By Danny Caro
1 min read
By Danny Caro
Dudi Sela maintained his excellent run at the Australian Open with a second-round victory over 28th seed Lukas Rosol.
Sela (106) swept aside the Czech 7-6, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 to equal his best-ever performance at the Melbourne grand slam, when, in 2009, he lost to Jo Wilfried-Tsonga in the third round.
The Israel will play world no. 3 Rafael Nadal in the third round, if the Spaniard wins his second round contest against Tim Smyczek.
Sela was cheered on by dozens of fans chanting "Dudi King of Israel" throughout the match, and he celebrated with them after the victory.
He said, "It's fantastic to start the year with a win in Australia. There were so many people here from the local Jewish community who didn't stop urging me on. It made for a really great atmosphere."
In the first round, the Israeli won a five-set thriller over Germany's Jan Lennard Struff (57), coming from 2-1 to win the decider 7-5.
In the men's doubles tournament, Jonathan Erlich and Treat Huey beat Dusan Lajovic and Lu Yen-hsun 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.
