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Roberta Vinci of Italy returns the ball to Timea Babos of Hungary during the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy-2017 tennis tournament final match in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

The sixth-seeded Italian was broken five times but still advanced to face either German veteran Andrea Petkovic or Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in the second round.

Also Tuesday, Kristina Mladenovic of France beat Belgian qualifier Elise Mertens 7-6 (5), 6-4 and will next face Australian Open finalist Venus Williams.

Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan also advanced, leading 6-1, 1-0 when Swedish opponent Johanna Larsson retired from the match. Putintseva will next face Annika Beck of Germany.

Italy's Camila Giorgi hits a return against Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky during their women's singles match on day two of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 17, 2017. (Photo credit should read SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)

The 74th-ranked Giorgi was also fined 30,000 euros ($32,000) for turning down a request to take part in Italy’s tie against Spain in April.

The ban prevents Giorgi from Fed Cup play, training at federation facilities, and from receiving a wild card for the Italian Open in May.

Giorgi already sat out last year’s Italian Open due to the dispute.

Andy Murray, certainly, and Novak Djokovic, probably, will interject and have their say once they recover from the shock of early round defeats at the Australian Open. Stan Wawrinka will hover in the wings, ready to grab center stage if his mood and his magnificent backhand find the door to that Top4 club left ajar. Juan Martin del Potro, resting his body in January but returning in February at Delray Beach, will surely ascend to the top ten and add some South American flair and power to the battle.

But it is hard to imagine that the senior members of the quartet that has dominated men’s tennis to an astounding degree since 2005 will not be back up there, winning titles and setting up more epic battles like the one we were privileged to witness on Rod Laver Arena.

The final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at Melbourne Park was hyped to the hilt. It was the match everyone was talking about long before it actually materialized as reality and expectations reached ridiculous levels. Except that, when it all came to pass, it exceeded anyone’s imaginings.

The extent to which this epic final helped boost the popularity of the game worldwide will be born out in the coming months as the game’s peripheral fans are ever more captivated by a personal saga that has drawn two of the world’s greatest ever athletes into each other’s orbits for the past twelve years.

The Swiss and the Spaniard, the right hander and the converted left hander, the flightily gifted gazelle and the grounded warrior, the father of four and the betrothed bachelor, one from a landlocked nation and the other from an island – these are different people until they arrive at their place of work and know each other’s business so well that a spark of magic erupts.

The grand slams are the biggest events in tennis that come around only four times in a year which is why I always make one post to look back at what transpired over the past fortnight and look at how it affected the tennis landscape.

The 2018 Australian Open obviously had great significance because of the fact that Federer, at last, bagged that elusive 18th slam title which put him further ahead of the field in the GOAT debate.

When Djokovic was going through the most dominant run in tennis history from the beginning of 2015 to the French Open in 2016 I had in the back of my mind the idea that at some point there must be some kind of response from Federer.

I am particularly referring to Djokovic completing the personal slam at the French Open. That was something Federer could never achieve and on top of that he had lost four very significant slam matches against Djokovic since 2014.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 29: Roger Federer of Switzerland (R) celebrates winning in the Men's Final match against Raphael Nadal of Spain on day 14 of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 29, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

The Spanish tennis federation says it will replace Nadal with Feliciano Lopez for next weekend’s best-of-five series at Croatia after a recommendation by the team doctor.

Nadal lost to Roger Federer in Sunday’s Australia Open final in five sets.

Doctor Angel Ruiz Cotorro says the decision took into consideration that Nadal played a significant number of matches after a four-month layoff because of a wrist injury.

On the other side of the net stood his redoubtable rival Rafael Nadal, and he, too, recognized the magnitude of the moment. Nadal headed into Melbourne having not won a Grand Slam championship since he secured his ninth French Open crown back in June of 2014. The Spaniard missed the 2014 U.S. Open with a wrist injury, and could not defend his title there. In 2015 and 2016, plagued by more injuries including a left wrist issue, he never advanced beyond the quarterfinals at the majors. Nadal had to withdraw before his third round match at Roland Garros last year when his left wrist flared up. He did not return until the Olympics, when he was still compromised by the wrist. At the U.S. Open, he squandered a 4-3, 30-0 fifth set lead against Lucas Pouille in the round of 16.

Nadal played two more tournaments in the autumn but was plainly below part at Beijing and Shanghai in losses to Grigor Dimitrov and Viktor Troicki. The Spaniard did not compete again in 2016. He needed time to heal. He wanted to prepare himself for a healthier 2017. Nadal looked reasonably good in his warmup ATP World Tour event in Brisbane, but lost a match in the quarterfinals of Brisbane 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 against Raonic that he once would have won. He was seeded ninth in this tournament while Federer was seeded 17th. But both men survived two five set skirmishes en route to the final. Federer ousted Kei Nishikori in the round of 16 and Stan Wawrinka in the penultimate round. Nadal went the distance with the immensely promising No. 24 seed Alexander Zverev and again in a spellbinding encounter with Dimitrov that lasted four hours and 56 minutes in the semifinals.

So Federer and Nadal had both been fully battle tested. They had triumphed at a time when not many experts believed they could do it. Having achieved that, they set up what was from an historical standpoint the biggest match of their careers. Either Federer would win an 18th major and widen his lead over Nadal, or the Spaniard would collect a 15th Grand Slam championship and move within two majors of his old rival. There could not have been more riding on the outcome of this showdown. Federer was fighting against a fierce current of history. He walked on court with a 11-23 head to head record versus the formidable lefty, and that included defeats in nine of their eleven meetings at the majors and six of eight final round Grand Slam tournament appointments. He had lost three times to Nadal in Melbourne, bowing in a classic five set final eight years ago, dropping a pair of semifinals fought out in 2012 and 2014.

Out on the court tonight in front of an exhilarated audience, with millions more watching their every move on television sets and computers all over the world, the two icons put on a remarkable show. Across five sets, with countless shifts in momentum, through a long evening lasting more than three hours and thirty eight minutes, Federer prevailed in a riveting showdown 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. In a role reversal of sorts, he outcompeted the man who has so often been the stronger man mentally at the end of strenuous and stressful contests. Federer pulled off a feat in this encounter that had never managed before against a player who had haunted him in so many hard fought battles across the years. He rallied from a service break down in the final set to deny the Spaniard a victory that seemed almost certain. It was Federer this time who was tougher mentally in the crunch. It was Federer who seemed to want the win even more than an adversary renowned for his capacity to come through in the crunch. It was Federer who believed in himself when the chips were on the line.

Most tellingly, Federer played this match more on his terms than Nadal did. He largely set the tempo, refusing to let Nadal dictate frequently enough off the forehand, remaining ultra aggressive at all times, and not permitting the Spaniard to ever settle into any kind of comfortable backcourt rhythm. The Swiss was swinging freely off both sides and he kept backing Nadal up with the sting of his shots and a clear-minded strategy that he has seldom exhibited against a fellow who has confounded him almost incessantly on the premier stages.

It was due, wasn’t it? Federer has been knocking hard at the door of his 18th slam title in in his last four slams but Djokovic kept denying him. So all credit to him for not losing hope and keeping the faith.

When he called it a season last year after Wimbledon things weren’t looking promising. Some feared the end was near. But then he comes back after six months off and wins his 18th slam in his first tournament back.

And that against his nemesis Nadal with a scoreline of 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. It seems too good to be true. Going into the match I actually felt Federer had a chance because it felt like he was due after all the near misses in his last four slams.

Especially the final losses against Djokovic at Wimbledon and the US Open. You felt like he was playing well enough to win a slam but Djokovic was just taking tennis to a whole new level. But credit to Federer for taking advantage of the early loss of Djokovic.

He had the same opportunity at Wimbledon last year but there Raonic stopped him. I guess the break did Federer really well and was exactly what he needed. It’s a ridiculous story and I still find it hard to believe.

It was the 35-year-old Federer’s fifth Australian title, his first at a major since Wimbledon in 2012, and it reversed the status quo against his nemesis, Nadal.

Federer had lost six of the previous eight Grand Slam finals he’d played against Nadal, and had only previously beaten the left-handed Spaniard in 11 of their 34 matches.

Both players were returning from extended layoffs for injuries – Federer the left knee; Nadal the left wrist – and were seeded 17th and ninth respectively.

Nadal remains equal second with Pete Sampras on the all-time list, with the last of his 14 majors coming at Roland Garros in 2014.

After four sets where the momentum swung alternately from one player to the next, the fifth had all the tension and drama that these two players are famous for.

The Swiss maestro defeated resurgent Rafael Nadal in a thrilling five-set 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 final to win his fifth Australian Open trophy. Federer hadn’t won a Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2012.

“I never, ever in my wildest dream felt I was going to be coming this far in Australia and here I am. It’s beautiful. I’m so happy,” said Federer.

This final saw the two champions renew their great rivalry in Grand Slam finals despite coming into the Australian Open ranked outside the top eight (Nadal ranked No. 9 and Federer No. 17).

This was Federer and Nadal’s 35th career meeting and their fourth at the Australian Open. Nadal had won all three previous Aussie Open matches including the epic final in 2009 that he won in five thrilling sets.

After both players had won their semifinal matches, they were excited about facing each other in the final.

International Hall of Fame

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 29: Abigail Spears and Juan Sebastian Cabal of Columbia pose with the championship trophy after winning their Mixed Doubles Final against Sania Mirza of India and Ivan Dodig of Croatia on day 14 of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 29, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Jack Thomas/Getty Images)

The 35-year-old Spears teamed with Colombia’s Juan Sebastian Cabal to beat second-seeded Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig 6-2 6-4 in the final Sunday on Rod Laver Arena.

Spears was striving to win her first Grand Slam title in her farewell year. She plans to retire at the end of this season after a career in which she was twice runner-up in mixed doubles finals with Mexican Santiago Gonzalez at the U.S. Open in 2013 and 2014.

The triumph by Spears and the 30-year-old Cabal continued the veteran’s theme of the championships with all players in the men’s and women’s singles finals aged 30 or older. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were playing for the men’s championship Sunday night.

The Spirit of Australia

How best to capture the texture of a major tennis tournament such as this year’s Australian Open?  Certainly the enduring excellence of iconic champions has been a major storyline, demonstrated vividly by both singles finals matchups.  But the 2017 tennis year has also been driven forward into new territory, thanks to the efforts of rising stars like first-time semifinalist Coco Vandeweghe, resurgent Grigor Dimitrov and the precocious Alexander Zverev.  Then come the surprises in the form Zverev’s brother Mischa, Denis Istomin and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

It’s often a head-scratcher to start the year off with such a major plot propulsion device.  Boom, January, the world barely emerged from the holidays, and here’s a big-time tennis event.  Then, off the circuit scatters – Davis Cup, Fed Cup, tournaments in Europe and South America.

But perhaps the genius of a major tournament kicking off the year lies in the heart and soul of its host nation.  No country better captures the spirit of what tennis should be than Australia.  From work ethic to sportsmanship, from the spirit of hearty competition to looking out for one’s mates, to comporting oneself with grace be it in victory or defeat, this nation is to tennis what the French are to wine-making: exemplary practitioners of the craft.

(Alongside yet another classy Aussie, Roy Emerson — holder of a men’s
record 28 Grand Slam doubles titles. “Emmo” is the only man to have
wonall four singles majors and all four doubles majors)

Her wide legion of admirers hoped for the best, wishing that the 36-year-old Venus could turn back the clock, hoping she might catch Serena off guard, and believing wholeheartedly that perhaps this popular and enduring champion would produce a masterful performance and register a major upset. Short of that, they wanted more than anything else for Venus Williams to make this match suspenseful, electrifying and compelling in every way. They yearned for a memorable clash that would linger for a very long while in their minds.

But it was not to be. This was unreservedly a night for Serena Williams to celebrate her prominence, to impose her will, and to demonstrate once more that the sport’s primary stages are where she belongs. Serena has established herself irrefutably as one of the best big occasion players in the history of tennis, in either the men’s or women’s games. Put a big prize on the line, raise the stakes, place her in a setting of large prestige, and Williams comes through with regularity. To be sure, she lost two of three major finals that she contested in 2016, including the Australian Open final against a burgeoning Angelique Kerber. Tonight, though, she captured her seventh Australian Open title and her 23rd major by prevailing 6-4, 6-4 over Venus. Only six times has Serena come up short in a Grand Slam tournament final: twice against Venus, and once versus Maria Sharapova, Sam Stosur, Kerber, and Garbine Muguruza.

The final this time was lackluster, and at no stage did Venus seem genuinely capable of winning, but from the middle of the first set until the end of the contest, Serena performed with resolve, purpose, controlled aggression and deep intensity. With Serena in that mood, under those circumstances, Venus never had a chance to get on any kind of roll to build a lasting momentum.

The song ” Anything You can Do” (I can do Better) always springs to mind when the sisters meet on a tennis court. Serena’s first serve is more accurate and decidedly more deceptive. Her second serve is consistently deeper and much harder to deal with. Her two-hander is more explosive. Her forehand is more solid. Across the board, Serena Williams is the better tennis player, with the exception of the conventional punch volley. Venus is superior in that department, but that can’t  compensate for her deficiencies in other areas. No wonder she has been beaten eight of the last nine times by her younger sister; unless Serena is off her game or she suffers an anxiety attack, she is going to win. It is not rocket science, but simple physics. Serena has the tools to topple Venus whenever she is anywhere near the top of her game.

In this case, she was not playing particularly well, but Serena did find the magic at opportune times, and there was an air of inevitability about it all. Let’s examine how it all unfolded. Venus started the contest apprehensively, falling behind 0-30 before serving an ace. Then Serena stepped in for a backhand crosscourt return winner. Down 15-40, Venus took a very short return from Serena and went crosscourt with her approach, but they know each other too well. Serena anticipated that move and connected immaculately with a forehand passing shot winner.

With her record seventh Australian title, the 35-year-old Williams moved ahead of Steffi Graf for the most major titles in the Open era. Margaret Court won 24 majors, but collected 13 of those before the Open era.

The victory at Rod Laver Arena also ensured Serena Williams will regain the top ranking, which she lost in September after 186 straight weeks when Angelique Kerber won the U.S. Open.

It was Serena’s seventh win in nine all-Williams Grand Slam finals, and the first since Wimbledon in 2009. It was 36-year-old, No. 13-seeded Venus Williams’ first trip back to a major final in 7 ½ years.

Williams has won 15 majors since last losing to Venus in a Grand Slam final, at Wimbledon in 2008.

Venus walked over to Serena’s side of the net and the sisters hugged.

The second seed got to No. 23 by triumphing over sister Venus Williams in the Australian Open final for her seventh Australian Open. This was the sisters’ ninth meeting in a Grand Slam final, with Serena holding a 7-2 edge in those finals.

Serena Williams, who was not a clear favorite coming into the first Grand Slam of the year, did not lose a set on her way to the finals despite having a tough draw. She faced former No. 7 Belinda Bencic in the first round. 19-year-old  had defeated her in 2015 in Toronto. In the second round, she met Lucie Safarova, a former No. 5 who took Serena to three sets in the final of the 2015 French Open.

After her second round win, Serena Williams was asked if she felt she dodged a bullet.

“Well, honestly, it’s not ideal. But at the end of the day, when I play players like Bencic and Safarova, they force me to play better. It forces my game from the very first day to be at a high level. So I think it’s actually good.

“You know, I needed something to start really fast. I’m not going to complain about it,” said the newly-minted world No. 1.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 28: Marta Kostyuk of the Ukraine poses with the championship trophy after winning her Junior Girls Singles Final match against Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland during the Australian Open 2017 Junior Championships at Melbourne Park on January 28, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

The 14-year-old from Ukraine broke Masarova’s serve in the ninth game of the final set, then held her serve in the 10th, clinching the match on a forehand.

In an evening match, Serena Williams was scheduled to play her sister Venus in the women’s final. A win by Serena would be her 23rd major title, breaking the Open-era record of 22 that she held with Steffi Graf.

In the men’s doubles final, American twins Bob and Mike Bryan looked to win their seventh Australian title when they played Henri Kontinen of Finland and Australian John Peers.

With Djokovic’s second-round exit at this year’s Australian Open, arguably the biggest upset the men’s game has seen since Georg Bastl shocked Pete Sampras in the second round at Wimbledon in 2002, there is suddenly a lot of conjecture about whether the 12-time major winner is suffering a crisis of motivation. Djokovic’s loss to Denis Istomin in Melbourne followed his third-round defeat at Wimbledon last July to Sam Querrey, a first-round loss at the Olympics to Juan Martin del Potro, a loss to Stan Wawrinka in the US Open final in September, and a loss to Andy Murray in the title match of the Barclays ATP World Finals in November. When Djokovic won the French Open last June, finally claiming the major that had eluded him, it looked as if he was poised to dominate men’s tennis to a degree never before seen. At that point, he held all four major titles and was halfway to a calendar slam, and it seemed entirely reasonable to believe that he would win another six or seven majors before age, the competition, or boredom caught up with him.

Instead, he fell into a rut. Sure, Querrey, del Potro, Wawrinka, Murray, and Istomin are all quality opponents who played exceptionally well to get those wins. However, five consecutive big-event losses is a trend, and there is no denying that Djokovic hasn’t been himself since Paris. After falling to Wawrinka in New York, Djokovic admitted that he’d struggled to “re-engage” following his French Open win but was happy to be back on the court and ready to resume winning. When he beat Murray in Doha a few weeks ago, it appeared he was fully re-engaged.

That turned out not to be the case, and the loss to Istomin has raised questions about his hunger. In his presser following the match, Djokovic politely brushed aside questions about ambition and drive. “It’s not a time now to go so deep into it,” he said. But Boris Becker, his former coach, wasn’t so reticent. He told Christopher Clarey of The New York Times that Djokovic had lacked his normal intensity in the match against Istomin. “I didn’t recognize him today, his mentality,” Becker said. He also claimed that one of the reasons he stopped working with Djokovic—they ended their three-year relationship last month—was because he sensed that tennis was no longer as high a priority for him. When the split was announced, Becker said that Djokovic hadn’t been spending as much time as usual on the practice court since winning Roland Garros and needed to “go back to work…back to the office.”

It is certainly possible that Djokovic has run out of inspiration and desire. He trained harder than probably anyone and led a famously ascetic existence (an oft-repeated story is that he celebrated winning the 2012 Australian, when he outlasted Rafael Nadal in a five-set final that took nearly six hours, by treating himself to a square of chocolate—yes, one tiny square of chocolate). He is now a father, and it could be that, having completed a career slam, he is tired of sacrificing so much for the game. This is purely speculation, but perhaps he has also grown frustrated at his inability to win the thing he seems to covet the most: the affection of tennis fans. For years, he has tried—too hard sometimes—to be a crowd pleaser, to charm spectators and to gain not just their respect, but their love. However, it is clear that he will never command anything like the adoration that his rivals Roger Federer and (to a slightly lesser extent) Nadal enjoy, and maybe this has sapped his enthusiasm.

If motivation is indeed the problem, Djokovic would not be the first tennis superstar to lose his competitive ardor. Former world number one and current Tennis Channel commentator Jim Courier struggled with motivation during the second half of the 1993 season. After unexpectedly winning the French in 1991, Courier went on a 24-month tear in which he successfully defended his French title, won back-to-back Australians, made the finals of three other majors, and soared to the top of the rankings. But after losing in the final of the 93 French and in the Wimbledon final a few weeks later, he lost his drive. He did win Indianapolis later that summer, but lost before the quarterfinals in each of his next six tournaments, including the US Open, and seemed completely checked out. Playing a match in the ATP Tour World Championship that November, he read a novel (Maybe the Moon, by Armistead Maupin) during changeovers. During the same match, he told his box, “You know what’s going through my head? I wonder if Nafta passed.”

Recovery & Redemption

Families, friends, foes – all have come together at this year’s Australian Open. “The Happy Slam,” Roger Federer’s term for the event has panned out marvelously.  But what’s occurred over these last two weeks is more than sheer happiness.  Call the 2017 Australian Open, the Slam of recovery and redemption.

+ A year ago, Lucie Safarova could barely walk, the result of a bacterial infection.  Yesterday, she and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the women’s doubles, regaining the title they’d won here in 2015.

+ Mike and Bob Bryan haven’t won a major since the 2014 US Open.  Tonight they’re in the finals, keen to take this title for the seventh time.  A Bryan brothers victory would also be their 17th doubles major, tying them for the most ever with Australian icon John Newcombe.

I’ve already written my thoughts about this match on Facebook but I will say a few more things here. This match was a great disappointment to me despite the scoreline. Neither player looked like they wanted to win.

It’s incredible how Stan’s body language changes when he faces Federer. He is unwilling to play the bad guy which is the role assigned to anyone who dares to defeat Federer on a regular basis. At least when it comes to Fedfans.

Stan is not a warrior. He doesn’t want to win at all costs. He would rather be the nice guy that doesn’t spoil the party than the villain who gets what he wants. That is in stark contrast to Djokovic and Nadal who have received endless criticism simply because they dare to defeat Federer on a regular basis.

Take for instance the MTO incident in the first semi-final. Federer took an MTO after Wawrinka took one earlier and afterward he admitted it was a tactical ploy. There was no criticism. But if Djokovic or Nadal does it all hell breaks loose.

#Federer breaks #Wawrinka and it’s back on serve in the 4th set #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/rV6QLT2P34