The third day of the Australian Open saw competition return to Melbourne Park. After easy victories in the first round match the top seeds were made to toil hard for entry into the next round.
While Rafael Nadal and Marin Cilic won in three sets, Grigor Dimitrov and Jo Wilfried Tsonga fought for five sets but won.
The women’s section proved even tough for the tough seeds as all big stars fought for three sets, few even lost.
Nadal
Top seed Rafael Nadal won in straight sets but it was not as easy for the Spaniard as the scoreboard suggests. He defeated Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4).
The Argentine was superb with his serve. He produced a lot of winners but was guilty of committing a lot of unforced errors.
Marin Cilic
Sixth seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia defeated Joao Sousa of Portugal in straight sets to enter the next round. He had to battle for four sets in his first round match.
The last year’s Wimbledon finalist downed the 70th-ranked Sousa 6-1, 7-5, 6-2 and will next play either American Ryan Harrison or Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.
Nick Kyrgios
17th seeded Nick Kyrgios entered the second round in his bid to win a Grand Slam at his home. He downed Viktor Troicki of Serbia 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(2) to enter the third round.
The Brisbane International champion will next face 15th seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga.
Jo Wilfried Tsonga
It was a contest everyone was looking upto. A rising talent was up against a talent who has established himself but not as much as he would have loved.
15th seeded Jo Wilfried Tsonga was up against Danis Shapovalov of Canada. The game lived upto the expectations as it stretched to five sets. However Tsonga held his nerve to win 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-5.
Grigor Dimitrov
Third seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria survived a major scare before beating Mackenzie McDonald of USA 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6, 8-6.
It seemed like McDonald was in for revenge of the disappointing run of his countrymen in the tournament as he clinched the first set. He lost the next two sets but came back brilliantly to clinch the 4th set 6-0. Dimitrov then sealed the game with 8-6 in the decider.
In women’s section, it was very difficult for the top seeds.
Caroline Wozniacki
Second seed Caroline Wozniacki fought back from two match points down to beat world number 119 Jana Fett in the Australian Open second round.
The Dane, 27, won 3-6 6-2 7-5 in two hours and 31 minutes, having been 5-1 down in the final set.
After saving the match points on Fett’s serve, Wozniacki won six successive games to seal a place in the last 32.
Jelena Ostapenko
French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko dropped the second set but maintained her composure to come through 6-3 3-6 6-4 against China’s world number 100 Duan Yingying in the second round.
In a match that produced a whopping 13 breaks of serve, the seventh seed from Latvia showed all her fighting qualities to emerge by winning the final two games of the final set on Margaret Court Arena.
12th seed Julia Görges of Germany lost to Alizé Cornet of France 4-6, 3-6 to bow out of the tournament.
4th seeded Elina Svitolina also dust off her rust by coming from a set down to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to win the game.
19th seeded M Rybarikova also lost a set in her three set victory. She defeated K Filipkens 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.