Two Excellent First-Rounds

Paul and Tirante were both very impressive to start this Australian Open...

Paul, as he usually does in opening Grand Slam rounds, absolutely dominated his first round against an in-form Kovacevic. He managed to finish the match in 1h 34m, barely losing double-digit points on his own serve. He was able to defuse the Kovacevic serve with some good returning and target his backhand. Tirante was also untouchable on serve, constantly serving 225 km/h bombs against a Vukic that looked shell-shocked. There were not a lot of rallies, since serves that got returned were often swatted away by his powerful forehand.

On paper, this matchup looks favourable for Tommy! He could do what he did to Kovacevic - defuse the serve and target the weak Tirante backhand. It was close to a perfect match for him, and that's not always so easy to repeat. Paul tends to be quite good against opponents he is familiar with... like other Americans. Tirante is coming into this tournament relatively unknown to most, since he is mainly a Challenger-level player. He has his flaws, but he can do some damage in these conditions with his serve and forehand, as Vukic got to experience! Paul also has a documented drop-off in the second rounds compared to the first rounds of Grand Slams! So we have a matchup that favours Paul, but other factors that are likely to at least make this a bit more contested than either player's first round...