Australian Open 2017 Day 4: We have had a scintillating day’s performance at the Rod Laver Arena and its adjacent courts in Melbourne where the year’s first Grand Slam is going on in full flow. A number of expected wins and a few shock defeats lit up the day at Melbourne. Rafael Nadal was at his best when he defeated his opponent in straight sets, but the biggest shock came in the day when Novak Djokovic lost out in the second round tie.
Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Australian Open 2017 losing out to the Uzbekistan tennis ace Denis Istomin in a marathon five-setter. The scoreline reads 7 (10) -6 (8), 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in favour of the Uzbek at the end of the four hours fifty minutes long encounter. The six-time Australian Open champion was left reeling in the end as he was shocked by some incredible display of tennis from the 30-year old. This is one of the biggest shocks that the world of tennis has come across in recent times. Not only that, this defeat comes as one of the earliest exits from the tournament for the Serbian tennis ace Djokovic. In fact, it is for the first time since 2008 Wimbledon that the former world number 1 has gone out of the tournament as early as in the second round.
However, Nadal showed his class yet again as he wiped away the challenge of Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus who advanced to the second courtesy to a walkover from Mikhail Youzhny in the first round. Nadal had it easy in the end as he finished off the match in relatively quick time with the scoreline reading 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 in his favour.
Yet another shock defeat came in the women’s section in the Australian Open 2017 Day 4, where Agnieszka Radwanska was shown the door by 34-year old German Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. The scoreline reads 6-3, 6-2 in favour of the German and as the scoreline states, Lucic-Baroni had it easy in the end. Radwanska did not look extremely comfortable in the first round match against Pironkova and had eventually lost out in the second round.
Among the other matches, we have come across some expected results. Second-seeded Serena Williams had it easy against Safarova as she won it in straight sets. The scoreline reads 6-3, 6-4 in favour of the American. Sixth-seeded Dominica Cibulkova got better of Hsieh with the scoreline 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) while Carolina Wozniacki beat Vekic 6-1, 6-3 in straight sets.
In the men’s singles, Grigor Dimitrov escaped a slight slip up against Chung in the Australian Open 2017 Day 4 as he lost the first set, but eventually came out on top with a scoreline 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Richard Gasquet also had it easy against Berlocq as he lost only three games in the match which ended very quickly with the score reading 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.
Tomorrow we have a number of exciting encounters lined up. And for all the latest updates on the Australian Open 2017, keep your eyes on this thread.
