Thanasi Kokkinakis has suffered a first-round exit at his home tournament but proved his fitness emphatically in a brutal three-set battle at the Adelaide International on Monday night.
The 27-year-old started brightly against Serbian world no. 52 Dusan Lajovic but was punished when his serve went askew in the second set and succumbed to a 6-3, 1-6, 4-6 defeat in the opening round of the Adelaide International.
Returning to the scene of his greatest singles success where he won his maiden ATP title in 2022, Kokkinakis brought his home crowd straight into the match with a fast start as he claimed an early break in the second set.
Watch Australia v West Indies on Kayo Sports. Every Test, ODI and T20I Live with no ad breaks during play. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
But the local hero’s big serve deserted him for a crucial period in the second set and Lajovic, who in April stunned Novak Djokovic with a straight-sets win in Bosnia, made him pay for his inaccuracy to break him twice consecutively.
Kokkinakis had a chance to jump ahead early in the third set but Lajovic saved the break point with a booming forehand winner down the line before some skilful net play kept the game on his serve.
A stunning forehand return at full stretch which went over the head of Kokkinakis at the net and landed inches inside the baseline gave Lajovic the break in the next game, but the Australian broke back and then hung on to take a 4-3 lead in the final set after being precariously placed at 0-40 on his serve.
de Minaur beats Zverev to crack top 10 | 02:05
Lajovic still had the answers though, and produced a series of powerful one-hand backhands to wrest back control of the match in a marathon service game before breaking Kokkinakis again on his way to victory.
The marathon third-set showing was a promising sign of Kokkinakis’ fitness after an ankle injury derailed his final two months of 2023.
He moved to a career-high ranking of 65 last year and has said in recent weeks a maiden top 50 berth is his goal for 2024.
Earlier in the day, South Australian Alex Bolt secured a berth in the main draw at his home tournament by winning his final qualifying game 6-1, 6-4 over Victorian 23-year-old Matthew Dellavedova.
Bolt, who will only play in the doubles at the Australian Open, will face Brazilian world no. 78 Thiago Seyboth Wild in the round of 32 on Tuesday morning.
Jordan Thompson will face qualifier Facundo Diaz Acosta in the afternoon, while Rinky Hijikata has a night session centre court clash against Dan Evans.
Kokkinakis is one of seven Aussies in the ATP 250 event draw, along with Bolt, James McCabe, Chris O’Connell, Adam Walton, Hijikata (who beat Kokkinakis last week in Brisbane) and Thompson, who upset Rafael Nadal on Friday.
Alexei Popyrin and, on the women’s side, Ajla Tomljanovic withdrew over the past 24 hours.
Kokkinakis, Popyrin, Thompson, O’Connell, Hijikata, plus Aleksandar Vukic and Max Purcell (both playing in Auckland this week) all earned main draw entries into the Australian Open via their rankings while McCabe, Waltson, Jason Kubler, Marc Polmans and James Duckworth were given wildcards.
Follow Thanasi Kokkinakis vs Dusan Lajovic in our live blog!
Meanwhile former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova and fifth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia were high-profile casualties on day one of the ATP-WTA Adelaide International on Monday, both crashing out to qualifiers.
Czech fourth seed Krejcikova was beaten by Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 while Brazil’s Haddad Maia met the same fate at the hands of another Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, losing 6-3, 6-4.
“It was a great match, she’s a very good fighter,” the 75th-ranked Kalinskaya said of Krejcikova, who was playing her first match of the season ahead of the Australian Open.
“She made the match very complicated. I’m happy I won, I’m playing better tennis every day.” Kalinskaya, who needed nearly three hours to see off her opponent, now awaits the winner between American Claire Liu and Russian world number 15 Daria Kasatkina.
The 59th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova, who lost to Krejcikova in the 2021 French Open final, advanced with 29 winners, breaking Haddad Maia three times.
“I tried to follow my game plan. She’s a fighter and if you give her a chance to come back, she will,” said Pavlyuchenkova.
She will next play either big-serving Karolina Pliskova or 49th-ranked Katerina Siniakova.
Former world number two Paula Badosa was also defeated on her comeback from injury, beaten 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 by American Bernarda Pera.
Spain’s Badosa missed the second half of 2023 with a stress fracture of the back.
Top seed Elena Rybakina, who beat reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka to win the Brisbane International on Sunday, had a first-round bye.
Her round of 16 opponent will be Cristina Bucsa after the Spaniard defeated Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-3.
Rain played havoc at the WTA Hobart International, but top seed Elise Mertens safely went through, overcoming American Danielle Collins 6-2, 6-3.
– with AFP
