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Patna : Second seed & winner of 20 Grand Slam singles titles including 13 French Open titles Rafael Nadal, 38, Spain, sailed into the 2nd round of Australian Open (AO) 2021 defeating World No 56 Laslo Djere, 25, Serbia, in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.
The 2009 AO champion Nadal won 6 break points in the match to just 1 by Djere. The Spaianiard served 5 Aces during the match to 4 by Djere. Nadal also won 4 games in a row during the match to 2 by the Serbian. Nadal, in all, won 87 points to 60 by Djere.
Fourth seed and World No 4 Daniil Medvedev, 24, Russia, beat World No 63 Vasek Pospisil, 30, Canada, in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 to march into the 2nd round winning 5 break points and 5 games in a row during the match. The Russian fired 8 Aces in the match to 6 by the Canadian. Medvedev, in all, won 89 points in the match to 63 by the Canadian.
But, 12th seed and World No 13 Roberto Bautista Agut, 32, Spain, and 13th seed & World No 15 David Goffin, 30, Belgium, crashed out of the AO suffering shock defeats in their respective first round matches.
World No 85 Radu Albot, 31, Mldova, upset Agut in four-sets 6-7, 6-0, 6-4, 7-6 in first round rallying back from one set down. Albot fired 12 Aces in the match to 8 by the Spainiard. Albot won 8 break points to 4 by Agut. The Spainiard committed 7 double faults to 4 by Albot. The Moldovan also won 6 games in a row during the match to 3 by Agut. Albot, in all, won 149 points during the match to 13 by Agut.
World No 113 Alexei Popyrin, 21, Australia, stunned Goffin in a five-set thriller 3-6,6-4, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 in first round . Popyrin fired 12 Aces in the match to 8 by the BElgian. Goffin committed 11 double faults in the match to 7 by the Australian, who saved 4 match points. Popyrin won 6 break points to 5 by the Belgian. TheAustralian won 4 games in a row in the match to 3 by Goffin. Popyrin won 173 points during the match to 166 by the Belgin, who had reached AO QFs in 2017 and Wimbledon QFs in 2019.