Italian Lorenzo Sonego has hit one of the greatest shots in Australian Open history to defeat former champion Stan Wawrinka in their first-round clash on Tuesday.
Sonego, who has reached as high as 21st in the world, won a gruelling battle 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 in just over three hours in front of a packed house at Court 6.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Lorenzo Sonego hits shot of the tournament.
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Wawrinka, the 2014 champion and three-time grand slam champion, was always going to draw a crowd and the fans there were treated to a shot that had to be seen to be believed.
The magical moment unfolded when Wawrinka was facing break points while serving at 5-5 in the crucial third set.
It looked like he would comfortably save the first one when he got to the net and had an overhead, but Sonego scrambled the ball back into play only for Wawrinka to execute a crafty drop volley.
Sonego raced it down to keep the point alive before the Swiss veteran appeared to do enough with a clever lob to the corner that wrong-footed the Italian. However, this is when the magic happened.
He miraculously chased it down and executed a remarkable behind-the-back flick shot that sailed past Wawrinka into the far corner. Sonego raised his arms in triumph and let out a loud roar, seemingly in disbelief by what he had just done.
Fans were quick to call it the shot of the tournament on social media with Australian Open’s post quickly going viral.
The Italian then served out the set to take a stranglehold of the match.
The fourth set followed a similar script to the third, but it looked like Wawrinka would send the match into a decider when he had three consecutive set points on Sonego’s serve at 5-4.
However, he failed to convert and then Sonego immediately broke before serving out the match.
Sonego will play ninth seed Andrey Rublev or rising star Joao Fonseca in the second round.
Meanwhile, red-hot world No.4 Taylor Fritz has franked his strong finish to last season, opening his Australian Open account with a straight-sets win.
The 2024 US Open and ATP Finals runner-up ran roughshod over countryman Jenson Brooksby in their all-American affair in the beaming sunshine on John Cain Arena on Tuesday.
Brooksby, 24, had won the only previous meeting between the pair in the second round of the 2021 US Open.
But their career trajectories have gone in opposite directions since then, with Fritz breaking into the top 10 last year and Brooksby sidelined for two years after surgery on both his wrists and serving a 13-month doping ban.
Fresh from leading Team USA to to their second United Cup victory, Fritz hit 34 winners and kept his unforced error count to 21 to win 6-2 6-0 6-3 in an hour and 46 minutes.
The 27-year-old, who capped his blazing 2024 campaign with a loss to world No.1 Jannik Sinner in the season-ending championship in Turin, said he was happy with how he had opened up in Melbourne.
“That first match of a slam, there’s a bit of nerves,” he said.
“So I did really good job of shaking those off and played a really solid match to win in straights.”
His second-round opponent will be Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin, who streamrolled to a 7-5 6-1 6-2 victory over Croatian Borna Coric.
Danish 13th seed Holger Rune had a much tougher time against China’s Zhang Zhizhen, fending him off in five-gruelling sets on Margaret Court Arena.
The big-serving Zhang slammed down 21 aces but fell short of one of his biggest career wins, losing 4-6 6-3 6-4 3-6 4-6.
Rune said three hours and 10 minutes on court in hot conditions had left his body feeling weary.
“Right now (they’re) not great,” the 21-year-old said of his legs with a laugh.
“But it’s all worth it. It was a great match. (We) played some amazing tennis. It got very close in the end.
“The sun was very hot today, I don’t know if you guys noticed.”
Matteo Berrettini is waiting for him in the next round after the Italian battled back from a set down to triumph over Brit Cameron Norrie 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 6-1 6-3.
There were eight men’s matches that went the distance on day three, including world No.5 Daniil Medvedev’s 6-2 4-6 3-6 6-1 6-2 victory over Thai wildcard Kasidit Samrej.
Making his 19th main-draw appearance in Melbourne, flamboyant veteran Gael Monfils kept his cool to down French countryman and 30th seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 in a match that featured just two breaks of serve.
World No.51 Miomir Kecmanovic also won a topsy-turvy five-setter over fellow Serb Dusan Lajovic, as Russian Karen Khachanov cruised past French journeyman Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 6-3.
Big-serving Polish 18th seed Hubert Hurkacz was untroubled in a 7-5 6-4 6-4 win over Dutch world No.40 Tallon Griekspoor, while fellow seed Francisco Cerundolo dispatched Kazak Alexander Bublik 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 6-2 in less than two hours.
In the other all-American men’s clash, former Open quarter-finalist and 22nd seed Ben Shelton won a 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 7-5 arm-wrestle with world No.35 Brandon Nakashima.
– With AAP