You win some, you lose some.
The Australian contingent had a mixed bag of results on the opening day of Australian Open 2014.
What is for certain is the future is bright after getting a glimpse at some of the hottest young prospects in this country.
From an Aussie viewpoint, the day belonged to Matthew Ebden, who won a five-set thriller over France’s Nicolas Mahut on show court two.
In a see-sawing match, Ebden took out the opening two sets before Mahut hit back to win the next two and force a fifth set.
In a show of his maturity, the 26-year-old held his nerve to come away with a 6-3 7-5 4-6 0-6 6-3 victory.
Fronting the media after his victory, Ebden said it was important to pace himself on a hot day and was primed for a match that would last the distance.
“Two sets all, took a little break, went off the court, toilet break, changed my shirt, tried to cool down a bit and get physically ready so I could try and play a good fifth,” he said.
“I guess in the fourth, by the time he had a couple of breaks, probably wasn’t worth me trying to put everything into trying to come back 5-4 down.
“I conserved my energy and put everything towards the fifth.”
Ebden, playing in his fifth Australian Open men’s singles, reached the second round for just the second time.
The 65th ranked player in the world from Perth is aiming to break into the top-50 this season.
Australian qualifier Jordan Thompson was on track for the shock of the opening day but could not hold on against Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz, a player ranked 300 spots above him.
Thompson took out the opening two sets at Hisense Arena but ran out of gas with the heavily favoured Janowicz winning 1-6 4-6 6-4 6-2 6-1.
The skinny 19-year-old Thompson was eventually blasted off the court by Janowicz powerful service game.
“He’s got a pretty big serve – that’s how he serves his way out of trouble,” Thompson said.
“I guess he’s done that a lot – he’s a top 20 player.”
Casey Dellacqua fired a warning shot in the women’s singles with a straight sets 6-2 6-2 blitz of Russian veteran Vera Zvonareva.
Dellacqua’s took advantage of an underdone Zvonareva – the former world No. 2 on the comeback trail after a shoulder injury – by running her all over the court.
“I knew Vera hasn’t played a lot of matches over the last 18 months probably,” she said. “So I knew I was match fit and ready to go, so to pretty much focus on my game and do the things that I do well and I was able to do that today.”
Sam Stosur, the 17th seed and top Australian women’s chance at the Open, made light work of Czech Klara Zakopalova in a 6-3 6-4 win.
