1. Belinda Bencic is not big on political correctness
The talented Swiss was “super happy” to get a first win over her big-hitting junior rival and former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, 7-5 7-5 to make the third round in Melbourne for a third time. But what about the second-set wobble, when Bencic was 5-2 down and we looked headed for a decider? How did she turn it around?
“I think it’s just a typical woman’s game, with a lot of ups and downs,” the No.6 seed said post-match, to mild uproar from the crowd.
2. Underarm is not underhanded
No.4 seed Daniil Medvedev was so dominant indoors at Margaret Court Arena that his overmatched opponent, qualifier Pedro Martinez, tried an underarm serve in the third set. It backfired.
“If he would make a good one, I think I would be in trouble,” said the 198cm Russian. “But it was a really bad one – easy ball, which is great, because this was 15-40 in the third set, important game.”
Is underarm serving catching on? Has Nick Kyrgios started a trend?
“Sometimes when Nick started doing it, people were like, ‘It’s disrespectful,’” Medvedev said. “It’s not for me.”
Many casual tennis watchers think the underarm serve is underhanded; Medvedev explained why it’s a legitimate ploy. “We saw some players do it last year when they’re tight because, well, it’s easy to put the ball in like this. Especially on clay, I think it can even be tough to return.”
Not that Medvedev will be trying it himself. “I’m confident in my serve. So if I have 15-40 down, I would try to make two aces than just try to distract my opponent with an underarm serve.”
3. Sascha Zverev has his (serving) mojo back
A big talking point of the ATP Cup was Zverev’s serve. Bedevilled by doublefaults, the 22-year-old German was a flailing, racquet-pulping figure in losses to younger rivals Alex De Minaur (from a set and a break up), Stefanos Tsitsipas and Denis Shapovalov, with 31 sputtering double faults.
Was this the same confident upstart who toppled Federer and Djokovic to win the ATP Finals in 2018? What hope did Zverev have of turning it around for the AO?
On Thursday at Rod Laver Arena, Zverev landed nine aces and zero double faults in a 7-6(5) 6-4 7-5 win over Belarusian Egor Gerasimov. He dropped serve once and nailed 78 per cent of first serves. In his straight-sets first round over Marco Cecchinato, four double-faults were outweighed by eight aces. No less than 84 per cent of his first serves found the mark.
Forget the yips. Zverev is playing clean as a whistle.
4. Ernests Gulbis has more wins than shoes
The Latvian maverick never passed the second round at Melbourne in 10 previous visits, not even when he was a young gun ranked as high as No.10. Now, he’s done it at age 31, a husband and father, ranked 254, coming off a Challenger in New Caledonia with $1290 in earnings so far in 2020 and a straggly beard that a Brunswick barista would be proud of.
With his opening-round upset of rising Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and Thursday’s defeat of Aljaz Bedene, qualifier Gulbis has more wins this week (five) than he amassed in 10 years at Melbourne Park.
In fact, he has more wins this week than shoes. Gulbis trashed one pair playing in Noumea, and landed in Melbourne with his last pair. He rang around looking for the same Adidas style, finally finding two pairs and paying for them himself.
Get the popcorn ready for Gulbis’ third-round shootout with No.10 seed Gael Monfils.
5. Rublev is running red-hot
Undefeated through Doha and Adelaide, the leading match winner of 2020 extended his streak to 10 wins on Thursday.
On Court 19, the waif-like Russian brushed aside Yuichi Sugita 6-2 6-3 7-6(5). Overcoming the illness that saw him drop a 6-0 set to Aussie wildcard Christopher O’Connell in the first round, Rublev is hitting his straps. He fired 20 aces, won 90 per cent of points on his first serve and landed 51 winners in all.
The success had its beginnings in a dark place, with the 22-year-old spending months battling back and wrist injuries. Though racked with doubt, Rublev finally returned at Halle last June, losing his first match back in a third-set tiebreak. “Inside I was feeling like even though I lost, a little bit happy that finally I’m here, I’m playing, I’m enjoying,” he reflected.
“I don’t know; from that time I start to play better and better every week.”
Rublev next takes on No.11 seed David Goffin, his highest-ranked opponent so far this season. The No.17 already has a win over the Belgian, at the 2017 US Open.