Melbourne: A ruthless Rafa Nadal preserved his creaky knees for tougher tests down the road by routing Dominican journeyman Victor Estrella Burgos 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 to sail into the second round of the Australian Open tennis tournament here, Monday.
Playing his first competitive match since pulling out of the ATP Tour Finals with knee trouble in November, the World No.1 showed no signs of early season rust as he tore through the evening match at Rod Laver Arena in 94 minutes.
The 31-year-old, who lost last year’s final in a five-set classic with long-time rival Roger Federer, brought up three match points with a huge serve and closed out the match on the first when 37-year-old Burgos parried a return long.
It was also an easy day in the park for home hope Nick Kyrgios and No. 3 ranked Grigor Dimitrov, but not for 11th seed Kevin Anderson who became the first ranked player to fall by the wayside. Kyrgios thumped Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, Dimitrov gave a tennis lesson in his 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 destruction of American qualifier Dennis Novak, but Britain’s Kyle Edmunds ended Anderson’s tenure at Melbourne Park with a 6-7(4-7), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.
Kyrgios, the volatile 17th seed was on his best behaviour, apart from one first-set rant about a heckler in the crowd, letting his racket do the talking as he treated his fans in the Hisense Arena to an impressive opening salvo.
He wrapped up the opening two sets in 51 minutes and was never seriously troubled until the third set when the 100th ranked Dutra Silva provided stiffer resistance.
“Obviously with me, I’d like to get on and off the court as quick as possible, save my body for the later rounds,” Kyrgios, who has been plagued by hip injuries during his career and has been having treatment on a knee problem, told reporters.
Meanwhile, Dimitrov looked in total control in his match against Novak. The Bulgarian third seed, a semifinalist at Melbourne Park last year, barely got out of first gear as he displayed his considerable range of skills to oust his Austrian opponent in just 98 minutes on Rod Laver Arena. The 26-year-old hit 21 winners and toyed with his outclassed opponent at times.
“I just tried to be compact, focused, really use every opportunity I had and save some energy,” Dimitrov said in a courtside interview.
Bhambri beaten
Melbourne: Yuki Bhambri struggled to rein in his unforced errors and played well only in patches as his third Australian Open appearance ended with a straight-set first round defeat at the hands of a seasoned Marcos Baghdatis, here Monday. The 25-year-old Indian qualifier, ranked 122, had his chances against World No. 103, but unforced errors cost him the match 6-7(4-7), 4-6, 3-6.
Other results
Alexandr Dolgopolov bt Andreas Haider-Maurer 7-6(7-3), 6-3, 6-4
Pablo Cuevas bt Mikhail Youzhny 7-6(9-7), 6-3, 7-5
Pablo Carreño Busta bt Jason Kubler 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
Gilles Müller bt Federico Delbonis 7-5, 6-4, 6-3
Andrey Rublev bt David Ferrer 7-5, 6-7(6-8), 6-2, 6-7(6-8), 6-2
Matthew Ebden bt John Isner 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Marin Cilic bt Vasek Pospisil 6-2, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(7-5)
Agencies