Williamstown’s Andrew Whittington and compatriot Alex Bolt have been given a free ride into the second round of the Australian Open men’s doubles.
Whittington-Bolt were trailing one game to two in the opening set when opponents Julian Knowle and Vasek Pospisil retired.
Pospisil, who was still alive in the men’s singles, suffered a back injury which put an end to his Open.
A tasty encounter awaits for Whittington-Bolt as they will face either fellow Aussies James Duckworth and Matthew Ebden or third-seeded Spaniards Fernando Verdasco and David Marraro.
Up and coming teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis had the unenviable task of confronting Spanish sensation Rafael Nadal in his first centre court appearance in temperatures that topped 40 degrees.
It ended predictably with the 17 year old going down in straight sets 6-2 6-4 6-2.
What this Open had signalled is a bright future for men’s tennis in this country.
It was feared that it could be a lean period when the legendary Lleyton Hewitt decides to call it a day, but young players such as Kokkinakis, Ebden, Duckworth, Nick Kyrgios and, barring injury, Bernard Tomic are making giant strides.
Kokkinakis, last year’s boys singles finalist, was beaten by Nadal, but far from disgraced.
The South Australian played much better than his 570 ATP ranking would suggest, taking 10 games off the man who finished 2013 as top dog in men’s tennis.
Nadal took an hour and 53 minutes to move through to the next round and flagged a future star in Kokkinakis in the process.
“There is now a new generation that should come,” Nadal said. “Kokkinakis is one of these ones that can be there in the next couple of years. Is normal that new players are coming, new generations are arriving. That’s happened in all the parts of the history of our sport. Strange for the last few years didn’t happen, so that’s something really normal that should happen and probably will happen and that’s good for the game.”
Kokkinakis admitted to early nerves but was soon able to find a groove.
It was a steep learning curve for the youngster, but one he will never forget.
“There’s no real weakness there … he’s a legend of the game,” Kokkinakis said.
