Djokovic, Raonic, Tsonga, Goffin enter 2nd round of AO 2019

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Patna : World No 1 in ATP rankings and winner of 14 Grand Slam titles Novak Djokovic, 31, Serbia, World No 8 Dominic Thiem, 25, Austria, World No 27 Milos Raonic, 28, Canada, World No 22 David Goffin, 28, Belgium, and World No 23 Pablo Carreno Busta, 27, Spain, advanced to the 2nd round of Australian Open (AO) at Melbourne Park, Australia, on January 15, 2019.

Six time champion Djokovic demolished World No 230 Mitchell Krueger, 25, USA, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round. Djokovic served 6 Aces in the match to2 by Krueger. He also won 6 break points to 1 by Krueger. Djokovic won 5 games in a row in the match to 2 by his opponent. Djokovic’s winning percentage on both his first ( 84 %) and second ( 69%) serve was much better than that of Kruger.

Raonic beat World No 52 Nick Kyrgios, 23, Australia, in straight sets 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 to advance to the second round. Raonic hammered 30 Aces in the match to 15 by Kyrgios. Raonic also won 2 break points besides winning 3 games in a row in the match. Raonic’s winning percentage on both his first and serve was much better than that of Kyrgios.

Thiem beat World No 61 Benoit Paire, 29, France, in a five-set thriller 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 1-6, 6-3 in the first round. Paire, however, fired 22 Aces in the match to 9 by Thiem. Thiem, on the other hand, committed 13 double faults to 5 by Paire. Both the players won 5 break points each. Thiem won 106 service points compared to 93 by Paire.

Goffin beat World No 89 Christian Garin, 22, Chile, 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round. Goffin fired 9 Aces in the match to 3 by Garin. Both the players committed 3 double faults each. Goffin won 8 break points to just 1 by Garin. He also won 8 games in a row to 2 by Garin.

Busta beat World No 163 Luca Vanni, 33, Italy, in a five-set encounter 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in the first round. Busta rallied back strongly after losing the first two sets. Vanni committed 7 double faults to 3 by Busta. But, he also hammered 25 Aces in the match to 20 by Busta. Busta won 3 break points to 2 by Vanni. Vanni won 5 games in a row to 3 by Busta.

World No 8 Marco Cecchinato, 26, Italy, World No 27 Denis Shapovalov, 19, Canada, World No 177 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 33, France, World No 30 Gilles Simon, 34, France, and World No 25 Hyeon Chung, 22, South Korea, also advanced to the second round on January 15. Tsonga hammered 23 Aces in his first round match against World No 40 Martin Klizan. 29, Slovakia.