Australian Open Qualifiers (Day One) - Jan 19- Feb 1 Season I
Cheers mate
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Australian Open
Day One - First Round - Melbourne
Seeds
Bottom Half
Section Five
Section Six
Section Seven
Section Eight
It was a successful day for the four CWLanders in action on day one as all four advanced to the second round of the AO.
Sven Oxenstierna and
Roy Daniels were made to do it the hard way in gruelling five-set marathons to begin their tournament, whilst
Heath Davis and
Mat Mitchell had it easier in comfortable opening victories.
Davis had no troubles in accounting for Ukrainian
Viktor Vuriak in straight sets for his first Grand Slam win - cruising to a comfortable win in little over an hour. Davis managed to break serve just once in the first set in the fourth game, but it was enough to secure a path to a handy 6-3 lead. From there it only got easier for the big serving Davis has he ravaged the mediocre game of the world No.102 as he took a pair of 6-1 sets to seal a dominant
6-3 6-1 6-1 victory. Davis will undoubtedly have a less comfortable second round match against sixteenth seed
Denis Orlov who advanced in four sets. His opponent,
Taavi Aleksejev, managed just one ace against the all-returning Russian - Davis relying heavily on his power serve as he thundered down nineteen aces.
In the same section, Mitchell got the better of
Ivars Emsis of Latvia despite a minor hiccup in the third set. Emsis and Mitchell looked evenly matched in the first and were separated by just one break of a serve in the first set in Mitchell's favour, whilst Mitchell also got the better of his unseeded opponent in the second set tiebreaker to take a commanding two sets to love lead. But Emsis struck back in the third set by breaking service early to set up a 6-4 win, only for Mitchell to do the exact same in the third and seal a
6-3 7-6(2) 4-6 6-4 to book a second round clash with Peru's
José Navarro. In some ways, Mitchell dodges a bullet in facing Navarro as the Peruvian teenager displaced 28th seed
Li Ming-Wang in a five-set marathon.
Five-set marathons also met Oxenstierna and Daniels in their opening clashes. "The Ox" faced local teenager
Toby Brooks in his opening match and quickly took the opening set in just twenty-seven minutes. But Brookes hit back with his youthful exuberance getting the better of Oxerstierna as he claimed the next two sets in even affairs. But trailing by two sets to one, Oxenstierna was determined to take the match to his first ever five-setter - doing so with an impressive 6-3 win in the fourth set. After two breaks of service (and one conceded game off his own serve), "The Ox" had claimed his first victory in a tiring
6-1 5-7 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory to book a second round clash with
Domingo Gutiérrez Gómez who paid them both a huge favour by knocking out eleventh seeded Hungarian
József Boros in an upset four-set victory.
But the performance of the day probably went to Rock Daniels as he came back from two sets-to-love down to advance in five sets. Whilst it wasn't the classical five-set thriller, it was certainly an enthralling encounter for the sheer shifts in momentum which seemed to happen following every set. It looked as if it was business as usual for 37-year old Russian
Vladimir Gryzlov as he took the opening sets 6-3 6-3, before Daniels pulled off a stunning turnaround against the veteran to claim the next two 6-3 6-2. With Daniels ahead at 5-4 in the decider, the years seemed to catch up to Gryzlov as he capitulated en route to a
6-3 6-3 3-6 2-6 4-6 loss. Daniels will face an extraordinary tough opponent in the next round - local favourite and 20th seed
David Champion awaits following his straight sets win over
Jefferson Quezada.
Whilst most seeded players advanced throughout the day, Boros, 29th seed
Nilikar Midid and Li weren't so lucky as they suffered disappointing exits in uninspiring matches. But the match of the day was not in doubt as a raging five-setter between
David Jones of Australia and
Carlos Gonzã of Colombia took place. Despite being embarrassed in the second and third sets, Jones managed to fight back from a set down to clinch a fantastic game of tennis
6-2 0-6 1-6 7-6(8) 7-5 to set up a clash with Swiss 28-year old
Pascal Schmidt who made light work of Midid.
Seeds Out: 11-József Boros (HUN); 28-Li Ming-Wang (CHN); 29-Nilikar Midid (CRO).