2011 Australian Open: Andy Roddick, Grigor Dimitrov and Nicolas Mahut enjoy straight set victories
American ace Andy Roddick got off to a strong start at the 2011 Australian Open on Monday. Competing at Melbourne Park, Roddick is seeded eighth in the main draw of the
first Grand Slam of the year.
Ranked eighth in the world, Roddick started the year 2011 defending his title at the Brisbane International. Although he made it to the finals, A-Rod was unsuccessful in
his title defence losing to top seed, Robin Soderling of Sweden. Taking the week off, Roddick hit the courts to practice even harder and it surely paid off. Roddick started his title run at the event playing his opening clash against Jan Hajek.
Winning the toss, Roddick opened serve and rushed to a 40-0 lead in the opener going 1-0 in the game score. Losing the next set to Hajek, Roddick won the next five successive
games in twenty six minutes to secure a breadstick win.
Coming into the next set, Roddick once against started strong going 2-0 in the lead. Continuing his dominance, he extended his lead to 5-1. In a total of thirty three minutes
and with a loss of one additional set, Roddick was able to go 2-0 in the set score clinching the second set 6-2.
Entering the third set, Hajek opened serve and won the first game. Winning games on their serve, the pair managed to keep the score tied till 2-2. Serving in the fifth
game, Hajek had his serve broken after three deuces allowing A-Rod to go 3-2 in the lead. Winning the next three games, the American was able to win the third set 6-2.
Roddick struck eighteen aces and lost only 23 of 76 points on service to enjoy a straight set victory in his opening clash. He sails on ahead to meet Igor Kunitsyn. The
latter moved ahead after he prevailed 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(6) against Michal Przysiezny.
Moving ahead alongside Roddick are the two qualifiers Grigor Dimitrov and Nicolas Mahut.
Dimitrov had gained acceptance in the main draw after he did away with Thomas Schoorel in the qualifying final on Sunday. Bouncing back from being one set down, Dimitrov
had prevailed 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1 to setup a first round clash with Andrey Golubev.
Opening serve, Dimitrov rushed early into the lead and clinched the first set 6-1. Maintaining his form the Bulgarian ace clinched the second set 6-4, wrapping up the match
with a comfortable 6-2 in the third set.
Doing away with the Kazakh in straight sets, Dimitrov moves ahead to play nineteenth seed Stanislas Wawrinka.
French star Nicolas Mahut was also one of the lucky qualifiers who made it past the first round. Mahut moved into the main draw after defeating Frederik Nielsen.
Drawing against Brian Dabul in the opening round, Mahut started strong and continued to dominate his opponent eventually doing away with him in straight sets. Mahut prevailed
6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Moving ahead, the Frenchman meets twenty ninth seed Viktor Troicki in the second round.
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