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Australian Open: Roger Federer battles through against Dan Evans

  • Posted: Jan 16, 2019
Australian Open 2019
Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 14-27 January
Coverage: Daily live commentaries on the BBC Sport website, listen to Tennis Breakfast daily from 07:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and watch highlights on BBC TV and online from 19 January.

Britain’s Dan Evans succumbed in three sets after pushing defending champion Roger Federer hard in an entertaining Australian Open second-round match.

Evans, ranked 189th in the world, lost 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 against the 20-time Grand Slam champion.

But he never looked out of his depth, impressing the Rod Laver Arena with his shot-making.

Federer will play either France’s 30th seed Gael Monfils or American Taylor Fritz in the third round.

“I couldn’t pull away early in the match – it helps when you can sneak in a quick break,” said third seed Federer, who at 37 is aiming to become the first man to win seven Australian Open titles.

“He played very well. It was hard to pull away, to his credit. I thought I played well.”

  • Wimbledon finalist Anderson knocked out by Tiafoe

‘Like playing myself in the mirror’ – Federer impressed by Evans

British number four Evans, ranked inside the top 50 before a drugs ban, is aiming to climb back up the rankings as he continues his comeback.

And the 28-year-old showed he still has all the tools to cause problems against the world’s best.

Federer was particularly impressed with Evans who, like the Swiss great, has a game heavily reliant on a sliced backhand.

“It felt like playing in a mirror a little bit. That was the mindset I had – how would I play myself potentially,” the Swiss said.

Evans had never taken more than five games in a set off Federer in their two previous meetings, bettering that on Rod Laver as he took Federer into a first-set tie-break.

The Briton had been relatively untroubled on serve until the 12th game, swatting away Federer’s first break point of the match with a serve and volley and going on to hold for the decider.

Evans refused to be passive and took Federer on to race into a 5-3 lead with a wonderful cross-court forehand winner, leaving him with the set on his racquet.

But, despite landing two first serves after having a 56% first-serve percentage previously, he was undone by Federer’s brilliance.

Federer, knowing he was fighting for survival, upped the tempo and forced Evans to miss two difficult volleys.

More to follow.

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Tsitsipas Achieves Best Result Yet In Melbourne

  • Posted: Jan 16, 2019

Tsitsipas Achieves Best Result Yet In Melbourne

Jan162019

Greek will next face Basilashvili

All the kinks had been worked out for Viktor Troicki. The 32-year-old Serbian had already played four matches, including qualifying, and he knew the Melbourne conditions as well as anyone before his second-round match.

But it didn’t matter against Greece’s #NextGenATP star Stefanos Tsitsipas, who played aggressively and outdid the Serbian veteran on Wednesday 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the third round of the Australian Open for the first time.

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Tsitsipas made history on Monday, becoming the first Greek player to win a match at the Australian Open. Next he’ll try to match some personal best Grand Slam showings.

He reached the fourth round of Wimbledon last year, his best Grand Slam performance. He’ll face Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili for a place in the fourth round. Basilashvili found a way to beat Italian qualifier Stefano Travaglia 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 despite hitting more unforced errors (57) than winners (42).

You May Also Like: Tsonga Motivated For 2008 Final Rematch Against Djokovic

Tsitsipas dominated for the first set and a half before Troicki found a way into it, breaking in the sixth and eighth games to even the match. But Tsitsipas, buoyed by a contingent of boisterous Greek fans, returned to his aggressive ways to put away Troicki, who was going for his fifth third-round appearance in Melbourne.

The 20-year-old Tsitsipas was successful on 65 per cent of his trips to the net (24/37). The reigning Intrum Stockholm Open and Next Gen ATP Finals champion will want to shore up one stat before his third-round tilt: break points. He won only four of his 19 opportunities (21%).

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Tsonga Motivated For 2008 Final Rematch Against Djokovic

  • Posted: Jan 15, 2019

Tsonga Motivated For 2008 Final Rematch Against Djokovic

Jan152019

Frenchman on the comeback trail from knee surgery

Eleven years ago, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga arrived in Melbourne Park as the No. 38 player in the ATP Rankings. The year before, the Frenchman had been ousted in the first round. But Tsonga became the story of the Australian Open, defeating four Top 15 players to reach the final, which was his first at tour-level.

Tsonga defeated second seed Rafael Nadal in less than two hours in the semi-finals, and his high-energy brand of tennis, and of course his enthusiastic post-match celebrations, immediately became a fans’ favourite and fixture in the sport. While he lost that championship match to Novak Djokovic, a first-time Grand Slam winner, it was a moment Tsonga will never forget.

“It was great. The stadium was full. A lot of Serbians of course, but also a lot of French and a lot of Australians,” Tsonga remembered. “That was a good final, so I have good memories. Of course for me, it was disappointing to lose. But anyway, it was good memories.”

With that success, though, came expectations. Tsonga has claimed 16 ATP Tour titles in his career, won more than $21 million in prize money and climbed as high as No. 5 in the ATP Rankings. But his Cinderella run to the 2008 Australian Open final also made fans hungrier to see him take it a step further.

Tsonga Djokovic

“When you come from nowhere, nobody expects you to play that good and everybody’s cheering for you. You’re new. And after that, everybody wants something for you that you want, but you know that it’s going to take time to be consistent at this level,” Tsonga said. “All the people say that and say, ‘Okay, now you’re the best or one of the best’ and you have to be the best all the time, which is not easy to deal with, of course.”

Last April, Tsonga underwent left knee surgery to repair an injury that kept him out for seven months. And when the Frenchman returned in September, he managed to win just one of his six matches, watching his ATP Ranking fall to No. 262, his lowest point in more than a decade. So inevitably, there were times when Tsonga pondered his future.

“It’s not very easy because you have to test your mind. You have to really know if you still want to play and make the effort to come back at the best level,” Tsonga said. “But at the same time it’s really good because when you are sure that you want to come back and make all the sacrifices to be at a good level, it means that you are really motivated and ready to compete again.”

Watch Tsonga Press Conference

So it’s almost fitting that Tsonga, who defeated Martin Klizan in straight sets on Tuesday, will play World No. 1 Djokovic in the second round at Melbourne Park. As he pushes back towards the top of the sport, it’s as if he’s back where he started 11 years ago.

“Today it’s like I’m back in 2007, 2008. People expect less from me,” Tsonga said. “It’s also something good for me. I work on my side and I try to come back and be better on court and I hope I will be able to do good things again.”

Djokovic dealt with his own injury in 2018, recovering from a right elbow procedure and a 6-6 start to his season to finish as the year-end No.1 in the ATP Rankings. So he could understand what Tsonga is going through.

“It’s funny. I mean, 11 years after our first Grand Slam final here, it feels like a lot has happened for both of us. He also struggled with injuries lately. It’s good to see him playing well. It’s good to see him back,” Djokovic said. “He’s another great player, champion, someone that has been very successful in the past — an established Top 10 player, who played a Grand Slam final. [He’s] just very powerful: [his] serve, forehand, big weapons… I’m going to approach it as any other match, to be honest. Really optimistic, but also respectful, trying to do whatever I can to win it.”

Tsonga knows that he still has to regain match rhythm and will continue to rebuild his body physically to return to his best form. But for now, as motivated as ever, this match against Djokovic will be an opportunity.

“I will go on court without pressure. But we always have a little pressure, because I’m competing and when I go on court I always want to win,” Tsonga said. “But I will go a little bit more free than when I play someone else.

“I will try to take my chance, and live in the moment.”

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Williams sisters go through but in contrasting fashion

  • Posted: Jan 15, 2019
Australian Open 2019
Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 14-27 January
Coverage: Daily live commentaries on the BBC Sport website, listen to Tennis Breakfast daily from 07:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and watch highlights on BBC TV and online from 19 January.

Serena Williams stormed into the Australian Open second round as she began her bid for a 24th Grand Slam title with a win over Tatjana Maria.

The 37-year-old American, whose 23rd major title came in Melbourne when she was pregnant two years ago, won 6-0 6-2 in 49 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

Williams holds the most Open era singles titles, but is looking to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.

Sister Venus dug deep to beat Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.

The Romanian 26th seed served for the match at 5-3 in the second set but Venus broke to love.

The 38-year-old American, ranked 36th, went on to take the set before dominating the third.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion said: “It was pretty hairy there. I hope that this tough match will prepare me for the rest of the tournament.”

Williams, who has reached the final at Melbourne Park twice, most recently in 2017 when she lost to Serena, will meet Alize Cornet of France next.

  • ‘Struggling’ Azarenka tearful after loss
  • Halep fights back to avoid shock defeat
  • Konta battles through to second round
  • ‘Scary’ Raonic beats injury-hit Kyrgios
  • Djokovic starts record bid with easy victory

Serena still has health concerns

Serena, the 16th seed, took the first set in 18 minutes against Germany’s Maria and fired 22 winners during her opening match.

It was her first Grand Slam match since her rant against umpire Carlos Ramos at last year’s US Open final.

Asked if she had discussed coaching signals with Patrick Mouratoglou after the warning from Ramos that sparked the furore in New York, Williams said: “I literally have no comment.”

The seven-time Australian Open winner, who will face Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard next, wore compression stockings and said she was “definitely still concerned” about the dangers of deep vein thrombosis.

“I have had some issues and they’re not done,” said Williams, who experienced potentially life-threatening blood clots after giving birth to daughter Alexis Olympia.

“It’s just something I have to do for pretty much probably the rest of my career, we’ll see. But I’m always at the doctor.

“With DVTs, it’s very scary. I know a lot of people – they’re very common – have them. Especially for me, it’s incredibly frightening.

“I lay on the side of precaution as opposed to not.”

Bouchard, a Wimbledon finalist in 2014 and former world number five, said she was excited to play Williams, who she described as the “greatest ever”.

“Her ranking is top-20 right now, but to me she’s always basically number one,” the 24-year-old said.

“I don’t want to talk about it too much and put her on too much of a pedestal because I have to play her in two days, but I love her.”

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Australian Open: Victoria Azarenka 'struggling' but will 'come back stronger' after loss

  • Posted: Jan 15, 2019
Australian Open 2019
Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 14-27 January
Coverage: Daily live commentaries on the BBC Sport website, listen to Tennis Breakfast daily from 07:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and watch highlights on BBC TV and online from 19 January.

A tearful Victoria Azarenka said she will come back stronger following her Australian Open first-round exit.

Azarenka has struggled for form since returning from maternity leave in 2017 and missed last year’s Australian Open because of an ongoing custody dispute.

She lost 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-2 to 110th-ranked Laura Siegemund on Tuesday.

“I’ve been through a lot of things in my life. Sometimes I wonder why I go through them,” Azarenka, a two-time champion in Melbourne, said.

“I think they’re going to make me stronger. I want to believe that and I’m going to work hard for it.

“Right now is just a harder struggle for me. I can continue to repeat this word, that I’m struggling right now. I think it’s pretty obvious.”

  • Britain’s Konta battles into second round
  • Serena into second round after just 49 minutes
  • Follow the Australian Open on BBC TV, radio and online

Former world number one Azarenka returned from maternity leave in June 2017 after giving birth to her son, Leo.

Her appearances and travel were limited in 2018 because of the custody dispute, which Azarenka later said she “wouldn’t wish on anyone”.

She went out in the first round of the WTA tournament in Auckland prior to the Australian Open and is currently 53rd in the rankings.

“Sometimes I just need a little time and patience and a little support,” Azarenka said.

“If there’s a store where you can buy it, I’ll go purchase it.”

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