Alexandr Dolgopolov labours past Greg Jones on Day One clash – Australian Open 2012
World number 13, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, has a real rough ride before he finally hunt down the local wildcard entrant, Greg Jones, in the opening round of the Australian Open on Monday. The Ukrainian laboured extremely
hard for two and a half hours to conclude the five-setter in his favour at 1-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.
It was one of the most enthralling contests being witnessed on the opening day of the Grand Slam Down Under at the Melbourne Park. Dolgopolov featured one of the most amazing comebacks in the contest and after dropping the opening
two sets, the 13th seed blasted his way right back in the game to claim victory. He absolutely blew away Jones in the last three sets, winning 18 out of 22 total games being played en route to victory.
Jones took just one hour to pocket the opening two sets of the match, getting into a 2-0 lead. The home favourite delivered a fine display of the pin-point power hitting to get the world number 13 by surprise up front. He registered
a total of four serve breaks in the opening two sets to crush the confidence of Dolgopolov and inched closer to a straight-sets surprise.
With trailing by a deficit of two sets, Dolgopolov came out firing at his opponent in the third set. He nailed two consecutive serve breaks to get some winning impetus in the game and kept pressing the home favourite opponent to
secure the set at 6-1. The following set was a complete replication of the previous one, except Dolgopolov nailing three serve breaks this time to take the set with a breadstick at 6-1.
It was an evenly poised contest in the final set, with both players having two sets apiece under their belt. The Ukrainian stung cracking break points in the fourth and eighth game to conclude a hard-fought victory at 6-2, disposing
of Jones from the tournament to the dismay of the local crowd.
Dolgopolov will take on the unseeded German, Tobias Kamke, who defeated Victor Hanescu of Romania, in the second round of the main draw.
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