Murray breezes through, Kyrgios booed in stormy defeat

Melbourne, January 18 

Top seed Andy Murray sped into the Australian Open third round today but bad boy Nick Kyrgios was booed and accused of not trying as he crashed to a stormy defeat.

Roger Federer progressed despite unexpected resistance and women’s world No. 1 Angelique Kerber celebrated her 29th birthday with a hard-fought win.

Murray painfully rolled an ankle and needed treatment in the third set against Russian qualifier Andrey Rublev, but he shook off the problem to win 6-3 6-0 6-2.

While the world No. 1 cruised, Kyrgios stood accused of tanking, or giving up, during his 1-6 6-7(1) 6-4 6-2 10-8 loss to Andreas Seppi.

Kyrgios, who is returning from a ban for “lack of best efforts” in a match in Shanghai, played lethargically and casually, especially in the fifth set. “Obviously it’s not the greatest thing to hear,” he said of the booing. “I didn’t have the best preparation coming into the Australian Open. Pretty banged up, my body. I don’t even know what the score was in the end. Was it 10-8? 10-8 in the fifth, getting booed off, definitely not the best feeling.”

Tennis legend John McEnroe said Kyrgios’s lack of effort was a “black eye for the sport”. Kyrgios explained his “body was sore, I was hurting”. He  retorted to McEnroe’s comments with: “I mean, John McEnroe. Good on him. Great career. Good on him.” Asked how he could have been better prepared, Kyrgios, who hurt his knee playing basketball, said: “I don’t know, maybe just not play as much basketball.”

Earlier Federer was made to work by 200th-ranked Noah Rubin for a 7-5 6-3 7-6(3) win that set up a third-round assignment against his old rival Tomas Berdych.

“I know what he’s got. I don’t need to tell you where he’s beaten me,” Federer said of Berdych. “Then again I’ve played him here, played him on many occasions, as well, when it went my way.”

Happy birthday

Federer wasn’t the only leading player challenged in the second round as Kerber, the defending champion, dropped a set against world No. 89 Carina Witthoeft. Kerber won 6-2 6-7(3) 6-2 before being treated to a rendition of “Happy Birthday” by the Rod Laver Arena crowd.

Venus Williams continued her smooth progress when she beat qualifier Stefanie Voegele 6-3 6-2. Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova thrashed Australian wildcard Jaimee Fourlis 6-2 6-1 to set up a third-round clash with 31-year-old Serb Jelena Jankovic.

In the men’s draw, Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori marched into the third round alongside former finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, with both winning in straight sets.

Stan Wawrinka, the 2014 winner, recovered from his tetchy five-setter with Martin Klizan to beat Steve Johnson 6-3 6-4 6-4.

And Britain’s Dan Evans claimed the highest-ranked scalp of his career when he stunned former US Open champion Marin Cilic, the world No. 7. — AFP

Indians make good start, big-game hunter in plain chothes, long matches and mama’s smile

Sania, Bops enter Round 2

Sania Mirza and Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova recorded a resounding 6-3 6-1 win over the British pair of Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith in the women’s doubles event. Rohan Bopanna and Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas, seeded 15th, pipped Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci and Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez 6-4 7-6(4) in the men’s doubles.

Federer on long fifth sets at Grand Slams

“It destroys your tournament usually because you just put so much mental effort into it, either just holding serve in that fifth set 10 times, 20 times, 30 times, 40 times, whatever it is. I’m fine with the way it is. If they change it, they change it. I see the problems for down the road in the tournament, how they must feel,” said Roger Federer. 

Evans explains his attire

“I’m just out of contract with Nike. They didn’t offer me another contract. I just went to the store and bought a load of clothes the other day... I went back this morning to buy some more, so... They’re not the best quality. To sweat in and wash them,” said Britain’s Dan Evans after beating seventh seed Marin Cilic 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-3.

Mischa Zverev emerges from Isner trance to progress, says mother’s smile helped him through

Tennis players have come to dread being caught up in the phenomenon known as the ‘Isner trance’ — as Germany’s Mischa Zverev discovered on Wednesday. Ever since John Isner emerged victorious from ‘the endless match’ at Wimbledon in 2010 — when he beat Nicolas Mahut in a three-day, 183-game epic lasting over 11 hours — the American has left a string of opponents feeling dazed and confused. On Day 3 in Melbourne, Zverev was sucked into a whirlwind for over four hours, lost his bearings and lost track of the score against the tall American. He somehow survived the ordeal to reach the third round with a 6-7(4) 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(7) 9-7 triumph over Isner. “Honestly, I just felt weird. At times I didn’t even know the score. I think in the fourth (set) I had love-40 on his serve and I didn’t know that,” said the 29-year-old, whose younger brother Alexander made the second round on Tuesday. Zverev relied on one person to save his day. “I kept looking to my box. Everybody is kind of nervous. My mum is the only one smiling and laughing the whole time. She’s like ‘Whatever, it’s going to be fine.’ I think that helped me a lot.”