ATP Australian Open: Raonic downs Kyrgios. Wawrinka and Shapovalov win
The world no. 17 Milos Raonic has passed a tough obstacle in the opening round of the Australian Open, beating Nick Kyrgios 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 in an hour and 56 minutes for his 77th Grand Slam win. Ther Canadian blasted 30 aces and he dropped just ten points in his games, keeping Nick away from break points and waiting for his chances o the return patiently. Milos barely made any unforced error, taming his shots nicely and doing everything right against the home favorite who gave his best despite facing problems with his knee again, falling through the rankings because of injuries in the season behind us.
Kyrgios played a very decent match but it wasn't enough t for at least a set, offering Milos seven break points and losing serve twice for his worst result at home Major. Nothing could separate them in the opening nine games and it was Kyrgios who played a loose service game at 4-5, getting broken after smash winner from Raonic at the net to hand the set to his rival. The second set saw a similar pattern, except this time Nick saved a set point in the 10th game to reach the tie break that the Canadian won 7-5 after a powerful serve in the 12th point, opening a huge lead before the rest of the clash.
The Aussie repelled two break points at the start of the third set but he suffered a break at 2-2, sending Milos in front and dropping out from the tournament when Raonic hit his 30th ace at 5-4 for a rock solid win and the place in round two. The 21st seed David Goffin proved to be too strong for Christian Garin, ousting the young Chilean 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 in an hour and 28 minutes for the best possible start of the tournament. Garin managed to take away Goffin's serve once although that was never enough after such a pale performance behind his initial shot, losing half of the points in his games and suffering 18 breaks from eight opportunities he gave to the Belgian.
David needed less than 25 minutes to secure the opening set with a bagel, continuing in the same style in set number two as well to open a 6-0, 6-2 gap. Garin stayed in touch until 2-2 in the third after he finally broke Goffin before losing the last five games to propel David over the finish line. The 25th seed Denis Shapovalov will play in the second round of the Australian Open for the second year in a row, toppling Pablo Andujar 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 in just under two hours to earn the ninth Grand Slam win. Denis was the leading figure on the court, firing 51 winners and 31 unforced errors to lose serve only once and steal the Spaniard's on four occasions to wrap up the win in straight sets.
Shapovalov moved ahead with two breaks of serve in the opening set and he secured the second with another good return game at 4-3, bringing it home with a hold in game nine for two sets to love advantage. The youngster led 5-3 in the third set when he lost his focus for a minute, getting broken in game ten while serving for the win and fixing that in the tie break to seal the deal and book the place in the next round. The 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sets the second round clash with Novak Djokovic following a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 win over Martin Klizan in two hours and 26 minutes thanks to a perfect performance on serve.
The hard-hitting Frenchman delivered fury from the initial shot, losing 15 points in total (50 from 53 on the first serve) and never facing a break point to push his rival to the limits all the time. The Slovak did well to fends off 11 out of 13 break points but those two breaks Jo scored were all he needed to clinch the win, slowly getting back where he belongs after playing just 12 matches in 2018 due to a knee injury. A former champion Stan Wawrinka lost the opening set against Ernests Gulbis but he left the court victorious when the Lativan retired after four games of the second set due to a back injury.
First round results:
Joao Sousa (POR) vs Guido Pella (ARG) 7-6(2) 4-6 7-6(5) 4-6 6-2 [23]Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) vs [Q]Luca Vanni (ITA) 6-7(5) 2-6 6-3 7-5 6-4 [21]David Goffin (BEL) vs Christian Garin (CHI) 6-0 6-2 6-2 [25]Denis Shapovalov (CAN) vs Pablo Andujar (ESP) 6-2 6-3 7-6(3) Taro Daniel (JPN) vs [Q]Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) 5-7 4-2 Ret. [28]Lucas Pouille (FRA) vs Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 6-1 7-5 6-4 Marius Copil (ROU) vs Marcel Granollers (ESP) 6-3 6-4 6-4 [32]Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) vs [WC]Zhe Li (CHN) 6-2 6-2 6-4 [WC]Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs Martin Klizan (SVK) 6-4 6-4 7-6(5) Jeremy Chardy (FRA) vs Ugo Humbert (FRA) 3-6 7-6(6) 6-4 6-7(4) 7-6(10-6) Filip Krajinovic (SRB) vs [17]Marco Cecchinato (ITA) 4-6 0-6 6-1 7-6(8) 6-4 [WC]Alexei Popyrin (AUS) vs Mischa Zverev (GER) 7-5 7-6(7) 6-4 Stan Wawrinka (SUI) vs Ernests Gulbis (LAT) 3-6 3-1 Ret. Maximilian Marterer (GER) vs [Q]Gleb Sakharov (FRA) 6-3 6-1 6-3 [16]Milos Raonic (CAN) vs Nick Kyrgios (AUS) 6-4 7-6(5) 6-4
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2TPk4Fx
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