The 2024 Australian Open is underway, starting on Sunday to spread the opening first-round matches over the first three days for the first time.
Defending champion and top-speed Novak Djokovic was the main star in action and his match was a stern test, pushing him to his limits before he prevailed 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 in just over four hours.
Other seeds in action included Jannik Sinner who came through in straight sets, while Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz survived five-set scares before progressing.
You can see the opening day results below.
Day One 2024 Australian Open Round of 128 Results
| Winner | Loser | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|
| Novak Djokovic (1) | Dino Prizmic (Q) | 6-2 5-7 6-3 6-4 |
| Jannik Sinner (4) | Botic van de Zandschulp | 6-4 7-5 6-3 |
| Andrey Rublev (5) | Thiago Seyboth Wild | 7-5 6-4 3-6 4-6 7-6(6) |
| Taylor Fritz (12) | Facundo Diaz Acosta | 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-2 6-4 |
| Frances Tiafoe (17) | Borna Coric | 6-3 7-6(7) 2-6 6-3 |
| Francisco Cerundolo (22) | Dane Sweeny (Q) | 3-6 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-2 |
| Sebastian Baez (26) | J.J. Wolf | 3-6 6-2 6-3 3-0 |
| Matteo Arnaldi | Adam Walton (WC) | 7-6(5) 6-2 6-4 |
| Jesper de Jong (Q) | Pedro Cachin | 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-4 |
| Daniel Elahi Galan | Jason Kubler (WC) | 2-6 6-3 7-6(3) 4-6 7-6(8) |
| Quentin Halys | Lloyd Harris (Q) | 4-6 7-6(5) 7-5 7-6(2) |
| Pavel Kotov | Arthur Rinderknech | 7-5 6-1 6-6 7-6 5-7 6-3 |
| Tomas Machac | Shintaro Mochizuki (LL) | 7-5 6-1 7-5 |
| Fabian Marozsan | Marin Cilic | 6-1 2-6 6-2 7-5 |
| Jaume Munar | Alexander Shevchenko | 6-3 6-3 6-1 |
| Christopher O’Connell | Cristian Garin | 3-6 7-5 4-6 6-1 7-5 |
Sinner Starts Strong
Jannik Sinner, carrying forward his top-quality form from 2023, made a solid enough start to his Australian Open campaign, overcoming Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4 7-5 6-3.
This year’s tournament has an additional day for first-round matches, so Sinner was one of Sunday’s early matches and although not a flawless performance, he set the tone early with an immediate break.
From there he was always the stronger of the two, but several forehand errors and the occasional drop in level prevented it from being a total clinic and he will need to improve once stronger opposition presents itself.
I feel like I started off actually really well, for the first match. Then I had some moments where I made a couple of wrong choices, but this can happen… To be honest, it was a positive opening match. I feel like best-of-five can help me a little bit. You stay on court a little bit longer. You get to play a little bit longer, which is what I like to do. Then we see in the next rounds what’s coming. Sinner on his 1st Round win.
Rublev Takes The Scenic Route
After landing his 15th career title in Hong Kong last week, Andrey Rublev was a strong favourite for a straightforward first-round win over Thiago Seyboth Wild.
However, the Brazilian, who took out his compatriot Danil Medvedev in the first round of last year’s French Open, had other ideas, embroiling the fifth seed in a five-set marathon.
Initially leading by two sets, Rublev looked well on the way into round 2, but Seyboth Wild hit back, forcing Rublev to muster all his resilience to edge through 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(10-6) in 3 hours and 43 minutes.
After letting four match points slip away on Seyboth Wild’s serve at 5-6 in the final set, three of which were at 0/40., Rublev slipped to a 2/5 deficit in the tiebreak but managed to regroup, triumphing on his fifth match point.
I started to have this feeling for sure it was going to happen to me. Almost all of the fifth set, every game at least one or two times I was thinking about what happened to Daniil because the fifth set I was inside completely panicking. But still, I was serving well on the fifth set. The serve helped me a lot because all the fifth set I think he didn’t have any chances. All the games were 40/15 or 40/0. That is the only thing that helped me a lot. Rublev on Seyboth Wild who defeated Medvedev in R1 at the 2023 French Open.
Djokovic Overcomes Early Test
Novak Djokovic embarked on his quest for an unprecedented 11th Australian Open title with a hard-fought 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 win over Dino Prizmic.
I’ve seen a few matches and practice sessions of the Croatian Qualifier so I knew it wasn’t a walk in the park, but to see Djokovic pushed to the limits in a marathon match that lasted four hours and one minute was a surprise.
Prizmic who was playing his first main-draw berth at a major, showcased skills that belied his age, ranking and experience, particularly in the second and third sets as he matched Djokovic stroke for stroke from the baseline, even breaking Djokovic’s serve early in the third set to lead 3-2.
However, we all know Djokovic can elevate his game under pressure and after recovering from the break he shifted gears to dominate the next eight games, extinguishing Prizmic’s hopes for the upset en route to winning his longest first-round match at a Grand Slam in his illustrious career.
He deserved every applause, every credit he got tonight. This could have easily been his match as well. He was up a break in the third and showed incredible fight even when down in the fourth set. His resilience and mentality were impressive. Djokovic on Prizmic’s level.
Australian Open Day 2 Round of 128 Matches
- Roberto Carballés Baena vs Hugo Gaston (LL)
- Flavio Cobolli (Q) vs Nicolás Jarry (18)
- Sebastian Korda (29) vs Vit Kopriva (Q)
- Patrick Kypson (WC) vs Emil Ruusuvuori
- Lorenzo Musetti (25) vs Benjamin Bonzi
- Tayeb Atmane (Q) vs Daniil Medvedev (3)
- Roberto Bautista Agut vs Ben Shelton (16)
- James Duckworth (WC) vs Luca Van Assche
- Constant Lestienne vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (23)
- Adrian Mannarino (20) vs Stan Wawrinka
- Alexei Popyrin vs Marc Polmans (WC)
- Zizou Bergs (LL) vs Stefanos Tsitsipas (7)
- Denis Shapovalov vs Jakub Mensik (Q)
- Aleksandar Vukic vs Jordan Thompson
- Daniel Altmaier vs Karen Khachanov (15)
- Christopher Eubanks vs Taro Daniel
- Yannick Hanfmann vs Gaël Monfils
- Maximilian Marterer vs Nuno Borges
- Andy Murray vs Tomás Etcheverry (30)
- Alejandro Tabilo vs Aleksandar Kovacevic (Q)
- Rinky Hijikata (WC) vs Jan-Lennard Struff (24)
- Ugo Humbert (21) vs David Goffin (Q)
- Miomir Kecmanović vs Yosuke Watanuki
- Alexandre Muller vs Hugo Grenier (Q)
- Zhizhen Zhang vs Federico Coria
- Omar Jasika (Q) vs Hubert Hurkacz (9)
- Alex de Minaur (10) vs Milos Raonic
- Félix Auger-Aliassime (27) vs Dominic Thiem
What are your thoughts after Day 1 at the 2024 Australian Open? Let me know in the comments.
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