‘Second and third set I couldn’t touch the ball. I didn’t know what to do.’
Daniil Medvedev smashes his racket during his nail-biting five-set win over wildcard bet Kasidit Samrej of Thailand in the opening round of the men’s singles event of the Australian Open.
JAMES GOURLEY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Last year’s runner-up Daniil Medvedev smashed his racket and avoided a huge shock at the Australian Open on Tuesday before joining a rampant Taylor Fritz and veteran Gael Monfils in the second round.
In the women’s draw, Elena Rybakina, Emma Navarro and Emma Raducanu were early winners on day three in Melbourne.
Home favorite Alex de Minaur and women’s world number four Jasmine Paolini are in action later.
The feisty Medvedev, a three-time losing finalist at Melbourne Park including a year ago to Jannik Sinner, was heavy favorite against Thailand’s 418th-ranked Kasidit Samrej.
But in his first match of the season, the Russian fifth seed nearly imploded in a fit of anger before finding some measure of calm.
“Second and third set I couldn’t touch the ball. I didn’t know what to do,” Medvedev said after finally winning 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena.
The 28-year-old mangled his racquet as he spectacularly lost his temper in the third set, slamming it into the net camera repeatedly until they both became a broken mess.
There was no such trouble for fourth seed Fritz as he blitzed fellow American Jenson Brooksby 6-2, 6-0, 6-3 to launch his bid for a maiden Grand Slam crown.
“It’s never easy playing that first match in a Slam, there are some nerves, so I did a really good job shaking them off early and playing really solid,” said Fritz, who took just one hour and 46 minutes to dismantle his compatriot.
France’s Monfils battled through a five-set thriller to topple young countryman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard to continue the 38-year-old’s late-career resurgence.
The flamboyant Monfils became the oldest singles champion in ATP Tour history when he swept to victory at the Auckland Classic on Saturday.
He kept the momentum going against Mpetshi Perricard, 21, fighting through 7-6 (9/7), 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 victory over a grueling three hours and 46 minutes.
The 13th seed Holger Rune from Denmark survived a scare when he was forced to five sets by China’s Zhang Zhizhen before coming through 4-6, 6-3, 5-4, 3-6, 6-4.
De Minaur, nicknamed “The Demon” by the Australian fans and media, is the big hope for a first home men’s singles winner since Mark Edmondson in 1976.
The eighth seed begins in the prime-time evening slot on Rod Laver Arena against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.
In the women’s draw, former Wimbledon champion Rybakina dished out a harsh tennis lesson to 16-year-old Emerson Jones, winning 6-1, 6-1.
The sixth seed from Kazakhstan demonstrated her pedigree as she maneuvered the world junior number one from Australia to all parts of Margaret Court Arena.
The 2021 US Open champion Raducanu got off to a solid start with a 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/2) win against 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova from Russia.
The 22-year-old Briton next faces American Amanda Anisimova.
Raducanu clocked up 15 double faults and said that her serve had “a mind of its own.”
Navarro, the eighth seed, beat fellow American Peyton Stearns in three sets.
Italy’s Paolini, 29, faces China’s Wei Sijia on Margaret Court Arena.
Paolini said she got a taste for playing on the biggest stage after rocketing to world No. 4 last year on the back of finishing runner-up at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
The 13th seeding proved unlucky for Anna Kalinskaya, a quarter-finalist last year, who withdrew moments before her match against Australia’s Kimberly Birrell.
Kalinskaya has not provided an official reason for pulling out and was replaced by lucky loser Eva Lys of Germany, who took full advantage of her last-minute call-up by winning 6-2, 6-2.
