Merola beats Rosedale in four to reach maiden Australian Open quarter-final
Virgona, Booth and Williams through in straight sets
The Australian Open main draw got underway at the Royal Melbourne Tennis Club on Tuesday, with Nino Merola securing his first-ever Australian Open quarter final place with a back-and-forth four-set win over Paul Rosedale. Meanwhile, Steve Virgona, Kieran Booth and Lewis Williams all secured straight-sets victories to ensure their progression past the first round.
The main draw began with a match between the Australian Amateur Champion and defending finalist Kieran Booth and the recently appointed General Manager of the Boston Tennis and Racquet Club Tony Hollins, making his Australian Open debut. Booth was immediately at home on the Melbourne court, playing his hyper-aggressive game to great effect. He used the fast pace of the court combined with his quick racket-head speed to get the ball past Hollins time and time again. His game was concise and error-free, keeping Hollins on the back foot for the bulk of the match. After winning the first game of the match, it would take until the penultimate game of the second set for Hollins to win his seecond as Booth was ruthless in the efficiency of his strokeplay. Hollins avoided any bagels in the third as well but Booth’s progression to the quarter-final was assured well before the match was complete.
Next on was Radley professional and seventh seed Nino Merola against Melbourne amateur and qualifier Paul Rosedale. Merola took some time to fully hit his strides, but once he did he was looking unstoppable through the back half of the first set. He was able to nullify Rosedale’s attacking style through his ability to counterpunch every one of Rosedale’s attempted winners with one of his own. Rosedale then went searching to try and find a way into Merola, but in doing so, took his foot off the accelerator. Merola didn’t need further invitation, looking to crush out the match as efficiently as possible.
It wasn’t until he was 0/4 down in the second set before Rosedale rediscovered a hint of attacking spirit, slamming his first grille of the match to win one game then sending a bullet of a force into the dedans that missed Merola by milimetres. From then on, Rosedale improved his defensive volley and at last stopped the unrelenting Merola onslaught. His confidence grew and was again matching Merola shot for shot. By the third set, he was in control of proceedings while Merola was struggling to cope with the heat on court. He repeatedly found the grille as he lead the third set from start to finish.
Merola regrouped for the fourth set, slowing the game down and disrupting Rosedale’s momentum. Once Merola earned a small lead on the scoreboard in the fourth set, he was able to return to the calm and deliberate strokeplay he had had in the second set. Rosedale’s attack waned, pinned down by Merola’s slow high serves. Merola won the first five games of the fourth set, which proved more than enough to ensure his progression to his first Australian Open quarter-final.
The third match of the day was between four-time champion Steve Virgona and first-time qualifier Alex Marino-Hume. Marino-Hume, having never in his career played an opponent of Virgona’s pedigree, was unafraid to play his shots and take the challenge to the grand slam winner, which led to him winning the first game of the match with the aid of some nick railroads. Virgona was unfazed, calmly going about his business and playing himself in to the match. He was unconcerned about the scoreline, engaging Marino-Hume in long rallies without trying to hit outright winners. As Marino-Hume was playing solid and positive, the games extended out for a long time, with Virgona leaking points and games as he never truly controlled the rallies, even if he did control the scoreline across the first two sets. However, even that slipped in the third, as Marino-Hume’s dogged retrieval and accurate target-hitting saw him bring up a 5/4 lead in the third. But Virgona was not keen to stick around for a fourth set, stepping up his game to run through the last two games. finishing off the nearly two hour match.
Next followed the only match in the women’s qualifying draw, with Leamington’s Rachel Hollington playing Melbourne’s Rose Blanden, the latter a late entry following the withdrawal of Claire Voegele. Hollington took a couple of games to adapt to the foreign conditions, with Blanden taking the early opportunity to play her soft touch shots deep into the corners. But she soon settled into a rhythmn, serving well and punishing the resultant loose response. Blanden grabbed a couple more games to level the first set at 4-all, but Hollington was able to hold on and take the first set. In the second, Hollington relaxed into the game, cruising to a 5/2 lead by maintaining great pressure off her forehand. She let two match points come and go in the eighth game, but wrapped it up in the tenth.
Hollington’s next round opponent, Claire Fahey then took to the court for her open draw first round match against Lewis Williams. Fahey struggled in the first set to read the court, often finding herself out of position as Williams’s boasting game generated unexpected angles off the quick Melbourne court. She struggled to make an impact on the scoreboard in the first set, winning only ten points across the set and with Williams striking five dedans in seven games.
Fahey picked up the first two games of the second set, but her troubles continued thereafter. She continued to make uncharacteristic mistakes while Williams continued to punish anything loose. He never allowed Fahey to play her trademark floor game, giving her unending boasts and spin to deal with. He won the next five games before stalling out slightly, dumping a few into the net himself. Fahey attempted to mount a comeback, winning two games and throwing a bunch of her usual fistpumps, but Williams shut it down to take the second set at 6/4.
Into the third set, Fahey had abandoned any notion of placing into the corners and joined Williams in a boasting, hitting game. Far from her natural style, it played into Williams’s strengths, and he was happy to oblige. Williams’s footwork was solid, moving well and reading the play from Fahey so he rarely ended up out of position. He sailed through the set — even if he did take seven match points to get the job done — locking in his place in the quarter finals.
Play continues on Wednesday with the remainder of the open singles first round matches and the first of the women’s singles first round matches.
Match results:
11:00 AM: Tony Hollins lost to Kieran Booth (6) 1/6 1/6 1/6
12:30 PM: Nino Merola def Paul Rosedale (Q) 6/2 6/3 1/6 6/1
3:00 PM: Steve Virgona def Alex Marino-Hume (Q) 6/3 6/3 6/5
5:30 PM: Rachel Hollington def Rose Blanden 6/4 6/4
6:30 PM: Claire Fahey vs Lewis Williams (4) 1/6 4/6 3/6
Order of play for Wednesday (all times AEDT):
11:00 AM: Oliver Pridmore vs Nick Howell (2)
Followed by (approx 1:00 PM): John Woods-Casey vs Chris Chapman (8)
Followed by (approx 3:00 PM): Camden Riviere (1) vs Ben Hudson
Not before 5:30 PM: Claire Fahey (1) vs Rachel Hollington (Q)
Followed by (approx 6:30 PM): Levi Gale (5) vs Michael Williams