The Best Moments from the 1st Week at the 2015 Australian Open
It was a brilliant first week in Melbourne at the Australian Open, with enough shocks to keep everyone on their toes, ample hotly contested encounters to keep everyone entertained and—importantly for the latter stages—most of the big names making it through to keep everyone intrigued.
As with any sporting competition, however, it tends to be isolated matches and moments that stay within the memory.
As such, we count down the five finest matches and themes—and moments within them—of a thrilling first week of the first Slam of the year.
Honourable Mentions
1 of 6
As with any compilation, there are always unfortunate near-misses.
Venus Williams may feel hard done by not to feature, but in truth she had not particularly surprised anyone until her three-set victory over Agnieszka Radwanska yesterday sealed her first Slam quarter-final since 2010. Technically, that victory came in the second week, and thus it would be pushing it to include her mini-renaissance in an article about the first week.
One of the biggest stories of the first week of the tournament was undoubtedly been twirl-gate, a moment when an Australian interviewer asked Eugenie Bouchard to "give us a twirl" following her victory over Caroline Garcia. Given the sexist undertones, however, as well as the fact that it had very little to do with the event of playing tennis itself, it would not be appropriate to include this within a "best moment" list.
Another huge story was Rafael Nadal's epic second-round encounter with world No. 117 Tim Smyczek, which lasted more than four hours and was eventually won by the Spaniard 7-5 in the fifth. Given that Nadal did not lose, however, and in reality has been shocked by relative unknowns on a few occasions in recent years, there are probably more worthwhile "best moments."
What more narrowly misses out from that match, however, was Smyczek's astonishing piece of gentlemanly conduct, when he allowed Nadal to repeat a crucial serve after he was disturbed by a member of the crowd.
Would such a fierce competitor like Nadal have done the same? You'd like to to think so...
Jarmila Gajdosova Finally Breaks Her Duck
2 of 6
Though born in Bratislava, Slovakia, the 27-year-old chose to represent Australia after being granted citizenship in 2009.
However, despite being ranked as high as No. 25 in the world in 2011 after reaching the fourth round of the French Open and Wimbledon in 2010, Jarmila Gajdosova had not enjoyed much luck in Melbourne, having been knocked out at the first-round stage of the Australian Open nine years running from 2006 to 2014.
Heading into this year’s tournament, she had shown brilliant form in beating Andrea Petkovic and last year’s Australian Open runner-up, Dominika Cibulkova, at the Sydney International.
ABC subsequently correctly forecast that she would ‘likely never get a better chance to break her decade-long Australian Open duck than on Monday when she opens proceedings against Alexandra Dulgheru.’
While victory was as expected as her subsequent loss to No. 3 seed Simona Halep in the second round, it was nonetheless a touching moment to see Gajdosova prevent a complete decade of heartbreak in her adopted homeland.
Andreas Seppi Strikes Signature Win of Career
3 of 6
Hands up: Who saw this one coming?
While a consistent player, at 30 years of age it seemed unlikely Andreas Seppi would ever cause a major stir at a Slam, even if he had gradually improved in recent years.
Yet that is exactly what he did by providing us with the shock of the Australian Open by beating Roger Federer in four sets in the third round.
While our love for the Swiss maestro makes us include this in a "best moment" list with a heavy heart, it would be unfair to ignore the Italian’s achievement.
After all, Federer is the only member of the top eight male seeds not to make it to the quarter-final stage.
Let’s not beat around the bush: He had a stinker against Seppi.
Indeed, Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim described it as a “rotten day at the office,” with his “backhand [lacking] punch and the shanks that were so prevalent in 2013 [making] an unwelcome appearance.”
However, given Seppi had lost his previous 11 encounters against Federer, psychologically it must have taken a mighty effort to see it through.
Ultimately, the match was summarised on match point, when Federer chose poorly in leaving a stretching Seppi backhand—which he had no real right to make—that always looked more likely to drop in; and it did exactly that.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Andy Murray Gets Revenge over Grigor Dimitrov
4 of 6
Without question, this was the highest-quality match of the opening week, with these two exceptional talents participating in a 212-minute fourth-round fight to savour.
Dimitrov embarrassed Murray at Wimbledon last year, utterly dominating in a straight-set victory, but the Scot was narrowly in control in the opening proceedings this time around, having rediscovered form and fitness in recent months.
Still, such is Dimitrov’s explosiveness, there was always a sublime shot just around the corner to shoot panic into Murray’s mind.
Indeed, never was this more vivid than when the Scot failed to serve out for a two-set lead, with the Bulgarian’s relentless pressure contributing to a double-fault on break point, a position from which he won the ensuing tiebreaker.
But it was Murray who produced the turnaround sequence of the match, saving a set point in the fourth on his way to winning the final five games of the match to secure an incredible 16th consecutive Slam quarter-final.
With Rafael Nadal knocked out at the time of writing, he has an exceptional chance of reaching his fourth Australian Open final in six years, where Novak Djokovic may ominously await him once more.
Madison Keys Unlocks Her Potential
5 of 6
The big-serving 19-year-old has long been tipped as a future star of women’s tennis, and the 2015 Australian Open may well be remembered as her breakthrough tournament in years to come.
She produced arguably the scintillating female performance of the tournament thus far in defeating No. 4 seed and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the third round.
Ian Ransom, for Reuters, accurately described Keys’ performance as an “impressive display of clean hitting,” while Nick McCarvel, for USAToday.com, summarised the encounter as “one of the most power-laden exchanges in recent memory in women's tennis, [but] the up-and-coming American matched Kvitova blow for blow.”
After the match, the American told reporters, as per USAToday.com, that her hands were “still shaking.”
With a quarter-final against her resurgent compatriot Venus Williams on the horizon, those hands will need to be steadier and stronger than ever if she is to make the final four.
Nick Kyrgios Breathes Fire into Home Crowd
6 of 6
Like Gajdosova, Nick Kyrgios is a home talent Australians can be proud of, albeit one at a very different stage of his career yet with far higher expectations on his broadening shoulders.
After becoming the first Wimbledon debutant to reach the quarter-final in 10 years, the highest-ranked male teenager has backed this up in Melbourne with a string of displays typically packed full of zeal to reach his second Slam quarter-final; the first man to achieve this while still in his teens since Roger Federer in 2001.
He would have faced the Swiss in the fourth round had Federer, as explored, not unexpectedly fallen to Andreas Seppi in the previous round.
But the Italian gave the 19-year-old one hell of a fight, taking a two-set lead and manufacturing a match point in the fourth set.
Buoyed by the raucous home support, however, Kyrgios bounced back to take the final set 8-6, before falling to his knees and breaking down in tears in surely the enduring moment of the tournament thus far.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
