Kevin Anderson blasts Frederik Nielsen to reach the second round – Australian Open 2012
South African number one, Kevin Anderson, tumbled over the Danish star, Frederik Nielsen, with a breadstick at the Australian Open 2012 on Monday. He registered a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory against the 28-year-old Dane to advance into the second round at this Grand Slam event taking place on the hard courts in Melbourne, Australia.
30th seed Kevin Anderson recreated his last year’s spark on court number seven at the Melbourne Park and dumped the Dane, ranked 240th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, in their first meeting. He not only took lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against Nielsen but also inched closer to the $2.3 million prize money.
Anderson, who came off a defeat in his opening match of 2012 at the Heineken Open, went into rage mode and reeled off first five games in a row before the Dane could hold on. Later, he kept his serve once more and clinched the opener with a breadstick in 24 minutes.
The 25-year-old kept momentum running into the second set and held his opening serve in the second game to tie the scores at 1-1. After Nelson held his serve in the third game, Anderson unleashed flurry of groundstrokes to strike out next five games in a row. He eventually bagged the set with a 6-2 score line in 40 minutes.
World number 32, Anderson, got the desiderated break in the opening game of the third set and took the initial lead. He then held remaining serves and regardless of exchanging a break in the seventh and the eighth game, the South African sealed the set with a 6-4 victory in 49 minutes.
The South African lost his serve once but broke Nielsen’s serve six times to earn this success in almost two hours. He also hammered five aces and clinched 41 out of 55 points on his higher first serve share. Anderson finished off with 99 points as opposed to the Dane’s 67 and booked a round of 64 spot.
The South African, who lost in the opening round of this Grand Slam last year, will square off against the Ukrainian competitor, Sergiy Stakhovsky, who overpowered his compatriot, Illya Marchenko, in a five set thriller to reach this spot. Stakhovsky blocked nine out of thirteen breakpoints he came across and capitalised on six out of nineteen break chances to his advantage, sealing the deal with a 6-3, 6-7(9), 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 score line in 266 minutes.
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