Brits packing quite a punch Down Under
IT MAY be through gritted teeth but even the Aussies are having to admit the Poms are making their mark here at the Australian Open.
Recognition like that is hard won, but after another day of victories and success for the British contingent – three wins out of four – the Old Country now has five players safely through to the second round. That has not happened since 1987, the era of Jeremy Bates and Jo Durie.
This morning, Andy Murray will be the Brit pack’s standard bearer as he plots a course around Andrey Rublev and into the third round.
The 19-year-old Russian is ranked No152 in the world and reached the main draw through the qualifying competition. More used to playing on the Challenger circuit, he did not sound too optimistic about his chances today.
“I am not even on the ATP Tour yet,” said Rublev. “I am still No152, which means it is always tough to play in good tournaments.
“Next for me, I think it is going to be a Challenger in France.”
The son of a boxerturned-restaurateur, Rublev has been around sportsmen since he was born and cut his teeth in a boxing gym. That was when he was not hanging around the tennis courts with his mother, Marina Marenko, who worked as a tennis coach.
“All my life she was teaching – since I was born I had a racket,” said Rublev. “My dad was a boxer – I was even doing boxing as well.”
Rublev will be punching above his weight today against the best player in the world. But where Murray leads, the rest of the British players are happy to follow.
Johanna Konta, the champion in Sydney last week, started Britain’s charge yesterday with an impressive, powerful and clinical 7-5, 6-2 win over Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens.
By winning in Sydney, Konta has reinforced her position in the world’s top 10.
“When any player is playing someone who is top 10, there’s a freedom that comes with that,” she said.
“So I’m now having to be ready for opponents who bring a new level, who come with inspired tennis. That’s a privilege I’m getting used to and hopefully I’ll have it for a long time to come.”
She now plays Naomi Osaka from Japan.
Heather Watson followed the same path on the same court a couple of hours later, outlasting and outwitting Sam Stosur, the home favourite and the 2011 US Open champion to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.
“I was just fighting for every point,” said Watson. “We had some really long games, especially the one at 3-0, and I was just really pleased how I stuck it out and fought for every point.”
After Dan Evans progressed into the second round on Monday, Kyle Edmund muscled his way to a 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Columbia’s Santiago Giraldo, treating the 35C temperature as if it were no more than an English spring day. Last year, he struggled with the searing Australian heat; this year he is stronger. And he is in the second round to play Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.
Naomi Broady was the only British casualty, beaten 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 by Daria Gavrilova from Australia.
Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams all advanced without dropping a set. They are making the headlines in the Melbourne papers but the British are coming, with Andy Murray leading the charge.
CROATIA’S Ivo Karlovic won the longest fifth set in the history of Australian Open singles to beat Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos 6-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 22-20. Karlovic hit 75 aces, smashing the tournament’s previous record of 51 set by Thomas Johansson in
2005.