Friday, January 20, 2017

Nick Kyrgios out of Australian Open but Roger Federer progresses

Nick Kyrgios has been eliminated from the Australian Open after letting a two-set lead slip against Andreas Seppi on Wednesday.

Australia's top-ranked player failed to convert a match point, and lost in the second round after Seppi ground out a 1-6 6-7 6-4 6-2 10-8 result.

The final set arced back and forth but an ace from Seppi closed the curtain on Kyrgios' latest hopes for his home Grand Slam, where his best finish remains the 2015 quarter-final.

Roger Federer reached the third round with a tough three-sets win over American qualifier Noah Rubin.

The Swiss 17-time Grand Slam champion - seeded 17th here after his injury problems - fought back from a break down in the final set to win 7-5 6-3 7-6 and will next face Tomas Berdych.

Roger Federer came through against Noah Rubin in straight sets
Roger Federer came through against Noah Rubin in straight sets

On the comeback trail after six months out of the game, a clinical Federer cruised through the opening two sets but fell into a hole in the third against the plucky world No 200.

Federer needed to save two set points on serve at 5-2 down and then came roaring back to take Rubin to a tiebreak.

Tomas Berdych will meet 17th seed Federer in round three
Tomas Berdych will meet 17th seed Federer in round three

The Swiss master, sensing blood, raced to three match points at 6-3 and closed it out on the first with a crunching forehand that Rubin could only parry high and wide.

Czech Republic's 10th seed Berdych raced into the third round with the minimum fuss after securing a routine 6-3 7-6 6-2 victory over American Ryan Harrison.

Murray's path to glory

Andy Murray's route to glory Down Under mapped out

Stan Wawrinka got his campaign back on track with an unruffled straight-sets win over American Steve Johnson to reach the third round.

The 2014 winner bounced back from his five-set opening round struggle against Martin Klizan with a much more accomplished performance against the 30th-ranked Johnson.

The Swiss fourth seed rolled through a 6-3 6-4 6-4 win in 1hr 52min, with no breaks of serve and dominating the rallies.

Stan Wawrinka came through against Steve Johnson of the United States
Stan Wawrinka came through against Steve Johnson of the United States

"I played at a great level and I'm really happy with my focus to get into the third round," said Wawrinka, a winner here in 2014.

"I was feeling the ball better today and I made him play a lot. I was happy with my serve in general."

Japan's Kei Nishikori was another who went five sets in round one but found life a lot easier second time round as he came through against Jeremy Chardy.

The fifth seed, who toiled for over three-and-a-half hours against Andrey Kuznetsov on Monday, won 6-3 6-4 6-3 in just over two hours against 72nd-ranked Chardy.

It was Nishikori's fourth straight victory over the Frenchman and earned him a place in the third round in Melbourne for a seventh consecutive year.

Mischa Zverev thanked his mum after his hard-fought victory against John Isner
Mischa Zverev thanked his mum after his hard-fought victory against John Isner

France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also came through in straight sets, seeing off Serbia's Dusan Lajovic 6-2 6-3 6-3 but it was not such a happy day for 19th seed John Isner, the highest-seeded American player in the men's draw, who won the first two sets before losing to Germany's Mischa Zverev 6-7 6-7 6-4, 7-6 9-7 in a marathon four hour, 10 minute battle.

Zverev said: "I felt weird. I didn't really think what was going on. At times I didn't even know the score.

"I kept looking to my box. My mom is the only one, like, smiling and laughing the whole time. She's like, 'whatever, it's going to be fine'. I think that helped me a lot."

Check our game-by-game updates from Andy Murray's matches at the 2017 Australian Open by following our blog on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad or our Twitter account @skysportstennis.

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