German fifth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber overcame a bad-tempered Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-4, in the first round at the Sydney International.
After dropping his opening service game of the match, the German dominated the remainder against his temperamental opponent. Firing five aces and winning 72% of his service points, the world No.32 broke twice in the opening set before grabbing a third in the final game of the match. Kohlschreiber produced a total of 20 winners and 22 unforced errors in the match compared to Fognini’s 12 and 22.
Kohlschreiber’s win was somewhat overshadowed by the animated antics of Fognini. Frustrated with his inability to break away from his rival, Fognini smashed his racket onto the ground multiple times. Then towards the closing stages of the match, he was involved in a heated discussion with both the match umpire and tournament referee. Trailing 4-6, 4-4, a forehand from the fifth seed was called out before the umpire overruled the call. Fognini responded with fury, calling the umpire ‘crazy’ and claimed the call was made after the point has finished. After a lengthy discussion, the Italian did challenge the call, which pointed out the ball was in. Following the incident, he was also slammed with a point penalty for a verbal obsenaility.
“I think 90% was pretty good, at the end it was a little too much talking maybe from one side.” Kohlschriber said after the match, referring to Fognini.
“But it’s ok, I stayed focused and tried to do my best. I am very happy with my performance. I think I played good tennis and I am very happy to be in the second round. “
Awaiting the German in the second round will be either Thanassi Kokkinakis or Jordan Thompson.
Australian qualifier Marton Barton claimed an impressive win over Kyle Edmund, a player ranked 153 places higher than. With both players remaining strong in their service games, the 25-year-old edged his way past the Brit in two tiebreaks – 7-6(3), 7-6(5).
“This is right up there (in terms of career achievements) for sure. To do it in Sydney – I’m from here, I train here all the time so to do it here in front of all my mates and family is pretty special,” said Barton, who will play Gilles Muller or Alexander Dolgopolov next.
“It’s definitely the biggest stadium I’ve ever played on. It was just an amazing atmosphere … (but) I’ve played on that court so many times (in practice). I’ve always visualised playing first round on Centre Court. So I was pretty chilled and just got the job done.”
There was some consolation for British tennis fans. Dan Evans overcame a second set blip to see off Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, in under two hours. This week Evans is bidding to lift his first ATP title after winning a trio of Challenger events last year.
Gastao Elias will be the first player to face top seed Dominic Thiem. The Portuguese qualifier trailed by a set and 1-4 against home player Christopher O’Connell before battling back to win 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-1. Throughout the encounter, Elias saved 14/15 break points.
Finally, Paolo Lorenzi required two-and-a-half-hours to down Germany’s Florian Mayer 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(5). He will play third seed Viktor Troicki in the last 16.
