Rafael Nadal opened the 2017 season with a convincing 6-3 6-3 win over 2012 Brisbane finalist Alexander Dolgopolov in 74 minutes at the Brisbane International, a ATP 250 Tournament.
Nadal led 5-2 in his previous head-to-head matches against Dolgopolov, but lost his past two clashes against the Ukrainian player at Indian Wells in 2014 and at the Queen’s in 2015.
Dolgopolov was aggressive from the start and broke serve in the third game to open up a 3-1 lead but Nadal started to play better and lost just four points on serve until the the end of the first set. He reeled off the next five convecutive games from 1-3 down thanks to two breaks of serve in the sixth and eighth games to wrap up the first set 6-3.
Nadal got another break in the fifth game before saving two break points in the sixth game. The 14-time Grand Slam champion got another break at love in the final game of the match to set up a second round match against Misha Zverev.
“The conditions were great to play in. The crowd was great. The court was good and I really enjoyed it out there”, said Nadal.
Zverev beat rising star and Wimbledon Junior finalist Alex De Minaur, who has become the second player born in 1999 after Denis Shapovalov who qualified for a ATP Main Draw. Zverev served at 74 percent and fended off both break points he faced. He converted on all his three break points.
Zverev won the final four games of the first set breaking serve in the seventh and ninth games. He won his seventh consecutive game with a break in the second game of the second set at love to open up a 3-0 lead. De Minaur won his first service game at love for 1-3 but Zverev was always in control of the match. The German saved two break points in the 9th game before wrapping up the match a few minutes later.
French rising star Lucas Pouille had to dig deep to beat his compatriot Gilles Simon 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4) in two hours and 6 minutes after trailing 0-5 in the first set. Pouille converted each of his four break points and saved eight of the twelve break points he faced and saved two set points in the first set at 2-5 30-40 and 5-6 in the tie-break and two more set points at 4-5 in the second set.
Simon got three breaks of serve to build up a 5-0 lead after just 20 minutes but in the following games he won just four points, as he was serving for the set three times. Pouille broke in the sixth game before saving a set point in the seventh game.
Pouille got two more breaks in the eighth and tenth games to force the set to the tie-break. Simon earned another set point at 6-5 in the tie-break but Pouille bounced back by winning the next three points to wrap up the first set.
Pouille and Simon traded breaks in the third and sixth games of the second set. Simon earned two set points in the 10th game but did not convert them. Pouille closed out the tie-break 7-4 with a forehand winner.
Simon beat Pouille 6-0 6-1 in Miami last year.
“I used what happened in Miami as inspiration to fight back. I tried to stay focused, to be solid, more consistent, a little more aggressive and thing turned out better”, said Pouille.
Jared Donaldson beat Gilles Muller 6-4 6-4 to score his 12th win at ATP level. The US 20-year-old player converted on three of his five break points. Donaldson got an early break in the first game but Muller broke back with a good return game to draw level to a 3-3. He took 12 out of the last 14 points to win the first set 6-4 thanks to a break in the 9th game. Donaldson needed just one break in the fifth game to wrap up the second set.
Sam Groth overcame Pierre Hugues Herbert 6-3 5-7 7-5 setting up a second round match against eighth seed Dominic Thiem. The Austrian player scored straight-set wins over Groth last year in Miami and Stuttgart.
In other matches, Diego Schwartzman beat Sam Querrey 6-2 6-4, while Viktor Troicki prevalied over Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4 7-5.
