British qualifier Arthur Fery delivered the first upset in the men’s singles bracket of this year’s Australian Open when he knocked off No. 20 seed Flavio Cobolli in straight sets, 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-1, on Sunday in opening-day action at Melbourne.
It’s just Fery’s third tour-level win, but two of them have come in Grand Slams. He also pulled a first-round upset of Australia’s Alexei Popyrin at Wimbledon last June.
“Incredible experience here,” Fery said in his on-court interview. “My first time playing a main-draw Slam outside of Wimbledon and it didn’t disappoint on such a great court with great fans as well.”
Fery, 23, took advantage of some erratic play from Cobolli, who received multiple visits from medical staff and appeared to be dealing with a stomach issue. Cobolli had eight double-faults to Fery’s zero and had 38 unforced errors while his opponent had just 25.
Fery twice squandered being up a break in the first set before dominating in the tiebreaker. He again was unable to maintain an early lead in the second set before breaking at 4-4 and serving out the set. The final set was far more decisive as he jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
No. 18 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina did not encounter the same Day 1 issues, coasting to a 6-3, 7-6 (0), 6-3 win over China’s Zhizhen Zhang. Cerundolo faced just two break points and saved both of them.
No. 32 seed Corentin Moutet also took care of business in straight sets, beating Tristan Schoolkate, who was competing in his home country, 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-3. The Frenchman won 67% of his service points while Schoolkate committed 49 unforced errors.
In the most thrilling match of the early slate on Sunday, Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry outlasted Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in a five-set marathon, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. In the decisive set, Etcheverry finally broke on his sixth break point of an exhausting 20-point game to take a 5-4 lead, serving out the match from there with a love game.
–Field Level Media
