French No.1 Ugo Humbert qualified for the second round of the Australian Open on Sunday, just like his compatriot Arthur Fils and world No.1 and double title holder in Melbourne Aryna Sabalenka.
. Humbert manhandled but solid, Fils drops a set
Fighting for two sets, Ugo Humbert (14th) resisted Matteo Gigante (145th) to win 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, 6-4 and join the Lebanese Hady Habib (219th) in the round following.
“It was a trap match, I had trained with him in Sydney and I said to myself ‘he’s playing really well'”, said the left-hander from Metz about the 23-year-old Italian, from the qualifiers.
“I was expecting a not easy match, he has a great serve” and “it didn’t come down to anything: I was down 5-2 in the tie-break” in the first set, “he made the break in the second set, he has a break point in the third… It could have gone one way or the other,” he analyzed.
French No.2 Arthur Fils, 21st in the world, overcame the loss of the first set against Finnish Otto Virtanen (93rd) to reach the 2nd round of the Australian Open, already equaling his result from the previous edition.
“He put me under pressure, I was playing really badly” at the start of the match, commented Fils after his victory 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-4. “So at first I simply tried to put the ball back in the court. Game after game, I played more aggressively,” said the Frenchman.
In the next round, Fils will cross swords with his compatriot Quentin Halys (74th), who fell after five sets to Australian Adam Walton (90th) 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/ 4), 7-5.
Hugo Gaston (81st) also obtained his ticket for a second round against the Czech Jiri Lehecka (29th) thanks to a success in four sets against the Australian Omar Jasika (179th). The Frenchman won 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 despite an interruption linked to the rain which fell heavily in Melbourne, interrupting play on the auxiliary courts for more than six hours.
In the women’s table, the French No.2 Diane Parry (66th), returning from injury, failed to create a surprise against the finalist of the Olympic tournament Donna Vekic (19th), 6-4, 6-4 . Chloé Paquet (122nd) was also eliminated from the start against the Spaniard Cristina Bucsa (110th) 6-2, 6-3.
. Change the current mode, start in diesel mode
A few days after her victory at the WTA 500 in Brisbane, Aryna Sabalenka continued her momentum by dominating the American Sloane Stephens (81st).
Despite a little scare in the first set, when the Belarusian let her opponent come back from 4-0 to 4-3, the world No.1 overall negotiated this tricky first round well against the winner of the US Open 2017, defeat 6-3, 6-2 in just over an hour.
In the second round, Sabalenka meets the Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (54th).
At the start of the day, the finalist of the 2024 edition Zheng Qinwen (5th) also experienced some scares in the first set against the Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni (111th), before accelerating to win 7-6 (7 /3), 6-1.
The young Russian nugget Mirra Andreeva (17 years old), 15th in the world, left little room for doubt when she entered the fray, dominating 6-3, 6-3 over Czech Marie Bouzkova (43rd).
. Zverev without trembling, Nishikori and Ruud in five sets
Still in search of a first Grand Slam title, world No.2 Alexander Zverev did not tremble as he entered the fray against Frenchman Lucas Pouille (6-4, 6-4, 6-4).
Former 10th player in the world, the Northerner is back at the gates of the Top 100 after battling injuries and depression. “When he is healthy, he has a much better level than his ranking suggests,” Zverev underlined after the match.
Recent finalist of the ATP 250 in Hong Kong, the Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori (35 years old, 76th in the world) confirmed his current resurgence in form by coming back from two sets behind against the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro (105th) to win 4- 6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.
Another winner of a marathon match, world No.6 Casper Ruud emerged 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 after a 3h21 fight against Spaniard Jaume Munar (62nd) .
Due to bad weather which disrupted the first round, several matches scheduled for Sunday were postponed.
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