Alex de Minaur def Milos Raonic as Raonis retires hurt, De Minaur next match, Naomi Osaka loses to Caroline Garcia, highlights, scores

Australia’s top hope at the 2024 Australian Open, No.10 seed Alex de Minaur, is into the second round after former world No.3 Milos Raonic retired hurt early in the third set, while two-time champion Naomi Osaka lost her much-anticipated return match on night two.

Raonic was facing hip issues from the opening set when he needed a medical timeout but pulled the pin at 2-0 in the third, right when he was facing another break.

His wife was seen in tears in the crowd as ex-coach John McEnroe feared it would be the last time the former AO semi-finalist would appear in Melbourne.

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“Considering I have a pretty close relationship with Milos over the years, we did work together for a while, it’s tough to see any player walk out this way. It really is,” McEnroe said on Nine.

“It’s also sad because I don’t know if we will ever see him here again. I’m not sure how much longer he will be able to keep playing, honestly.”

McEnroe had said when Raonic’s hip issues flared up in the first set that the Canadian was “50-50 to play out the match” if he lost the opener – which he won in a tight tiebreak – suggesting the big-server was just trying to survive as long as he could.

De Minaur prevailed 6-7(6) 6-3 2-0, with Naomi Osaka’s return to Rod Laver Arena following against No.16 seed Caroline Garcia.

“Not great to see him like this. He deserves to be healthy and playing incredible tennis that he has done for so many years. Hopefully he is back in no time,” de Minaur said post-match.

“As you saw I was chasing his serve for the better part of that match. Guessing every now and again. Ended up getting maybe a little bit unlucky to not win the first set, got a little bit tight at the end.

“I just focused on myself, second set, had myself restart and managed to jag a break out of the blue and change the momentum.”

The Sydneysider was no slouch against the powerful Canadian in his first service game, serving 8-10 km/h faster than he was last Australian Open, but a 220 km/h first serve of the night from Raonic showed just what he has to deal with.

The Aussie’s first threat of a break came at 2-2 as he leapt out to 0-30, but Raonic recovered with four straight points.

The Canadian reached 224 km/h with the first serve with one aimed right at de Minaur’s body, and somehow returned.

“That’s called brace for impact. How did he make this return? Self-defence. He got it back in play, it’s incredible,” Jim Courier said on Nine.

But Raonic’s hip issues flared up leading 5-4 in the first set, requiring a medical timeout.

“That’s been a big issue for him throughout his career, is the body just doesn’t seem to be able to hold up and already tonight it looks like things are niggling him,” his former coach John McEnroe said on Nine.

Raonic returned to the court after a lengthy break, but clearly did not have full movement capabilities and his serve speed dropped considerably.

“To me, if he doesn’t win this set it would be like 50-50 that he finishes the match. I hope I am wrong,” McEnroe said.

“I want to see a good competitive match … I feel bad just watching him.”

McEnroe expected Raonic, who Courier quipped was moving “like an aircraft carrier” to put every bit of effort into the first-set tiebreak in a bid to keep the match alive.

“He has to win this set to have any chance of winning this match,” McEnroe said.

In the tiebreak, De Minaur had a mini-break at 5-4 but double-faulted. An error from Raonic handed him a set point on the Canadian’s racquet, saved with an ace out wide.

Then a de Minaur blunder on serve handed Raonic the opening set, 7-6(6).

A rhythm quickly developed in the second set – it was all about de Minaur trying to crack Raonic’s serve, with the Aussie actually winning a greater proportion of his first serve points, and Raonic seemingly just playing for another tiebreak.

De Minaur’s first big chance came at 3-2 and 0-30, forcing lengthy rallies, and finally earned a break point at 30-40.

He sent his return on a surprisingly slow and bouncy second serve long, but de Minaur earned another break chance a point later – and as Raonic went for a volley, the Aussie lobbed him for the key break at 4-2.

De Minaur had three set points trying to serve it out at 5-3 and 40-0, but his first serve percentage was becoming an issue as all three were saved by the Canadian including the last after a 20-shot rally, before he earned a break point which was quickly wasted.

A brave forehand down the line earned de Minaur a fourth set point, and while on the back foot all point, a Raonic mistake handed the Aussie the set 6-3.

What Jim Courier called an abnormal “gait” in Raonic’s walk became more pronounced due to his hip issue as the third set got underway, and de Minaur had a break point at 30-40 in the opening game. Like the previous set point, Raonic went wide and handed the Aussie a 1-0 break to open.

The match was done soon after.

De Minaur will face Matteo Arnaldi in the second round, in another dangerous match given the young Italian’s rise over the last 12 months; though the Aussie should be favoured.

But the biggest result for de Minaur came earlier on Monday when Nicolas Jarry became the first seed knocked out of the men’s singles, the No.18 seed falling to Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli in five sets.

Jarry was the seeded player drawn to face de Minaur in the third round; his loss means de Minaur cannot play a seed until the fourth round. And even that match is looking easier now, with No.5 Andrey Rublev and No.29 Seb Korda both needing to survive five-set thrillers to escape the first round.

Jarry suffered a bizarre meltdown after copping a rarely-seen penalty at the climax of the fifth set, on serve at 3-0 and 5-6 as a match tiebreaker loomed large – but during the next point, a ball fell from his pocket.

Since it was the second time in the match that a ball had fallen loose from Jarry’s shorts, he was handed a code violation by the umpire.

The umpire initially called a let before quickly updating the call, saying: “Let, no, loss of point – second time the ball has fallen out of the pocket. Point to Cobolli.”

Jarry quickly collapsed, with a trio of horror errors seeing him give away the match – and leading to him slamming a racquet into the court.

Italian fans went wild in celebration as Cobolli lifted his fingers to his ears, calling for them to further turn up the volume, after the 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win in just under five hours. He’ll face Russia’s Pavel Kotov in the second round.

OSAKA READ LIKE A BOOK IN EARLY EXIT

There was no fairytale return for two-time Aussie Open champion Naomi Osaka – even though the Japanese superstar took the time mid-match to read a book – falling to big-serving Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia 6-4 7-6(2).

Osaka took time away from tennis and had her first child before returning at the Brisbane International, showing strong signs in a couple of hitouts.

And while she was solid in her return to Rod Laver Arena, Garcia was simply spectacular, producing a level of tennis good enough to win the tournament if it can be sustained.

Osaka’s serving was on point through the opening stages until a series of blunders handed Garcia the opening break for a 3-2 first set lead.

The break seemed to lift Garcia’s spirits and level greatly, while Osaka struggled to deal with the pace coming back her way, with the Frenchwoman earning another two break points at 4-2 – before the Japanese lifted her game to match, saving them both.

Osaka put up a major fight to get things back on serve in the ensuing game but just couldn’t get over the line, and then got to 0-30 in the final game of the set, before Garcia’s powerful serve got her over the line – an ace giving her set point, and an unreturnable serve converting it.

But perhaps the most incredible part of the set was Osaka pulling out a book to read during a change of ends.

Both women produced some tremendous serves as the second set built to a tense conclusion. The closest it came to a break was Osaka consistently having to defend 15-30 on her racquet.

A tiebreak soon followed but Garcia broke early and pulled away for the 6-4 7-6(2) victory.

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