The Australian Open did not disappoint on day 2 as we were able to watch some great matches. As we started with the men’s draw on day 1, I will summarize the ladies matches first today.

In the ladies draw it started off with a win for Noskova as she got the better of Bouzkova the 31st seed in straight sets 6-1; 7-5. The 19th seed, Svitolina who is one of 8 ladies who are currently moms managed to easily beat Preston in a 6-2; 6-2 win to book her spot in the 2nd round. Yastremska, who managed to win all 3 of her qualifying matches to qualify for the Australian Open, beat last years Wimbledon champion and 7th seed Vondrousova in a thumping win of 6-1; 6-2. The Ukrainian locked in 11 points to the 1 team who picked her. The 4th seed and US Open champion, Gauff lost just 3 games on her way to the 2nd round. The 23rd seed, Potapova, was dispatched of by Juvan in straight sets while Siegemund continued her run of good form from the United cup to beat 17th seed, Alexandrova in a 3rd set 10 point tiebreaker. The final score being 11-9 in the breaker. Pavlyuchenkova who has made the final in a grand slam before beat 21st seed, Vekic, in a comfortable 6-4; 6-4 win. Swiss player, Golubic, who has a habit of beating seeds continued that habit as she beat 15th seed, Kudermetova in a 3 set encounter. Jabeur looked mightily impressive as she dispatched of Stardubtsewa in straight sets and Badosa also looked the part as she beat Townsend 6-1; 6-3 to book her spot in the 2nd round. Haddad Maia the 10th seeded Brazilian survived a scare as she beat Fruhvirtova 6-2; 3-6; 6-2 to book her spot in the 2nd round. The last seed to fall on day 2 was the 24th seed, Kalinina who was heavily beaten by Rus. Rus dropping just 1 game in the encounter. Andreeva booked her spot in the 2nd round with a 7-5; 6-2 win while 16th seed, Garcia beat 2 time Australian Open champion, Naomi Osaka in an impressive straight sets win, 6-4; 7-6(2) to round off the day for the ladies.

In the mens draw there were some more cracking matches. Ruusuvuori, Gaston and Musetti all managed to win their matches in 4 sets in the early part of day 2. 18th seed, Jarry who has been playing some good tennis of late lost in his opening match against Cobolli in 5 sets. The score was 7-5 in the 5th to the unseeded Italian. 29th seed, Korda nearly squandered a 2 set to love lead but managed to recover to take the 5th set 6-2 to beat Kopriva in 5 sets and book his spot in the 2nd round. Medvedev had to come back from a set down in his opening fixture. His opponent eventually retiring in the 4th set. Shelton, Davidovich Fokina, Popyrin, Mensik, Zhang and Eubanks all came through their matches in straight sets and book their spots in the 2nd round. Mannarinno who recently entered into the top 20 in the world had to come back from a 2 set to 1 deficit to beat Wawrinka in 5 sets. The Frenchman running away with it in the 5th set as he took the final set 6-0. Tsitsipas was another seed who started off by losing the opening set before making reasonably light work of Bergs who was a lucky loser after the withdrawal of Berrettini. Etcheverry made Murray look easy to beat as the Argentine beat Murray 6-4; 6-2; 6-2. 2 tough matches ended the day. Struff came through in a 5th set 10 point breaker 10-8 to beat Australian Hijikata. 27th seed, Felix Auger-Aliassime led Dominic Thiem 2 sets to love and 5-2 in the 3rd set tiebreaker. The Canadian however won the match in 5 sets as Thiem managed to take the 3rd and 4th sets. A great encounter between 2 players who have struggled to find a win in recent grand slams.

Now we head into the leaderboard chat. Our leaders on day 2 managed to move up a whopping 58 places. Well done to ‘Tramline’ who lead the way on 45 points. ‘Aussie Guess’ slipped up 10 places and now sit on 43 points and in 2nd place. ‘Pensioner’s Choice’ remained in 3rd even with many teams moving around them. ‘Simply Smashing’, ‘Left is best’ and ‘The one with the Win’ all sit in a joint 4th on 39 points. ‘Match Point’ is currently our wooden spoon leader.

Matches to watch on day 3:

• Kasatkina(14) vs Stearns (02:00)
• Swiatek(1) vs Kenin (03:00)
• Collins vs Kerber (04:00)
• Giorgi vs Azarenka(18) (05:00)
• Ostapenko(11) vs Birell (05:15)
• Zheng(12) vs Krueger (07:15)
• Raducanu vs Rogers (07:15)
• Rybakina(3) vs Pliskova (10:00)
• Martic vs Tomljanovic (10:00)
• Marino vs Pegula(5) (12:00)

• Fils vs Vesely (02:00)
• Norrie(19) vs Varillas (02:00)
• Safuillin vs Griekspoor(28) (02:00)
• Zapata Miralles vs Lehecka(32) (02:00)
• Ramos-Vinolas vs Ruud(11) (03:00)
• Giron vs Draper (03:15)
• Dimitrov(13) vs Fucsovics (03:15)
• Rune(8) vs Nishioka (05:00)
• Evans vs Sonego (06:30)
• Zverev(6) vs Koepfer (10:00)
• Gasquet vs Alcaraz(2) (11:15)

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a fantasy organiser.