Murray dumped out by qualifier
Former world No 1 stunned by Japanese Taro Daniel in the second round of Oz Open; Raducanu and Muguruza ousted
MELBOURNE: Former world No 1 Andy Murray was stunned by Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel in straight sets in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday.
The 120th-ranked Daniel ambushed the three-time Grand Slam winner 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in 2 hours and 48 minutes on John Cain Arena to reach the third round of a major for the first time.
He will now face either Italian 11th seed Jannik Sinner or American Steve Johnson.
“Amazing level from me. I was getting pretty nervous in the third set, I was cramping a little bit, but I tried not to make too big a deal out of this match against Andy Murray,” Daniel said.
The 34-year-old Murray, ranked 113 and playing as a tournament wild card, didn’t stick around afterwards and walked quickly from the court, showing great disappointment at his lost opportunity.
Murray, who had a careersaving hip surgery in 2019, on Tuesday won his first match at the Australian Open since 2019.
But his five-set epic against big-hitting Georgian 21st seed Nikoloz Basilashvili left the veteran leaden-footed and he cut a frustrated figure at times, even changing his shoes at one point to stem the tide.
The 28-year-old Daniel exploited his illustrious rival’s lethargy and was quick around the court chasing down balls, while Murray was picking his battles. The Japanese broke Murray in the third game and was broken back in the sixth game with a backhand error. Daniel broke again when Murray double-faulted and served out the opening set with an ace.
Murray tried to stay in reach of Daniel, who broke again, and despite having four break-point chances, the Scot could not find a way to break back.
Daniel served out to love to take a two-set lead and magnify Murray’s task of wresting back control of the match.
Murray cranked up the pressure on Daniel and drew an error for 30-40 and break point. Daniel double-faulted for the first time in a show of the tension to give Murray the early ascendancy in the third set.
But Murray missed a crucial backhand in his next service game and Daniel pounced with a backhand down the line to break and level up the third set.
Daniel broke Murray’s serve again in the ninth game and served out for the match, winning it on his first of two match points.
Women’s seeds tumble
Garbine Muguruza was among several seeds to fall on a day of shocks at the Australian Open on Thursday.
Third seed Muguruza and sixth seed Anett Kontaveit both suffered second-round upsets in straight sets, opening up the bottom half of the women’s draw.
WTA Finals winner Muguruza struggled with her serve against 61st-ranked veteran Alize Cornet, losing 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour and 27 minutes.
“I am a bit of a dinosaur on the tour,” said Cornet, who turns 32 on Saturday. “I’ve been there for 16 years so I have played a lot of matches and faced a lot of situations that I have overcome.”
Kontaveit, seen by many as a serious title contender after a breakout 2021, committed 27 unforced errors as she was stunned 6-2, 6-4 by fast-rising Danish teenager Clara Tauson.
Reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu crashed out in the second round on Thursday as she struggled with blisters on her serving hand.
The 19-year-old, playing in her first main draw at Melbourne Park, looked on track when she raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set over Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic.
But the Briton needed a medical timeout for treatment on her right hand and could not stop Kovinic winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
World No 2 Aryna Sabalenka survived a complete service meltdown to rally for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Wang Xinyu and avoid joining an exodus of top women’s seeds early on Thursday at the Australian Open. Taking to court just after third seed Muguruza and sixth seed Kontaveit had crashed out, Sabalenka looked to be going the same way when she doublefaulted six times in her opening service game.
Her 12th double fault handed Chinese world No 100 Wang the opening set but even though the services errors continued, the Belarusian battled back to even up the contest on Rod Laver Arena.
Sabalenka had to rely on the rest of her game to keep her out of trouble as the double faults kept coming--there were 19 in all over the match--but ultimately progressed when Wang went long with a forehand.
“I already had a lot of experience playing without the serve, so I was just telling myself ‘you have enough shots to still win the match even if you cannot serve,’” Sabalenka said.
“This kind of mentality helped me to stay in the game and actually find my serve.”
Sabalenka, who served up 12 double faults as she came from a set down in her first round match against local wild card Storm Sanders on Tuesday, will face 2019 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova in the third round.
“It’s another tough opponent, I’ve played great matches against her,” said Sabalenka.
In the men’s draw, Australian wildcard Chris O’Connell continued the day of upsets with a straight-sets win over 13th seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-4.
World No 175 O’Connell, who has reached the third round of a Slam for the first time, faces America’s Maxime Cressy.
Misfiring Stefanos Tsitsipas survived a thorough examination by former world junior No 1 Sebastian Baez before taking his place in the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday.
The Greek world No 4 raced through a first-set tie breaker but struggled to put away the tigerish 88th-ranked Argentine before winning in four sets.
Tsitsipas wrapped up the match 7-6 (7/1), 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 in 3 hours and 22 minutes on Margaret Court Arena and will next face Frenchman Benoit Paire.
“It wasn’t easy. I’m glad I overcame that obstacle today. Lots of fighting, a little bit of swearing, but I’m glad to be in the third round,” Tsitsipas, who is yet to win a Grand Slam, said.
“It was a pretty hot day today playing here, but I tried to play with the heart and it paid out at the end.”
Tsitsipas, a two-time semi-finalist in Melbourne, struggled for fluency and was often cussing and frustrated by his mistiming off the racquet among his flurry of 63 unforced errors.
“I feel like I’m getting physically better in every single one of my matches,” Tsitsipas said.
“My elbow hasn’t been bothering me since Sydney. I see a very good progression since then, and I’m happy to be able to play that way.”
Tsitsipas had break points in Baez’s first two service games, but did not convert any of them.
Baez struck first, breaking the Greek in the ninth game when Tsitsipas’s forehand was wide.
Tsitsipas broke back straight away and steamed away in the tiebreaker with three minibreaks, mixed up with some wonderful backhands and bullet precision serving.
The second set went to another tiebreaker and Tsitsipas worked his way to a 5-3 lead only for Baez to string together the next five points and level the match with a forehand winner.
Tsitsipas rattled through a double break to sprint to a 5-0 lead in the third set, but struggled to see it out, getting broken after holding three set points.
He finally claimed the set on his fourth set point but was having trouble with timing off the racquet. Tsitsipas again stepped it up in the fourth set with an early break.
Tsitsipas became the first Greek player to reach a Grand Slam final when he lost to Novak Djokovic in last year’s French Open final after leading by two sets.
He also holds the distinction of beating both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on his way to his semi-final appearances at the Australian Open.