The Australian Open Roundup

The first Grand Slam of the year came to an end and the Australian Open crowned Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka as its new king and Queen.

In the men’s division, the Serbian crushed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6(4), and 7-6(5), in less than 3 hours, to win his tenth Australian Open title and his 22nd Grand Slam, equaling Rafael Nadal as those who have the most and, due to his age, taking the lead in the fight to see who will win the most titles.

The Australian Open: Men’s Category

Djokovic, who was unable to play in the tournament last year due to not being vaccinated against COVID-19, was overwhelmed and only lost 1 set in the entire championship: against Couacaud in the second round (3-1). Now ‘Nole’ has 41 victories in a row in Australia and it seems that he is not going to stop.

Among the surprises of the tournament was the second-round loss of defending champion Rafael Nadal. The Spanish suffered an injury against the American Mackenzie McDonald (65th) and lost 6-4, 6-4, and 7-5. After the game, it was known that the Iberian suffered a tear in the iliopsoas of his left leg and will be out of the field for several weeks.

Another surprise was the defeat in the first round of the Italian Matteo Berrettini against the former number one and winner of this tournament, Andy Murray. Although the Scottish is a historic of the ATP, he was not the favorite for this game and managed to defeat the #13 seed of the tournament. It was 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7), and 7-6 (6), in one of the great battles of the Australian Open.

Like the two previous ones, the bump that Jenson Brooksby (39th) gave when eliminating Casper Ruud (3rd) in the second round was big. The American defeated the Norwegian 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4), and 6-2, who had been a finalist in two Grand Slams in 2022 and came as one of the contenders for the title.

The Australian Open: Women’s Category

In the women’s branch, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka won her first Grand Slam individual title by beating the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, current Wimbledon champion. It was 4-6, 6-3, and 6-4 in 2 hours and 28 minutes.

The 24-year-old, who had already been Australian (2021) and US Open (2019) doubles champion, has played 11 games this year and won all of them. All this while losing only 1 set (this one against Rybakina) and being crowned in Adelaide 1 and Australian Open. Now she is number 2 in the world again.

In this table, the big surprises were in charge of Daria Kasatkina (8th) and Ons Jabeur (2nd). While the Russian fell in the first round with her compatriot Varvara Gracheva (97th) with a double 6-1, the Tunisian, Wimbledon, and US Open finalist last year, lost to the Czech Marketa Vondrousova (86th) by 1- 6, 7-5 and 1-6.

The Australian Open: Doubles’ Category

In the other finals, in the men’s doubles, locals Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler beat Hugo Nys from Monaco and Jan Zielinski from Poland. It was 6-4, 7-6 in another of the tournament’s surprises. And it is that the Australian couple arrived with a Wild Card and it is the first time that they made a pair. In addition, it is the second time (and in a row) that some guests have won this Grand Slam, after their compatriots, Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis did so last year. It is the first title on the ATP circuit for both.

In the women’s doubles, there were not so many surprises as the Czech Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková, number 1 seeds in the tournament, defeated the Japanese Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara. It was 6-4, 6-3 in the final, being their seventh Grand Slam as a pair.

In the mixed doubles, the Brazilians Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos defeated the Indians Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna 7-6, 6-2, thus achieving their first Grand Slam.