Early Sunday morning the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, the Australian Open, began in Melbourne. The fifth seed of the tournament, Russian Andrei Rublev, faced the world’s number 78 racket, Brazilian Thiago Wilde, in the first round match.
The first two games went to the Russian 7:5, 6:4, but then the Brazilian managed to change the course of the match and first won the third set 6:3 and then equalized the score in games 6:4. .
In the decisive set, the rivals reached the tiebreaker, where Rublev still managed to snatch the victory 7:6 (10/6). The match lasted almost four hours.
Another Russian, Pavel Kotov, achieved his first victory in Grand Slam tournaments. In five matches he defeated the Frenchman Arthur Rinderkneche. Unfortunately, Alexander Shevchenko lost at the start, unable to overcome the resistance of Spaniard Jaume Munyar 3:6, 3:6, 1:6.
In the women’s category, Maria Timofeeva, who beat the experienced Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6:2, 6:4, as well as Camilla Rakhimova, who beat the American Emina Bektash 6:4, 6:4, advanced to the second round. Elina Avanesyan defeated China’s Zhuoxuan Bai 4:6, 7:5, 6:2.
Russia’s strongest tennis player Lyudmila Samsonova disappointed her fans by sensationally losing to American Amanda Anisimova.
