In the second round of the 2021 Australian Open on Wednesday, there were two intriguing matches between a pair of young, seeded Canadians, against two unseeded, veteran Australians. In both matches, the Canadians dominated and it was simply never even, remotely close.
First off, we had the 20th-ranked Felix Auger-Aliassime defeating James Duckworth in one hour and 45 minutes, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2. Auger-Aliassime had a remarkable serve in the contest. He had 19 aces, compared to only three for Duckworth. The 29-year-old Australian simply lacked the skill set of the 20-year-old from Montreal, who has unbelievable potential. Duckworth also did not have a single break point opportunity in the entire match.
Then after 27th-ranked Ons Jabeur of Tunisia beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-2, the Canadian dominance on court three continued. This time Denis Shapovalov of Toronto simply clobbered Bernard Tomic 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. It was an embarrassing performance for Tomic, who had 40 unforced errors.
Australian seven-time doubles champion John Fitzgerald stated “You can’t tell me he’s trying…He’s got to be fitter, stronger, more dedicated.” Tomic then responded that Fitzgerald was “the worst commentator” he has ever seen in his life. Well, the bottom line is that Tomic played extremely poorly in his second-round match, and instead of criticizing Fitzgerald’s accurate assessment, he simply needs to not only learn from the loss to Shapovalov, but listen to Fitzgerald’s comments and treat them as constructive criticism.
Interestingly, Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime will play each other in a third round barnburner. All was not lost in Australian men’s tennis on Wednesday however. That is because Nick Kyrgios beat the 29th-ranked Frenchman Ugo Humbert in a dramatic five-set thriller to reach the third round, where he will play U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem of Austria.
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