Nadal advances as Tomic retires, Federer through
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Roger Federer was as cool as usual in his straight-set opening win over Australian wildcard entry James Duckworth yesterday, his first under the supervision of new coach Stefan Edberg.
Federer started his record 57th consecutive grand slam tournament with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win over Duckworth.
Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro joined Federer and Andy Murray as players advancing in a loaded top side of the men’s draw.
Two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka also advanced, describing the Rod Laver Arena surface as “like you’re dancing in a frying pan.”
Azarenka had a 7-6 (2), 6-2 win over No. 91-ranked Johanna Larsson of Sweden.
Four-time major winner Maria Sharapova beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-4 just before midnight when the temperature had dipped from 42 degrees Celsius to a relatively cool 30 C.
Bernard Tomic of Australia retired from his night match against Nadal after losing the first set 4-6 due to a groin injury, prompting boos from the crowd, and No. 13 John Isner lost two sets before retiring with a troublesome right ankle.
Tomic called a medical timeout after three games and twice more before he quit.
“I know how tough is this situation, I had the same a few years ago at this tournament,” Nadal said of Tomic’s injury. “Since the beginning, I saw a little bit he had some problems on the leg.”
The longest match of the day lasted 4 hours, 32 minutes. No. 18 Gilles Simon beat Daniel Brands 6-7 (4), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 16-14 despite coming into the tournament with an injured ankle.
No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro rallied for a 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over US qualifier Rhyne Williams.
Former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt lost in five sets to No. 24-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy only a week after beating Federer in the Brisbane International final.
No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 2008 Australian finalist, advanced with No. 11 Milos Raonic, No. 16 Kei Nishikori, No. 22 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 31 Fernando Verdasco.
American Sloane Stephens, who beat Serena Williams in the quarterfinals here last year, defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6 (1), 6-3 and 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and 19th seed was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
No. 5 Agnieszka Radwanzka, No. 8 Jelena Jankovic, No. 10 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 11 Simona Halep, No. 16 Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 20 Dominika Cibulkova and American Christina McHale all advanced.
In her first grand slam match since her New Year’s Eve engagement to golfer Rory McIlroy, former No. 1-ranked Wozniackidid everything she could to keep cool. The Dane raced to a 6-0, 6-2 win over Lourdes Dominguez Lino, then sat on her bench, pulled the ring from her tennis bag and slipped it on her finger.
An on-court interviewer asked her to hold it up for the crowd and recount the proposal, which she said was very traditional. “He asked my parents,” Wozniacki said. “He went down on one knee.”
And he chose her favorite number in carats which explains the ring’s impressive size. Asked what her favorite number was, she said, “It’s also the Chinese lucky number. It’s eight.”
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