Pity, to be sure, that our Denis Istomin has not been able to become the winner of the Grand Slam tournament – Australian Open, and nonetheless it is there where he achieved results unprecedented in his personal career and all Uzbekistan tennis history! Denis defeated one of the strongest tennis players of the world and reached the fourth round of the prestigious tournament. It is worth recalling again.
On the fourth day of Australian Open, in the match of Denis Istomin and leader of the world tennis, the Serb Novak Djokovic, rivals showed a tense, exciting and beautiful fight that ended with a sensational outcome.
Prior to the face-off of the second round almost all the experts had agreed in unison that the Serb star, who is currently the second player in the world, would without any doubt overcome the Uzbek athlete. What question arose was as to whether Istomin will win at least one set. Before that game, the opponents had met five times, and in all challenges Djokovic was of course triumphant. And Denis had been able to win only one set.
Already drawing the first point in the first game, where Novak filed, it was unexpected; the fight was very hard and absolutely equal. It lasted nearly 15 minutes – a kind of a record, and nine times the score was equal. Following it the Serb happily raised his hands up, as if he had won the match. But the Uzbek player was not particularly upset, he filed this meeting just perfectly and often bleed. So until the seventh game of the first batch, the contenders took their feed.
But in the seventh game, yet another surprise came: Istomin made a break, taking the opponent, and led in scores, 4: 3. The next game proved to be too tense, the score was equal several times, but Djokovic still doge Denis, making a reverse break – 4: 4.
With the score 6: 6 the winner of the first set was determined by a tiebreaker. Novak at first confidently led, 4: 1, but our tennis player managed to turn the tide of the fight, coming forward – 5: 4, and then win it with a score 10: 8.
Thus, after the first batch Denis Istomin was ahead. But it looked like it was some surprise, a misunderstanding. Now Djokovic would shake, show class, and everything will fall into place.
But in the second game nothing changed fundamentally, opponents took their submission, demonstrating powerful aces. With the score 5: 4 in favor of Istomin in the opponent’s filing fastened equal struggle, where Denis had two set points, but did not use them. Djokovic won the game and brought the set a victory too. The score, after two games, was equal – 1: 1.
In the third batch the Serb played much more powerful, while Denis was clearly in the decline, and he lost this set – 2: 6. The Serb then looks noticeably calmed down, apparently the last doubts in the victorious outcome of the match are gone. And in vain! The fourth party was again equal, and again when the score was 6: 6, the winner was determined by a tiebreaker. But this time, the Uzbek confidently took the lead, 4: 1, then the Serb by some supernatural force brings the score to 5: 6, but most of it is not enough. Account of parties becomes equal – 2: 2.
In the fifth party it felt that the competitors are tired, the match time has passed for four hours. In these circumstances, Denis Istomin proved to be more accurate and a little fresh than his famous rival, having made the major sensation of Australian Open – beating Novak Djokovic in five sets.
In an interview after the match, Denis apologized before Djokovic for the fact that “today, he played well.”
Even then, few tennis fans believed that Istomin’s success will be continued, but there it was …Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin in the third round managed to beat the Spaniard Pablo Carreno.
This fight, like the previous one, turned very tense to Denis, nervous and unpredictable. Again, the struggle was an exhausting five-set match in which our compatriot once again demonstrated excellent physical indicators and the will to win.
In the first set the fight was equal, the contestants won their filing in their turn. But with the score 5: 4 in the opponent’s filing Istomin managed to make a break and took the match 1: 0 along the parties.
In the second game he did a lot of wrong, and the Spaniard was able to win it. In the third set, Istomin often rescued his powerful serve, and he again comes forward by party – 2: 1. In the fourth set Pablo literally tortured Denis with shorter balls, while our tennis player seemed tired and not very agile.
The score was equal – 2: 2, and again had to determine the strongest in the fifth set. Surprisingly, Denis’s forces were more confident and he beat the Spaniard in the hardest fight. Score by party was in favor of the Uzbek tennis player.
Denis Istomin continues to surprise all the experts. But, for the first time going into the fourth round of the Grand Slam, he proved that his sensational victory over one of the leaders of world tennis Novak Djokovic was not random, accidental.
After that, everyone still raised the question: whether Denis will continue his winning extravaganza that caused a fuss in the tennis world. He faced in the fourth round the very strong tennis player – the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
Unfortunately, the fourth round barrier proved irresistible for Istomin – he lost in four sets.
Many experts favored in this match the Bulgarian athlete, but Denis confounded them all in the first set, winning with a score of 6: 2. Equal struggle was in the second set with the score 6: 6, was appointed a tie-break, which Dimitrov won. After this equal fight did not happen. Apparently, Istomin had spared effort in the previous five-set matches. He conceded to Grigor – 2: 6 and 1: 6, and in the match it came out as 1: 3.
Denis left Melbourne with his head held high: it was his most successful performance at major international tournaments.
