Jason Kubler continues his sizzling start to the 2023 season with his first-ever win in the Australian Open main draw.
Melbourne, Australia , 16 January 2023 | Vivienne Christie
When Jason Kubler made his Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open in 2010, the then-16-year-old is unlikely to have imagined it would take 13 years to claim a main-draw win at his home Grand Slam.
With a straight-sets win over Sebastian Baez, the 29-year-old local not only claimed that long-awaited breakthrough but wrote another significant chapter in his comeback story after some well-documented struggles with injury.
“It’s definitely been a long time,” said Kubler, following a 6-4 6-4 6-4 win over Baez, who at world No.44 is ranked 40 places higher than the Australian.
Since that first Australian Open match 13 years ago, when No.24 seed Ivan Ljubicic was the straight-sets winner, Kubler has contested the Australian Open main draw twice – most recently in 2019, when he claimed a set from Thomas Fabbiano, but failed to progress to the second round.
KUBES 😍
Jason Kubler is into the second round at the @AustralianOpen for the first time after a clinical straight sets victory, 6-4 6-4 6-4 🙌#GoAussies • #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/u3NUgdjsTk
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) January 16, 2023
On the back of a stunning season in 2022, when Kubler qualified and reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, the Queenslander was awarded a wildcard into the main draw of the Australian Open. It ensured he bypassed the challenge of qualifying, where he had faltered it the past three years.
After a sizzling start to 2023, which featured three straight match wins over higher-ranked opponents (Dan Evans and Albert Ramos-Vinola at the United Cup; Tomas Martin Etcheverry in Adelaide), Kubler arrived at a career-high world No.84 ranking.
He was also high on confidence from the outset of his first-round encounter with Paez, the current world No.44.
With a service break achieved in the third game of the first set, Kubler didn’t allow the Argentine an opening. Helped by four aces and nine winners in total, the dialled-in Australian maintained his lead, calmly serving out the set in 42 minutes.
The second set followed an almost identical pattern, Kubler retaining control as he broke early to take a 3-1 lead. But serving it out wasn’t quite so straightforward, the Australian registering his first double fault of the match and providing Baez with a…
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