won 7-3 by the finalist of the 2024 edition before a much more expeditious second round (6-1).
In the 2nd round, the 22-year-old Chinese will face the winner of the match between the German Laura Siegemund (79th) and the American Hailey Baptiste (88th).
Beaten by Zheng Qinwen in the final of the Olympic tournament, Croatian Donna Vekic (19th) also qualified by dominating Frenchwoman Diane Parry 6-4, 6-4.
World No.1 and double title holder Aryna Sabalenka will enter the fray at the start of the evening (7 p.m./08 a.m. GMT) at the Rod Laver Arena, for a tricky first round against the winner of the 2017 US Open Sloane Stephens (84th) .
. Nishikori and Ruud go through five sets, the rain paralyzes the annex courts
Recent finalist of the ATP 250 in Hong Kong, the Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori (35 years old, 74th in the world) confirmed his current resurgence in form by coming back two sets behind against the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro (106th).
The former world No.4 finally won in five sets: 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.
Another winner of a marathon match, the world No.6 Casper Ruud emerged 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 after a fight of 3h21 against the Spaniard Jaume Munar (61st) .
“We train a lot together” at Rafael Nadal’s academy in Mallorca, Ruud explained after his victory. “When you know someone very well, it’s always tricky, he knows your game. The match could also have turned out in his favor,” said the three-time Grand Slam finalist (Roland-Garros 2022 and 2023, US Open 2022).
Scheduled to open the day on the Margaret Court Arena, the No.2 of French tennis Arthur Fils (20th) also struggled against the Finn Otto Virtanen (92nd) but finally validated his ticket for the 2nd round in four rounds: 3 -6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-4.
“It’s never easy to find your rhythm, particularly during the first Grand Slam of the year,” argued the young right-hander (20 years old).
The main match of the day in the men’s draw, between world No.2 Alexander Zverev and another Frenchman, Lucas Pouille (104th), is scheduled for the late evening at the Rod Laver Arena.
Apart from the three main courts, which have a roof allowing dry play, the first round matches were suspended around midday (01:00 GMT) following a storm and torrential rain.
Play had still not resumed at the end of the afternoon. Around ten matches initially scheduled for Sunday on the outdoor courts have already been removed from the schedule by the organizers.
dga/be
