2022 AUSTRALIAN OPENDAY 1 MEN’S NOTES

2022 AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 1 MEN’S NOTES Monday 17 January 1st Round Top Half Featured matches No. 3 Alexander Zverev (GER) v Daniel Altmaier (GER) Page 2 No. 6 Rafael Nadal (ESP) v Marcos Giron (USA) Page 4 No. 7 Matteo Berrettini (ITA) v Brandon Nakashima (USA) Page 7 No. 10 Hubert Hurkacz (POL) v Egor Gerasimov (BLR) Page 9 No. 12 Cameron Norrie (GBR) v Sebastian Korda (USA) Page 11 No. 14 Denis Shapovalov (CAN) v Laslo Djere (SRB) Page 13 No. 17 Gael Monfils (FRA) v Federico Coria (ARG) Page 15 No. 18 Aslan Karatsev (RUS) v Jaume Munar (ESP) Page 17 No. 28 Karen Khachanov (RUS) v Denis Kudla (USA) Page 19 No. 30 Lloyd Harris (RSA) v (WC) Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) Page 21 Feliciano Lopez (ESP) v John Millman (AUS) Page 23 (Q) Yannick Hanfmann (GER) v (WC) Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) Page 26 On court today… • 2009 Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal will contest the first men’s match of this year’s tournament on Rod Laver Arena, with the 20-time Grand Slam champion taking on world No. 66 Marcos Giron. Nadal is the only former champion in the draw here, and the Mallorcan will be keen to continue the momentum from his positive start to the season after winning his 89th Tour-level title at Melbourne earlier this month. He has never lost an Australian Open match to a player ranked as low as Giron, and the American, who has never advanced beyond the 1st round here, will have to record his first victory over a Top 5 player if he is to progress today. • Alexander Zverev will contest the men’s match in the night session on RLA today, with the Olympic gold medallist facing compatriot Daniel Altmaier. This is the 14th Open Era meeting between 2 German men at the Australian Open, and Zverev will hope to improve on his 20-6 win-loss record against fellow Germans at Tour-level. Altmaier won his only previous Tour-level meeting against a German player, but he must record just his 2nd Tour-level victory on a hard court if he is to advance to the 2nd round here. Should Zverev – or, indeed, Altmaier – win the title here this year, he will become the 5th German man in history to win a Grand Slam singles title. • Feliciano Lopez faces home favourite John Millman on Margaret Court Arena this evening, with Lopez set to become the 2nd 40-year-old to compete at the Australian Open in the Open Era, after Ivo Karlovic in 2020. Lopez is appearing at his 20th Australian Open this year, as well as his 79th consecutive Grand Slam event (and 80th Grand Slam tournament in total). Both he and Millman are bidding to end Grand Slam losing streaks, with Lopez having not recorded a Grand Slam match-win since reaching the 3rd round here last year and Millman losing in the 1st round at all Grand Slam events he has contested since the 2020 US Open. • Thanasi Kokkinakis won his first Tour-level title at Adelaide II on Saturday and will aim to pick up where he left off when he takes on qualifier Yannick Hanfmann on Court 3 today. Kokkinakis leads the tour in match-wins in 2022, and will bid to record his 9th win of the season this afternoon – he has won both of his previous matches against qualifiers at the Grand Slams. 2 2022 AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 1 MEN’S MATCH NOTES NO. 3 ALEXANDER ZVEREV (GER) v DANIEL ALTMAIER (GER) Head-to-head: first meeting Zverev has never lost an Australian Open match to a player ranked as low as No. 87 Altmaier. The lowestranked player to defeat Zverev here is No. 58 Hyeon Chung in the 3rd round in 2018. He has lost Grand Slam matches to players ranked as low as Altmaier on 3 occasions – at Wimbledon in 2015 (when he fell to No. 105 Denis Kudla in the 2nd round), 2018 (when he fell to No. 138 Ernests Gulbis in the 3rd round) and 2019 (when he fell to No. 124 Jiri Vesely in the 1st round). This is the 14th Open Era meeting between 2 German players in the men’s singles draw at the Australian Open and the first since Zverev defeated Peter Gojowczyk in the 2nd round here in 2018. It is also the 75th meeting between 2 German men at a Grand Slam in the Open Era. Zverev has a 3-2 win-loss record against fellow Germans at the Grand Slams and a 20-6 win-loss record against fellow Germans at Tour-level overall. Altmaier won his only previous meeting against a German player at Tour-level, defeating Jan-Lennard Struff in the 2nd round at 2020 Roland Garros.
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