Ivo Karlovic has been at it again! This time engraving his name in the Australian Open record books. The 6’11” Croatian fought back from an 0-2 sets deficit to beat Horacio Zeballos 6-7(6), 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 22-20 in five hours and 14 minutes on Tuesday night for a place in the second round. The match fell 38 minutes short of Novak Djokovic’s win over Rafael Nadal in the 2012 final, which lasted five hours and 53 minutes. The Karlovic-Zeballos match lasted 84 games breaking the Australian Open record since the introduction of the tie-break in 1972, surpassing Andy Roddick and Younes El Aynaoui's 2003 classic of 83 games – including a 21-19 fifth set. “This match is what I will,...
Novak Djokovic began his quest for a record seventh Australian Open crown on Tuesday night when he defeated 6-1, 7-6(4), 6-2 in two hours and 23 minutes. The pair met 11 days ago in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open semi-finals, with Djokovic saving five match points in the second set tie-break. “I started really well,” said Djokovic. “[I played a] great first set and a great third set, as well. The second set was a long set with a lot of unforced errors from both sides. It was a gamble, really. He was two or three times a break up. I had my chances at 4-All, 5-All, many break points. "But at the end of the day, I knew that winning...
Rafael Nadal did his best to erase the memory of his 2016 first-round loss in Melbourne on Tuesday, dominating Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in just over two hours in Rod Laver Arena. The Spaniard landed 70 per cent of his first serves and ripped 39 winners against the 33-year-old Mayer, who was playing at Melbourne Park for the first time in three years. “I think I played solid match,” said Nadal. “It was great to be back on the big stadium. I feel the support of the people, love of the people. That is something that is very special for me. I am happy the way I am playing. I had [some] good weeks of practise… I always expect...
Milos Raonic wasted little energy on Tuesday during his Australian Open first-round contest, beating "Hot Shot Machine" Dustin Brown of Germany 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. ”It's obviously tough to have necessarily a solid performance all the way through, but I did what I needed to,” said Raonic. “I took care of my serve. I broke quite early in all the sets. I just dropped off a little bit where I faced a few sort of dangers on my service games in the beginning of the third, end of the second. I returned pretty solid when I had to. I stepped up, and I played well.” The third-seeded Raonic continued his attacking style, which has gained new emphasis under coach Richard Krajicek....
Rafael Nadal did his best to erase the memory of his 2016 first-round loss in Melbourne on Tuesday, dominating Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in just over two hours in Rod Laver Arena. The Spaniard landed 70 per cent of his first serves and ripped 39 winners against the 33-year-old Mayer, who was playing at Melbourne Park for the first time in three years. “I think I played solid match,” said Nadal. “It was great to be back on the big stadium. I feel the support of the people, love of the people. That is something that is very special for me. I am happy the way I am playing. I had [some] good weeks of practise… I always expect...