January 21, 2020 – After Petra Martic moved to the second round on Monday and Borna Coric was surprisingly knocked out in the first, three more Croatian representatives took to the courts on Tuesday – Marin Cilic, Donna Vekic and Ivo Karlovic.
Marin Cilic had a convincing performance in the first round of this year’s Australian Open, defeating the recent finalist of the ATP tournament in Doha, Frenchman Corentin Moutet (ATP—70) – 6:3, 6:2, 6:4.
Cilic won the first set after a break in the sixth game, and in the second set, he took Moutet’s serve in the first and fifth games. Cilic, however, had a bit more work in the third set, though in the fifth game, a decisive break gave him the victory, in which he recorded nine aces with a first-serve percentage of 62 percent.
His next opponent is the 21st tennis player in the world, Frenchman Benoit Paire. They have played on five occasions so far, and Marin has recorded four wins.
Cruise mode ?@cilic_marin keeps his #AO2020 hopes alive with a 6-3 6-2 6-4 first round win over Moutet#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/d0DU4CX7kc
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2020
Donna Vekic will also play in the second round of the Australian Open for the fifth time in her career. Namely, the 23-year-old Osijek native and 19th-seed of the tournament was too strong for former best tennis player in the world, Russian Maria Sharapova (WTA-145) – 6:3, 6:4.
Donna had no problems in the first set and quickly went to 5:1 to resolve any doubts. However, in the second set, Sharapova played much better, and after a break in the fourth game, later led 4:1.
Donna then kicked into gear and, with five consecutive games, reached her first success against Sharapova. Sharapova previously celebrated at the 2018 Roland Garros tournament.
On her way to victory, Donna recorded three aces with a first-serve percentage of 52 percent, and used all four break-points on her opponent’s serve. In the second round, Vekic will play the winner of Cornet – Niculescu.
Under the watchful eye of mum and dad, @DonnaVekic gets the W.
“It’s really great to have them around and my whole team is the best” ?#AO2020 | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/GqZ6NbuNfM
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2020
Ivo Karlovic (ATP-124th), who will turn 41 next month, also advanced to the second round of the first Australian Open, beating Canadian Vasek Pospisil in the first round 7:6 (4), 6:4, 7:5 after two hours and two minutes of play.
Source: HTS
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