Australian Open: Nadal Beats Kyrgios, Wawrinka is Back

The first day of the second week at the Australian Open brought one very interesting match and one big sensation. Rafael Nadal defeated Nick Kyrgios in the final and the most anticipated contest of the day, while Stanislaw Wawrinka shocked the fans beating No.4 sees Daniil Medvedev.

Nadal Outpowers Kyrgios

It was matched in which both players sent thunders to the opposite side of the net. Powerfull strokes, hard serves, and the relentless fight, was what these two stars provided to the crowd at the Rod Laver Arena.

Eventually, Nadal won with 3-1 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4).

“It was a very tough match,” Nadal told former World No. 1, John McEnroe, in an on-court interview. “In the beginning, I was in control, but you’re never in control against Nick. When I made the mistake on serve in the second set, with one serve of mine, it was so difficult to break him again.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgZtY_EwyCg

In the last set, Nadal had a break more, and a service to close the match, but Kyrgios got back, leveling the score and grabbing the momentum. However, that wasn’t enough for him to take the whole set.

Rafa will take on Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals. The Austrian beat Gael Monfils earlier today in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. The two met twice in the Roland Garros finals, and Nadal has a 9-4 edge over Thiem

Sensational Wawrinka Routs Medvedev

Stan the Man, as the fans call the Swiss champion, created the biggest surprise today, by beating the fourth-seed Daniil Medvedev 6-2 2-6 4-6 7-6(2) 6-2 after five sets and a comeback, which deserves to be a highlight of the day. Almost nobody believed that the 2014 Australian Open winner might turn the contest after losing the third set.

However, he showed fantastic composure and mental strength and deserved to take this one.

‘It’s amazing to keep playing here, at that level … won my first Grand Slam here, always going to be special,” said Wawrinka during the on-court interview.

Alexander Zverev stopped Andrey Rublev and his streak of 15 consecutive wins. The German player with Russian origins, easily routed his rival in straight sets, winning all three parts of the event with 6-4.

The two are friends since childhood and was fin to watch their battle. Yet, there isn’t any particular thrill here, because Zverev controlled everything on the court, and there weren’t too many problems for him.

In the ladies part of the tournament, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Angelique Kerber with 6-7(5) 7-6(4) 6-2, after a gladiator battle. The Russian had 71 winners in this event, which is a stunning statistic.

It was a crazy match in which Pavlyuchenkova lost a 5-2 advantage in the first set and a 3-0 edge in the tiebreak of the same but managed to come back and to advance to the quarterfinals. This is going to be her third in the previous four years.

“It was extremely tough, and I was a couple of points away from losing the match, so I’m really happy to be standing here right now,” said Pavlyuchenkova.

Garbine Muguruza beat Kiki Bertens with 6-3, 6-3 without any particular troubles, and she will face Pavlyuchenkova in the next stage.

Simona Halep easily routed Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-4, and will compete with Annett Kontaveit for the place in the semifinals. The Estonian player had an extremely exhausting matchup against Iga Swiatek. She would lose the opening set after a tiebreak but won the next two, 7-5, 7-5.

Australian Open challenges continue tomorrow.