The world No. 8 Stanislas Wawrinka won his opening match against Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan in the Australian Open 2014 on Monday, January 13. Winning the Chennai Open title, Stan has had a phenomenal start to the new season.
Preceding the exciting first Grand Slam tournament of 2014, YONEX announced a global product launch in Melbourne, Australia on Friday, January 10th to introduce the brand new VCORE Tour G tennis racquet. Starting the season with the new VCORE, Stan switched his racquet to this model and brought the very first win in Chennai for the VCORE Tour G. “The racquet can help me improve my game, and I was happy with the new racquet from the beginning, especially because it gives me more spin,” Stan noted.
We also invited Ana Ivanovic and local favorite Nick Kyrgios who got the WC to play the main draw at the Australian Open. Both players have been using the same racquet, EZONE Ai 98 since last year. Ana likes her racquet and said “I was so excited when I heard about the new technology. And also it has my initials there!”
At the end of the event, Lleyton Hewitt (VCORE Tour 97) made an appearance and all the fans were excited to hear about his win in Brisbane International.
Two young YONEX players achieved big wins in their first round matches of the opening day of the Australian Open main draw,
Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, who won two junior Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and Roland Garros last year, faced Japanese veteran player Kimiko Date-Krumm (S-FIT, PTGSPN). Belinda is the youngest player who entered the main draw, and she impressed tennis fans by playing relentlessly against the tournament’s oldest opponent in her senior Grand Slam debut. With a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win, Belinda advanced to the next round to face the No. 4 seed Na Li of China.
20-year-old Luksika KumKhum (VCORE Xi 98) of Thailand moved ahead to the second round with a big win against the No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova. We interviewed Luksika about her racquet after the match and she said, “I’m pleased with the VCORE Xi 98 because it has higher control performance and face stability even when my hits are very hard.”
On the second day of the tournament, Lleyton and Nick took to the court to compete their openers. Lleyton faces the No. 24 seed Andreas Seppi and Nick plays against Benjamin Becker of Germany today.
Tournament Results [Day 1]
Australian Open 2014
Men’s Singles [1st Round]
[8]Stanislas Wawrinka (VCORE Tour G)(SUI) def. Andrey Golubev (KAZ) 6-4 4-1 Ret.
[23]Ernests Gulbis (LAT) def. Juan Monaco (VCORE Xi 98)(ARG) 1-6 6-4 7-6(4) 6-2
Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) def. [Q]Ricardas Berankis (EZONE Ai 98, PTGSPN)(LTU) 7-5 7-5 6-2
Women’s Singles [1st Round]
[9]Angelique Kerber (VCORE Xi 100)(GER) def. Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS) 6-3 0-6 6-2
[14]Ana Ivanovic (EZONE Ai 98)(SRB) def. Kiki Bertens (NED) 6-4 6-4
[15]Sabine Lisicki (VCORE Tour 97, PTGSPN)(GER) def. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) 6-2 6-1
Zheng Jie (EZONE Ai 98, PTGSPN)(CHN) def. [12]Roberta Vinci (ITA) 6-4 6-3
Belinda Bencic (EZONE Ai 100, PTGH125)(SUI) def. Kimiko Date-Krumm (S-FIT, PTGSPN)(JPN) 6-4 4-6 6-3
Luksika KumKhum (VCORE Xi 98)(THA) def. [6]Petra Kvitova (CZE) 6-2 1-6 6-4
Lucie Hradecka (CZE) def. Donna Vekic (VCORE Xi 100)(CRO) 6-3 6-1