British qualifier Arthur Fery delivered the first upset of this year’s Australian Open when he knocked off No. 20 seed Flavio Cobolli in straight sets, 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday in opening-day action at Melbourne.
It was just Fery’s third tour-level win, but two of them have come in Grand Slams. He also pulled a first-round upset of Australia’s Alexei Popyrin at Wimbledon last June.
“Incredible experience here,” Fery said in his on-court interview. “My first time playing a main-draw Slam outside of Wimbledon and it didn’t disappoint on such a great court with great fans as well.”
Fery, 23, took advantage of erratic play from Cobolli, who received multiple visits from medical staff and appeared to be dealing with a stomach issue. Cobolli had eight double faults and 38 unforced errors to his opponent’s 25.
Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz of Spain opened his bid to complete a career Grand Slam with a 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-2 defeat of Australia’s Adam Walton. Alcaraz only faced one break point and posted a decisive 38-16 edge in winners.
“It was really, really difficult to find the good spots,” Alcaraz said. “It felt he was always in a good position. Long rallies. He was solid from the baseline and his flat ball was sometimes really difficult for me. Getting used to the conditions and the court, but it was a really solid match.”
No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany rallied for a 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory against Canada’s Gabriel Diallo. No 10 Alexander Bublik was a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 winner against Jenson Brooksby. No. 18 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina saved both break points he faced in a 6-3, 7-6 (0), 6-3 win over China’s Zhizhen Zhang.
No. 26 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain outlasted Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi 6-0, 6-7 (2), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, while No. 29 Frances Tiafoe turned away Australian qualifier Jason Kubler 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2. No. 32 seed Corentin Moutet also took care of business in straight sets, beating Australia’s Tristan Schoolkate 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-3.
In the most thrilling match of the early slate on Sunday, Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry outlasted Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in a five-set marathon, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. In the decisive set, Etcheverry finally broke on his sixth break point of an exhausting 20-point game to take a 5-4 lead, serving out the match from there with a love game.
Also advancing were Argentina’s Francisco Comesana, Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur, Portugal’s Jamie Faria, Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann and Americans Emilio Nava and Michael Zheng.
–Field Level Media
