Australian Open: Francisco Cerundolo outlasts Aussie qualifier Sweeny in five sets

Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo had his hands full on Day 1 of the Australian Open, facing a hostile crowd and a talented Australian qualifier by the name of Dane Sweeny. But the No 22 seed beat back the pressure and saw himself through to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 victory at Melbourne Park on Sunday, in three hours and 23 minutes.

257th-ranked Sweeny twice rallied from a set down to force a decider, but the 22-year-old ran out of steam as Cerundolo cracked 15 winners to just one for the Aussie and pulled away on the strength of two breaks.

Despite the loss, Sweeny was given a warm reception from the faithful in John Cain Stadium.

For Cerundolo, the victory is extra special. It represents the first five-set victory of his career. Into the second round at the Australian Open for the second consecutive year, Cerundolo will face Hungarian Fabian Marozsan next.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58.910.000, most recent results first):

• Richard Gasquet vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Daniel Evans vs. Lorenzo Sonego
• Mackenzie McDonald vs. Juncheng Shang
• Alexander Bublik vs. Sumit Nagal
• Marcos Giron vs. Jack Draper
• Tommy Paul vs. Gregoire Barrere
• Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs. Casper Ruud
• Max Purcell vs. Mate Valkusz
• Dusan Lajovic vs. Giulio Zeppieri
• Cameron Norrie vs. Juan Pablo Varillas
• Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs. Jiri Lehecka
• James McCabe vs. Alex Michelsen
• SoonWoo Kwon vs. Lukas Klein
• Alexander Zverev vs. Dominik Koepfer
• Sebastian Ofner vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Marton Fucsovics
• Roman Safiullin vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Arthur Fils vs. Jiri Vesely
• Laslo Djere vs. Arthur Cazaux
• Holger Rune vs. Yoshihito Nishioka
• Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Dominic Thiem
• Alex De Minaur vs. Milos Raonic
• Omar Jasika vs. Hubert Hurkacz
• Rinky Hijikata vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Yosuke Watanuki
• Alexandre Muller vs. Hugo Grenier
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Federico Coria
• Ugo Humbert vs. David Goffin
• Maximilian Marterer vs. Nuno Borges
• Christopher Eubanks vs. Taro Daniel
• Daniel Altmaier vs. Karen Khachanov
• Alejandro Tabilo vs. Aleksandar Kovacevic
• Andy Murray vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry
• Yannick Hanfmann vs. Gael Monfils
• Denis Shapovalov vs. Jakub Mensik
• Aleksandar Vukic vs. Jordan Thompson
• Matteo Berrettini vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Constant Lestienne vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• James Duckworth vs. Luca Van Assche
• Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Ben Shelton
• Adrian Mannarino vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Alexei Popyrin vs. Marc Polmans
• Terence Atmane vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Patrick Kypson vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
• Sebastian Korda vs. Vit Kopriva
• Flavio Cobolli vs. Nicolas Jarry
• Lorenzo Musetti vs. Benjamin Bonzi
• Roberto Carballes Baena vs. Hugo Gaston
• Frances Tiafoe vs. Borna Coric
• Novak Djokovic vs. Dino Prizmic
• Daniel Elahi Galan vs. Jason Kubler
• Quentin Halys vs. Lloyd Harris
• J.J. Wolf vs. Sebastian Baez
• Jesper De Jong vs. Pedro Cachin
• Taylor Fritz vs. Facundo Diaz Acosta
• Christopher O’Connell vs. Cristian Garin: sunday
• Tomas Machac vs. Shintaro Mochizuki: sunday
• Thiago Seyboth Wild vs. Andrey Rublev: sunday
• Fabian Marozsan beat Marin Čilić: 6-1, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
• Pavel Kotov vs. Arthur Rinderknech: sunday
• Jannik Sinner (4) beat Botic van de Zandschulp: 6-4, 7-5, 6-3
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Adam Walton (WC): 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-4
• Jaume Munar beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-3, 6-3, 6-1