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The top three seeds and the best troika on the planet roared their way into the 2nd round of the Aussie Open. While Nole double bageled his opponent for a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 win, the other two showed relatively more mercy on their opponents who must have felt lucky to just stay on the court with these legends.
Nole showed the variety that he has added to his game in the off season as he came to the net pretty often and finished off points very well. His attitude was very casual on the court and his opponents could just try to save some face instead of trying hard to win the match. The match was over within 92 mins and the people’s champ indulged the crowd by thanking for their support before walking away satisfied with his complete dominance of his poor qualifier opponent Paolo Lorenzi.
Federer was having a match on his hands in the first set against Russian Alexander Kudryavtsev and just when we thought it could be another of those tricky first round matches for a top seed, Federer stepped on the gas to sail into the second round 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. This match lasted 98 mins. Federer had 14 aces and as always he used his serve to win free points. He was also satisfied with the way his back was holding up. Kudryavtsev finally qualified for a major after 11 failed attempts over the past 4 yrs and unfortunately he meets the Fed in his very first round.
Spaniard Nadal took 106 mins to get past American Alex Kuznetsov. The final scoreline was 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 in favor of the 2nd seeded 2009 champion. There was a major scare for Nadal before the start of the match about a crack in his right knee, but the heavily strapped knee help up well as his over-matched opponent was blown away. Rafa had 42 winners and his serve was never broken while he broke his opponent 6 times. Nadal will next meet the oldest man left in the draw, Tommy Haas, the 33 yrs old German in the 2nd round. Nadal sounds optimistic that his knee will stand him in good stead over the coming fortnight as he attempts to lift his 2nd title here.
