{"id":421506,"date":"2026-01-18T16:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T16:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/421506\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T16:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T16:16:07","slug":"cerundolos-streak-rolls-on-fery-springs-a-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/421506\/","title":{"rendered":"Cerundolo\u2019s streak rolls on, Fery springs a surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first major upset of the day, British qualifier Arthur Fery<\/a> advanced to the second round after defeating 20th seed Flavio Cobolli 7-6 (1) 6-4 6-1 at John Cain Arena.<\/p>\n

It is just Fery\u2019s third ATP tour-level match win, after wins against Alexei Popyrin \u2013 like Cobolli, the 20th seed when they met at Wimbledon in 2025 \u2013 and Olaf Pieczkowski at the Davis Cup in the same year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like I like drawing 20th seeds in main draws at Slams,\u201d Fery said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would\u2019ve much rather drawn someone not as good as him, but it was great to play on a big court and I love playing on big stages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cobolli struggled physically throughout the match, and Fery took full advantage. Despite being ranked 163 places lower than his Italian opponent, Fery looked at home and in control.<\/p>\n

Later in the day, there was a second upset from a qualifier when Michael Zheng<\/a> took out fellow American Sebastian Korda in a thrilling contest at Kia Arena that went the distance, finishing 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-7(0) 6-3.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Korda struggled with his footwork early on, making plenty of errors against an opponent who was far too disciplined and consistent.<\/p>\n

Korda, an AO 2023 quarterfinalist, rallied to turn the match around by forcing Zheng around the court with his aggressive and pinpoint groundstrokes, playing the perfect tiebreak to level the match at two sets apiece.<\/p>\n

In the fifth set, Zheng went back to holding the baseline and was rewarded with a break in the seventh game, the 21-year-old American keeping his nerve to serve out the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely wasn\u2019t easy out here, but thanks to the fans for the packed stadium out here,\u201d he said to a vocal crowd.<\/p>\n

Zheng will play crafty Frenchman Corentin Moutet<\/a> in the second round, Moutet defeating Australia\u2019s Tristan Schoolkate 6-4 7-6(1) 6-3 despite a late injury scare.<\/p>\n

Frances Tiafoe<\/a> continued his perfect record over Australia\u2019s Jason Kubler, winning in straight sets 7-6(4) 6-3 6-2.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

After a tight first set where Tiafoe was pushed to the limit, the American got better as the match wore on, firing down 23 aces and 53 winners.<\/p>\n

The 29th seed was full of praise for Kubler\u2019s game after the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cJason is a good player. Obviously injuries have hindered him quite a lot but his ability is great. He moves very well, really good backhand and he\u2019s got a great service rhythm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The American will next play Argentine Francisco Comesana<\/a>, who defeated American wildcard Patrick Kypson 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the first major upset of the day, British qualifier Arthur Fery advanced to the second round after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-421506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}