Nadal enters 2nd round of AO 2019, Opelka stuns Isner, Gunneswaran crashes out

Speed Post News Network

Patna : World No 2 and 2009 champion Rafael Nadal, 32, entered the second round of Australian Open (AO) 2019, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, on January 14, 2019,  beating World No 237 James Duckworth, 26, Australia.  Nadal, the 2nd seed, beat Duckworth in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 in the first round.

Duckworth though fired 12 Aces in the match to 6  by Nadal. Duckworth, however, committed 11 double faults in the match to 2 by Nadal. Nadal won 6 break points compared to 2 by Duckworth. Nadal’s winning percentage on both his first and second serve was much better than that of his opponent. Nadal won 5 games in a row to 3 by Duckworth.

But, World No 10 John Isner, 33, USA, suffered a shock defeat in the first round at the hand of World No 97 Reilly Opelka, 21, USA, in four sets. Opelka beat Isner 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 in the first round in a massive upset in the tournament on day 1. Isner  hammered 47 Aces in the match to 40 by Opelka. Both the players won one break point each in the match. Both of them also won 3 games each in a row. All the four sets went to the tie breaker with Opelka winning three tie breaks. Both the players won 23 service points each.

World No 109 Prajnesh Gunneswaran, 29, India, a qualifier, lost to World No 39 Frances Tiafoe, 20, USA, in straight sets 6-7, 3-6, 3-6 in the first round. Both the players served 7 Aces each in the match. Tiafoe committed 3 double faults to 4 by Gunneswaran. Tiafoe won 5 break points to 2 by Gunneswaran. Tiafoe won 4 games in a row to 2 by Gunneswaran.

World No 16 Diego Schwartzman, 26, Argentina, also entered the second round beating World No 206 Rudolf Molleker, 18, Germany, in four sets 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0. Both the players served 9 Aces each in the match. Molleker committed 5 double faults to 2 by Schwartzman. But, Schwartzman, the 18th seed, won 7 break points to 1 by Molleker. He also won 7 games in a row to 2 by Molleker.