The Grandstand’s Ricky Dimon and Jared Pine of The Second Serb preview and pick the best men’s singles matchups on Day 2 of the Australian Open. This is the second of 13 installments of expert picks during the season’s first Grand Slam.
(24) Andreas Seppi vs. Lleyton Hewitt
Ricky: A potential fourth-rounder against Rafael Nadal is not great news for Hewitt, but the 32-year-old Aussie could not have asked for much more than Seppi being his nearest seed and Kei Nishikori (whom Hewitt just beat in Brisbane) being his second nearest seed. It’s clear the former world No. 1 still has gas left in the tank, as he reached the fourth round of the 2013 U.S. Open and won Brisbane earlier this month. This isn’t a great matchup for Seppi, who thrives on beating far more erratic opponents than Hewitt by simply keeping balls in play. Hewitt 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Jared: This one has five sets written all over it. Of Hewitt’s last 11 Grand Slam matches, four went five sets and five of them were four sets. Seppi has played 11 five-setters in his last 19 completed slam matches. Also last year he had a five-set match in Davis Cup. The two players’ head-to-head record is tied at three, so this won’t be a blowout either way. Although they have never played a best-of-five match, each of their first three encounters were determined in a deciding set. I give Hewitt the slight edge because he always brings his best tennis when he plays in front of his home crowd. Hewitt 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6, 8-6.
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(27) Benoit Paire vs. (Q) Frank Dancevic
Ricky: The mercurial Paire used to intersperse his uninterested performances with bouts of invigoration. Now he just seems consistently blasé. Dating back to last year, the Frenchman has suffered four bad losses in his last four tournaments–three of those have unquestionably featured borderline tanking. Dancevic, on the other hand, is a pure fighter through and through. The Canadian owns a big serve and one-handed backhand and he has to be confident having come through qualifying. Dancevic 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Jared: This will be the first meeting between the two players. Dancevic did a great job getting through qualifying to earn a spot in the main draw, but he is running into a very talented player in Paire. However, Paire’s talent hasn’t always translated into wins. He has already lost two matches to lower-ranked players this year, including a crazy three-set loss to Marcel Granollers in Chennai. Paire has the ability to dig deep and beat opponents he should in the majors. I think he will cool off Dancevic and advance to the second round. Paire 6-2, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.
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(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Bernard Tomic
Ricky: Tomic has posted some decent results in the relative early stages of his career, including a run to the 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinals. That being said, it’s obvious he is not ready for the elite. Tomic is 0-10 lifetime against Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray and he is 2-25 in total sets against those four players. Nadal generally takes a while to reach peak form in tournaments, so the underdog may win his fair share of games. But if this one is being massively hyped, it’s not because it’s going to be competitive. Nadal 6-2, 7-5, 6-3.
Jared: The only other meeting between this pair was in Melbourne in 2011, which Nadal won in straight sets. It will be interesting to see how far Tomic has come along in the last three years. History has shown that Nadal is most vulnerable early in the slams. He dropped a few sets in early matches at Roland Garros last year and lost in the first round at Wimbledon. However, I still think Nadal is just too good for the young Australian. Nadal 7-6, 6-2, 6-4.
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Tobias Kamke vs. Jack Sock
Ricky: Kamke and Sock just faced each other last fall in Basel qualifying, with Kamke destroying the American 6-0, 6-4. Sock should be in line to fare much better this time around, as he is coming off a quarterfinal performance in Auckland. However, it’s hard to see him completely turning the tables after such a comprehensive beatdown. Kamke advanced one round in Doha and then took a set off Nadal. The 78th-ranked German has reached the second round in three of the last four Grand Slams, so he knows what he is doing in three-out-of-five matches. Kamke 6-7(5), 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Jared: This is a big match for the 21-year old Sock. The Australian Open is the only remaining slam in which he hasn’t won a match. In fact, he hasn’t even won a qualifying match. Against Kamke, the American has an opportunity to turn around his struggles in Melbourne. He had a big win over Tommy Haas last week, so he has plenty of momentum going into this one. Sock has a big serve and forehand, so if he can keep the points short, he will get the win. Sock 7-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.
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Such a shame. Hats off to Tomic for waiting until Rafa won the 1st set. He could easily have retired when the games were on serve and as he was serving first he was leading.
yeah…that was good spirit not to retire before the set was over
Poor Tomic, but he has to look at the big picture. He has a long season ahead of him. Good luck Bernie, obviously hurt himself in the first game of the match.
Rafa got a set’s play under his belt, good nice short work-out. One down, six to go!
Vamos Rafa!
Oh my…did not think the injury was that bad…i guess he was scared not to aggravate it..hard luck…he apologized to the crowd …
i would have liked for match practice for rafa but it was not to be…. On to Rnd of 64 now
I didn’t know what to think. But Darren Cahill said that he had this right thigh injury before the tournament. So he said that it was legitimate. I have never warmed up to this guy, so I didn’t know what to think.
Some in the crowd were booing. I thought Rafa was very gracious about it all. It’s a win, but not much match play. That’s the one thing that concerns me.
He has this Aussie guy next, Kokkinakis. The commentators on ESPN said that he’s a very tall, big serving guy. Oh well.
ah! tall,big serving :/ I hope he does not catch fire… hoping for a nice match that will give rhythm to rafa
Rafa’s 1st serve percentage in that set was 61%. Rafa will need to improve that as the tournament progresses.
Rafa says he would let Xisca go to Australia if the Australian girls don’t mind. Lol
Cheeky interview by Courier.
Next up for Rafa: Thanasi Kokkinakis. No idea who he is tbh………
he’s way better than Sijsling, I know that much.
He’s the 17 year old Aussie kid who just interviewed Rafa for that Babolat promotion.
I hope he gives Rafa a full match work out. While I would have liked Rafa to get a full match work-out today, I am rather glad it did not work out that way because of the atrocious heat. Exertions in this heat are bound to catch up with one later on……..
He’s practiced with Rafa a few times in the past.
Brands and Simon are 12-11 in the 5th. On serve.
Is Simon mad? He was on crutches just this last weekend!
^^^^
Well, that’s good news. At least Rafa knows his game. Hopefully this time he will get a full match. Now I don’t have to face staying up until all hours to watch the end of the match. So it’s off to bed!
With that win, Rafael Nadal stretches his lead over his nearest challenger, Djokovic, in the rankings by 10 points.
Vamos!
45 points.
Vamos!
why 10?
10 if you qualify for the 1st round. 45 if you make it to the 2nd round.
RT @SteveTignor: “Nadal doing things faster. This match 5 hours and 12 minutes shorter than his last one in Melbourne. #AusOpen”
#Cheeky
now 13 all in the 5th. How is Simon managing it?
where’s augusta08??!!
Yes where is augusta08? She is a very valuable member of this forum.
Wow. Simon wins 16/14 in the 5th.
http://www.thetennisspace.com/five-things-from-day-two-at-australian-open-2014/
“Ever since the draw took place on Friday, people have been punditing about Rafael Nadal v Bernard Tomic as the match of the first round. But it was not to be, the Australian retiring from the match after dropping the first set 6-4. He later revealed that he had been struggling with a upper leg injury. ”I felt it yesterday. Took a day off after Sydney, started hitting, went for one ball & felt a pain in my left leg. I thought ‘am I really going to spend a few more hours out on court hurting my body’ & I felt sorry for crowd & for me.””
RT @alex_willis: “#comic RT @dougrobson: In press, Nadal jokes that he’s ready to hire John McEnroe now. #ausopen”
Cheeky!
Or the Rickster, why not?
Tiggy’s Racquet Reaction. Interestingly, he was impressed by Rafa’s serving display:
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/01/australian-open-nadal-d-tomic/50246/#.UtUd0XiM7FI
“The most interesting aspect of these 10 games was Nadal’s serve. He hit it crisply and smacked five aces, but he also used more slice than he normally does. It was effective, and pushed Tomic wider than he expected to go on his backhand side—Bernie won just six of 26 return points. We’ll see if Rafa keeps it up in the next round, when he faces an even younger Aussie, 17-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis.”
I wouldn’t read too much into Bernie’s return points won though even if he is a notoriously poor returner, his movement was hampered.