The good, the bad, the fun of Day 1 at the Aus Open

Managed to make it through the first day as for how to describe it. The best way would be a mixture of a few things some fun moments, some good play, some turgid stuff and the surprising. As per usual this report has been contributed by a few people as I don't have eyes everywhere.

Seppi vs. Istomin

In a surprise to whole lot of no one this match went the distance as their previous 4 Slam meetings did. Surprisingly Istomin and Seppi are evenly matched just a question of who executes better on the day. At the start there wasn't much in between them just a dumb service game from Seppi cost him the first set.

The main differences between the two are that Seppi moves better and is better on the forehand side whereas Istomin has a better serve. This time Seppi came in with some better form and after the first set always felt he was in the match. Seppi started to make more inroads into Istomin's service games then the momentum was able to shift. Apart from the first and final set, both guys weren't able to play well at the same time. Seppi was more solid and was able to take his chances when on offer.

You know the grounds are packed when it was almost impossible to seat on court 22 to watch this match, though this maybe because of the sexiness that radiates from "The South Tyrolean Sex Machine" that is Andreas Seppi.


Seppi winning

Anderson vs. Schwartzmann

Yes, Diego Schwartzmann aka Blackman is smaller than many of the ballkids but his ball striking was excellent. It was just that Big Kevin Anderson was able to serve his way out of trouble on most occasions, like anything have to make the most with what you have and Schwartzmann does that.

He had a chance to go set point up on his serve as Anderson miss timed a high volley and Schwartzmann missed with the passing shot once he did that his chance was lost at winning this match. He needed to win the first set to have a realistic chance of doing so but he gave big Anderson enough of a challenge to keep him interested.

Kavčič vs. Duckworth

It's quite difficult to say too much positive overall about this match. Duckworth played well for the first set and a half, Kavčič didn't play well at all and the overall standard wasn't very high. Their 2013 match in the blistering heat was of higher quality than this.

Duckworth, think he needs to do more bench press but seriously he served very well in the first set and a bit, but from the ground he has played much better though his backhand was solid and stepped into the court. Nicest thing I can say about Kavčič's performance was that he was able to make the match last 5 sets. Definitely wasn't on his game seemed bothered the whole time wasn't hitting the ball, he was muscling it for most of the match.

Kavčič took the 2nd set slightly against the run of the play, then he started cramping in the 3rd set. The tiebreaker was hilarious as Duckworth raced off to a 5-0 lead then Kavčič actually for the only time in the match is aggressive and through this aggression gets a set point. However after a strong serve he gets a weak mid court ball which has bury me into the open court written all over it. Needless to say Kavčič was way too tight and dumps the ball in the bottom of the net and Ducky takes the set.

Fourth set Duckworth was cramping not running down balls and Kavčič takes it easily. At the change of ends the trainer attends to Ducky twice for a massage to relieve cramps, either Kavčič didn't know the rule that it's allowed twice or chose not to take it. Once Ducky got the early break in the 5th, the fork was stuck into Kavčič.


Duckworth

Duckworth deserved to win the match as he stepped up when needed and was the aggressor on most occasions. As for Kavčič it wasn't a good performance too passive out there. It's not an issue losing because you're outplayed but dumping easy mid court balls into the net on set point when struggling doesn't help your case. It was an occasion where he had to grind out a win not playing well, but he wasn't up to it.

Leo Mayer vs. Millman

Credit to Millman for sticking it out after being hampered, but at the same time he was being outplayed The Aligator Mayer who has a big but effective game. In the first set everything was going in but Millman not wanting to retire in his home Slam after what he has been through injury wise was not troubling Mayer beforehand let alone afterwards. Thankfully in the last set he was not bagelled and stuck it out.

This is how it works, if a player stays on the court to the end and doesn't retire then the injury excuse is null and void. If it's that bad, then you don't play on. Hope it's nothing serious for Millman but as long as he gets a whole season without any long term injuries he should be top 100 comfortably.


Rosol vs. De Schepper

Daddy Rosol is clearly undone and struggled hard to defeat the French Karlovic. Though to be fair De Schepper has got leaner, meaner and is able to keep the ball in play longer than when he first came on tour where he was quite awful from the baseline.


Rosol

Rosol managed to serve fairly well under pressure in the last 2 sets and keep de Schepper off balance. There was a pretty good crowd for this match and the match point was funny. Last year Rosol was ripped off on a call on his match point against Robredo which he then went on to lose. This time Rosol hit a ball long and it was not called by linesperson or overruled from the chair. King Kenny just sat down in the court refusing to believe what happened and sat on the court pleading for a minute in a case that he would never win.

Next round match with the "Hebrew Hammer" Dudi Sela should be interesting.

Jaziri vs. Kukushkin

Goran Ivanisevic is helping Jaziri at this event and for all of the volatility of Ivanisevic as a player he is very calm as a coach. He was very encouraging to Jaziri and not getting animated at all.

Kuku was a little tired from Sydney but Jaziri did what any good player should do that's step it up and take advantage of the heavy legs of Kuku with a good mix of big forehands, some slice backhands which he managed to hit with good depth and volleying at the right time.

Jaziri stormed the first two sets, then Kuku starts to play better in he 3rd moving Jaziri around with precise strokes and forcing the Tunisian to defend which he wasn't doing so well.

The 4th set was the key as if Kuku took the 4th it was pretty clear that he'd run away with the 5th set. The fact that Jaziri saved 6 set points and was able to hold serve gave him the mental boost he needed. Once they got to the tiebreak Jaziri was creating and taking his chances and won an excellent match with some clean hitting.


Jaziri

Jaziri went to hug Goran after the match and the crowd that were left were singing "Happy Birthday Malek" after he won the match and that's a good point to finish this daily report.