Australian Open brought us a lot of excitement today, and also several shocking results. Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka suffered elimination from the tournament, while Roger Federer escaped death against Australian John Millman.
Roger’s Unreal Comeback
After four hours of play, Roger won 3-2 against Millman in a close contest, which ended unbelievably. In the end, it was 4:6, 7:6 (2), 6:4, 4:6, 7:6 (8). The Swiss tennis legend couldn’t break the defiance of the home-crowd favorite who stubbornly kept coming after him.
After four sets and 12 games in the fifth one, the players entered a super tiebreak, which lasts until 10 points. At one moment, Millman needed just two points to close the event, as he had an 8-4 advantage. Yet, he failed to accomplish this.
Federer won six straight points, making a remarkable comeback, which will be a subject of many stories in the next few days. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that Millman had two serves at 8-4.
As for the previous part of the match, the spectators had a chance to see a roller coaster. At first, Millman won the opening set, yet Federer responded, following that by taking the next two. When many believed that the Swiss has control over the court, Millman surprised everyone and took the fourth set, not allowing Roger to have an easy way out.
Still, the Australian didn’t have either the experience or the mental strength to finish the job, missing what was the ideal opportunity for him to make probably the biggest win of his career.
Serena and Osaka Hit the Road
To be honest, we can’t quite tell which of these two results is more shocking.
Serena lost to Wang Qiang, the 29th player in the world, whom she defeated at the last US Open in 44 minutes, allowing her one game.
But today, the seven-time champion at AO lost 6:4, 6:7, 7:5. Williams made stunning 56 unforced errors, something which hasn’t happened to her before. After the match, she told the press that her performance was one of the worst ever and that her mistakes were the main reason why she lost.
This is the earliest exit for Williams at one hard court Grand Slam since her reign started. But not only that, it seems that her mental blockade is still around, even though she won the tournament in Auckland. After that Serena indicated that she feels ready to take another run for the 24th Grand Slam trophy, which would level her and Margaret Court at the No.1 on the all-time list.
Meanwhile, the reigning champion Naomi Osaka was the latest victim of the young Coco Gauff, who defeated the Japanese 6:3, 6:4. The teenage sensation with just 15 years old, was unstoppable, and it seems that she learned a lesson after losing to Osaka at the US Open a few months ago.
After routing Venus Williams in the opening match, Gauff became a sensation, and so far, this is her biggest success here in Melbourne.
Just to add that two years ago, she lost in the first round of the junior’s part of the Australian Open tournament. It is safe to say that her progress ever since was unreal.
