Sunday Sep 22, 2024
Sunday Sep 22, 2024
Friday, 19 January 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Melbourne (Reuters): Garbine Muguruza will not forget her first career encounter with Hsieh Su-wei in a hurry.
For a minute shy of two hours the Spanish third seed and many people’s Australian Open favourite blazed away in searing heat trying to solve the puzzle set by the 32-year-old, who previously had managed only two wins against players ranked in the top 20 in 17 years on Tour.
The trouble was that her main weapon, the sledgehammer groundstrokes that took her past Venus Williams to last year’s Wimbledon title, proved futile as she slumped to a 7-6(1) 6-4 defeat to Hsieh.
Muguruza, who needed treatment early on for a blister on her foot, found her heaviest hits coming back in unusual places and to make matters worse she was often left flat-footed by her Taiwanese opponent’s punchy and flat double-handed groundstrokes, apparently manufactured with minimum effort. It was all rather perplexing for the 24-year-old as she chalked up 43 unforced errors during the match. Her frustration could have cost her a default when she swiped a ball dangerously close to a line judge when serving at 5-6 in the opening set.
Instead she received only a warning from the match umpire.
Muguruza refused to blame the heat, which soared to 39 degrees Celsius, the blister, or a strapped right thigh for her earliest loss in Melbourne since a second-round thrashing by Serena Williams five years ago.
Apart from when she recovered from 5-2 in the first set and a brief rally at the end of the second, she was inferior against the former world doubles number one whose box of tricks featured several shots not found in any tennis textbook.
Hsieh, who wobbled briefly when 5-2 ahead in the second set, was especially productive on the backhand side, guiding 12 winners past her opponent, the last one coming on match point.
Muguruza will rue the first set tiebreak that she allowed to get away from her all too easily, having dug deep to claw herself back into the set.
She served a double-fault at 1-4 and then was left standing by a backhand jab down the line as Hsieh moved 6-1 ahead before Muguruza wafted a forehand over the line to concede the set.
Muguruza unravelled in the second set and looked cooked at 2-5 before some late Hsieh nerves gave her a glimmer of hope.
Hsieh held it together when she served at 5-4, however, as Muguruza joined fellow seeds Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Coco Vandeweghe, Kristina Mladenovic and Johanna Konta through the exit door.
Melbourne (Reuters): Lucky loser Bernarda Pera sent ninth seed Johanna Konta tumbling out of the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday with a 6-4 7-5 upset in blazing sunshine on court two.
A lacklustre serving display from the British number one - she failed to land a single ace - allowed lefthander Pera ample opportunity to showcase her powerful returns off both sides and the 23-year-old American duly delivered.
A single break of serve for 5-4 was enough for the world number 123 to sew up the first set after 39 minutes when Konta sent a backhand long, and Pera was soon all over the Briton’s serve in the second.
Konta, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2016 and quarter-finalist last year, saved four match points but Pera was not to be denied and set up a meeting with Barbora Strycova when the world number 10 fluffed an overhead volley.
Pera only made it into the women’s singles when Margarita Gaspayran withdrew with a right shoulder injury but has certainly made the most of her opportunity on her Melbourne Park debut.
Konta had bowed out of her Sydney International title defence at the first hurdle last week but made quick work of Madison Brengle in the first round on Tuesday.
Melbourne (Reuters): Six-times champion Novak Djokovic emerged from the Rod Laver Arena furnace and into the third round of the Australian Open after putting suffering Gael Monfils out of his misery with a scrappy victory on Thursday.
Both men struggled physically as air temperatures peaked at 39.9 degrees Celsius with reports of 69 degrees being measured down on the court surface. But 12-times grand slam champion Djokovic, playing his first tournament for six months because of an elbow problem, was the more durable as he recovered from a woeful start to claim a 4-6 6-3 6-1 6-3 win and take his record over Monfils to 15-0. The 14th seeded Serb will play Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the third round.
Melbourne (Reuters): Top seed Simona Halep eased fears over her fitness with a brisk 6-2 6-2 victory over Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard to reach the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday.
The Romanian world number one sprained her ankle in her first round match at Melbourne Park on Tuesday but showed no sign of restricted movement in a 65-minute romp on Margaret Court Arena.
Marching around the court like she meant nothing but business, Halep broke Bouchard seven of the eight times the Canadian served to set up a third round meeting with American Lauren Davies.
Bouchard, who beat Halep in the 2014 Wimbledon semi-finals, had her moments but made 26 unforced errors, conceding defeat with the last of them after Halep had fired down a huge forehand which she could only balloon wide of the court.
Melbourne (Reuters): Defending champion Roger Federer needed to knuckle down to end the feisty challenge of hard-hitting German Jan-Lennard Struff with a 6-4 6-4 7-6(4) win in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday. Federer coasted through the opening sets under the lights at Rod Laver Arena but was dragged into a scrap in the third as the 55th-ranked Struff broke his serve and took the match into a tiebreak on a steamy night.
Struff saved a match point with a searing backhand down the line but fell on the second when Federer crunched a huge serve into the corner. Federer will meet French 29th seed Richard Gasquet for a place in the last 16 as he continues his bid for a 20th grand slam title.
