India's Ramkumar Ramanathan plays against Argentina's Facundo Bagnis during their first round match yesterday.
Rising Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz rallied to enter the next round while China’s Zhizhen Zhang pulled off an upset as the qualifying rounds of the men’s event of the 2021 Australian Open got underway with thrilling matches at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex, yesterday.
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain returns the ball to Slovakia's Filip Horansky during their round 1 match.
After dropping the first game, Alcaraz, 17, put on display his serving prowess to outwit Slovak Filip Horansky 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in 2h 33m to move closer to his Grand Slam main draw debut. The Spaniard, who is the youngest player inside the top 200 ATP Rankings, won 75 per cent of his first-serve points (42/56) to beat the Slovak.
“When I lost the first set, in the second I start to play more aggressive than the first one, and, well, I did my routines, and I think I played a really good match. Very happy,” said yesterday Alcaraz after his win.
The Spaniard will face Russia’s Evgeny Karlovskiy in the second round, eyeing a place in the final round. Karlovskiy overcame a challenge from Argentine Facundo Mena defeating him 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in exact two hours.
China's Zhizhen Zhang preparing to serve against Evgeny Donskoy of Russia during his Australian Open 2021 Men’s Qualifiers round 1 match at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex
in Doha, yesterday. Pictures: Tennis Australia
Also shining yesterday was China’s Zhang who stunned ninth-seed Evgeny Donskoy of Russia 7-5, 6-3 in straight sets in only 1h 27m. World No. 169 Zhang fired six aces and six winners to outplay Donskoy, ranked 122 in the world rankings.
Ramkumar Ramanathan of India also recorded an upset yesterday when the World No. 188 sent 10th-seed and 125-ranked Facundo Bagnis of Argentina packing with a 7(8)-6(6), 7-5 victory.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Dustin Brown, Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen, and former world No.12 Viktor Troicki also advanced to the next stage of the qualifiers after recording contrasting wins yesterday.
Brown defeated Japan’s Hiroki Moriya 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 while Laaksonen beat German opponent Tobias Kamke 7-5, 6-3 in straight sets. After losing the first set, Troicki made a strong comeback to beat Austrian Jurij Rodionov 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.
But it was a tough day for 13the seeded Italian talent Lorenzo Musetti, who was shocked by Dutchman Botic Van De Zandschulp 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in 1h 56 minutes.
Van de Zandschulp will now face Joao Menezes in his next match. The Brazilian saved three match points in a second-set tie-break to defeat Andrea Collarini 1-6, 7-6(8), 6-3.
Czech ‘Next Gen Star’ Tomas Machac registered a 6-3, 6-1 win against Portugal’s Joao Domingues to stay on course of his Australian Open main draw debut. The 20-year-old will next face Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves, who overcame 30th seed Martin Klizan 6-1, 6-4.
The ticket-free tournament is open to all, and spectators will be allowed in on a first-come, first-served basis as only 30 percent stadium capacity is allowed in line with the essential health protocols and guidelines occasioned by the prevailing global COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament is being overseen by 64 line umpires, 18 chair umpires and five management officials drawn from across the world. The qualifying matches will continue today with more exciting matches on the cards.
