Australian Open - Qualifying: Kokkinakis, Auger-Aliassime and Kostyuk win
The Australian Open has officially begun at Melbourne Park on Tuesday, with 128 players in men's and women's qualifying draw fighting for 16 tickets for the main stage action and a chance to compete against the best players in the world. Thanasi Kokkinakis wasn't particularly happy when he found out he didn't receive the main draw invitation but he is ready to forge his way towards the main draw with three qualifying wins, opening the campaign with a 6-2, 7-6 triumph against the Egyptian Mohamed Safwat in an hour and 47 minutes. Thanasi played better on the second serve, saving four out of five break points and scoring three breaks from 12 chances he created.
The youngster had a wonderful start, breaking Safwat in games one and three and saving a break point in the fourth game for a 4-0 and the opener in just 35 minutes. The Egyptian continued to struggle in his games constantly in set number two and he saved eight out of nine break points, including two match points at 3-5 before he broke back to level the score at 5-5 and set up a tie break that Thanasi won 7-4 to secure the win and march on. With the new rule implemented, the players had to play the match tie break at 6-6 in the third set and there were four matches that went to the distance, with Cem Ilkel edging Egor Gerasimov 18-16, saving a match point at 10-11 to book the place in the second round.
A year ago, the 15-year-old Marta Kostyuk win two matches in the main draw of Melbourne to write history and she will have to qualify in order to repeat that next week, kicking off the tournament with a 6-3 7-5 win against Jana Cepelova in 61 minutes. The youngster landed 82% of the first serve in but that wasn't enough to keep her safe, struggling a lot on the second serve and suffering five breaks from seven opportunities she offered to Cepelova. On the other hand, the Slovak was even worse behind her initial shot, having to play against 13 break points and giving the serve away eight times to end his run already in the first round.
Marta grabbed four breaks in the opening set and additional four in set number two to close the match in straight sets, hoping for a better performance in own games in the next match. Henri Laaksonen defeated the 5th seed Casper Ruud who works at Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain 6-2, 6-4 in 70 minutes, losing just 10 points on serve and never facing a break point. The Norwegian was far from those numbers in his games, facing seven break points and experiencing four breaks for an early exit. Henri found his range right from the start, serving well and breaking Casper in games three and seven before he clinched the set with a hold at love a few minutes later.
The second was closer but Laaksonen found a way to earn a break in game five and bring the match home from there. The 2nd seed Felix Auger-Aliassime took down Arthur De Greef 6-2, 7-6 in an hour and 18 minutes, firing 10 aces and facing only one break point in the entire match. Arthur converted it in the second set to stay competitive but he had to play against 11 break points, losing serve three times and falling 7-1 in the tie break to hit the exit door.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2TEyMPQ
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