Jerzy Janowicz fought valiantly, however he was ultimately defeated by Marin Cilic 4-6 4-6 6-2 6-2 6-3.
Both men started well as they used big serves and powerful shot making to grab the advantage over their opponent. Cilic looked to break in the fourth game of the match, however the big pole showed his resilience to save two break points and level the first set at 2-2. Janowicz then brought out his aggression to break through Cilic to lead 3-2. Janowicz then used his finesse and ruthless aggression to continue the momentum and take the first set 6-4.
The second set saw the seventh seed try to take the match to the pole with big forehands and using different serving tactics. However that didn’t quite work, as the gritty pole stuck to his game plan of making the Croatian move and using his big forehand to overpower his opponent, this would soon pay off as Janowicz would break for a 5-4 lead in the second set. Despite some erratic errors, the former grand slam semi-finalist held his nerve to take a 2 sets to love lead. Was an upset on the cards?
Apparently not, for now as Cilic knew this was a marathon not a sprint and used intelligence to outwit the Pole, errors came and the Croatian would seize the moment and break for a 3-1 lead. He had momentum now and used it it to play some of his best tennis to date. Janowicz felt the pressure and double faulted on set point down to hand the third set to Cilic 6-2.
Janowicz was struggling to hold serve and Cilic was playing his best tennis, with insane returns and shotmaking, which restricted the Pole’s angles. He remained resilient despite the Cilic pressure , however momentum was with the Croat and he eventually broke at 4-1. Cilic would continue to frustrate his opponent and as a result took the fourth set 6-2 to force a deciding set.
The fifth set was no different to the previous two, with Janowicz appearing frustrated with a member of the Melbourne crowd, Cilic capitalised and broke for a quick 2-0 lead. Janowicz appeared to be discontent with the man in the crowd and spent his energy arguing to the umpire. Cilic kept his cool and eventually served out the match to take a 4-6 4-6 6-2 6-2 6-3 victory.
For Janowicz he should be proud of his performance after showing signs of improvement, however his mental fortitude let him down in the end. Despite the result he has somewhere to build on for the rest of the season. Marin Cilic will now play Daniel Evans or Facundo Bagmis next.
31st seed Sam Querrey also survived a stern test to beat Quentin Halys 6-7(10) 7-6(4) 6-3 6-4. Querrey started the match slowly and was broken twice in the first set. The American managed to fight back and broke twice of his own to take the first set into a tiebreaker. In a thrilling tiebreak it was Halys who saved three set points to take the tiebreaker 12-10.
Despite the Frenchman having a 3-1 lead, Querrey gained momentum and broke straight back to Halys’ frustration. The American dominated the upcoming tiebreak to take it 7-4 and level the match at 1 set all.
Querrey used all of his momentum and his first serve as he won 89% of first service points to grab the next two sets 6-3 6-4 to take a thrilling four set contest. Querrey will now play Alex De Minaur in the second round.
27th seed Australian, Bernard Tomic also came through his match against Thomaz Bellucci 6-2 6-1 6-4. The Australian broke five time on his way to victory. He will play Victor Estrella Burgos in the second round.
