Australian Open: Karatsev gives Saturday's tournament winners a positive balance
Aslan Karatsevdefeated Jaume Munar in the first round of the Australian Open 2022 in a real tennis marathon - and thus gave the weekend's tournament winners a positive balance.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Jan 17, 2022, 04:24 pm
One of the many great aspects of tennis is that the losers of a game don't have to grieve for long: as a rule, a few days later there is the chance to experience success again somewhere else. On the other hand, the winners of a tournament hardly have time to enjoy a title. Especially not in the run-up to a Grand Slam event. Paula Badosa , Madison Keys, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Aslan Karatsev can all sing a song about it.
Because just two days after their triumphs in Sydney (Badosa, Karatsev) and Adelaide (Keys, hanfmann), the four had to go straight back to the Australian Open. And thanks to Aslan Karatsev's epic five-set win over Jaume Munar, the tournament winners' record was 3-1. Only Kokkinakis blundered, who had no chance against Yannick Hanfmann with 2: 6, 3: 6 and 2: 6.
The match of the first day was certainly delivered by Karatsev and Munar. In the end, the Russian won 3: 6, 7: 6 (1), 6: 7 (3), 6: 4 and 6: 4. In the next round, Mackenzie McDonald, last year's semi-finalist, faces a potentially difficult task, after which it could be tricky against Hubert Hurkacz.
Keys beats Kenin
Sydney champion Badosa wasn't given a particularly easy opponent with Ajla Tomljanovic either, but the newly promoted Spanish won 6: 4 and 6: 0. Barbora Krejcikova was also able to get back on the road to success after the defeat in the final in Sydney, but the 6:2 and 6:0 against Andrea Petkovic was clearer than the course of the game showed.
Finally, Madison Keys had to deal with the 2020 Australian Open winner - with her compatriot Sofia Kenin. Keys showed brilliant tennis at times in Adelaide, after the 7: 6 (1) and 7.5 against Kenin, there is now a little space in the tableau for a deep run by the 2017 US Open finalist. Especially since Cori Gauff, Keys' potential third-round opponent, had to bow out against Qiang Wang on Monday.
Here is the men's individual tableau
Here is the women's individual tableau
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