The 24-year-old couldn’t help but smile upon entering court 13 of Melbourne Park as he was greeted by his loyal Australian-Lithuanian fans from Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat.
Yet by the time the Lithuanian’s sixth Australian Open had come to an end he would depart from the premises immediately, meeting with German coach Dirk Hordoff for a post-match briefing.
Understandably, Anderson entered the match as a superior favourite with local betting agencies placing the tournament’s 14th seeded player with $1.30 odds.
However that’s not to say that Berankis did not contribute throughout the affair’s highlights package.
The Lithuanian Davis Cup star surprisingly matched Anderson in the respective second game’s of the opening two sets thanks to precision on his return serve.
This trait was then followed by Berankis’ flare on his volley shots in the third set, a massive improvement compared to his previous match, against one of the world’s fastest servers.
Such was the significance of these displays that the final set resulted in a tie break however a double fault differential of 1:6 would ultimately fall in Anderson’s favour.
Overall, Berankis was able to claim 12 games across the three sets.
This statistic is on par with his Australian Open efforts against world number-3 Andy Murray in 2013 and a far greater improvement from his five against world number-7 David Ferrer in 2011.
Statistics: (Berankis:Anderson)
Aces 4:14
Double faults 1:6
1st serves in 47/95 (49 %):52/75 (69 %)
1st serve points won 31/47 (66 %):43/52 (83 %)
2nd serve points won 22/48 (46 %):18/23 (78 %)
Break points 0/0:4/7 (57 %)
Winners 24:30
Service winners 2:7
Service games 15:14
Unforced errors 40:23
Total points won 67:103
Anderson, aka K.A, will now challenge Richard Gasquet (France), who advanced to his 4th straight Australian Open 3rd round clash after defeating James Duckworth (Australia) 6-2 6-3 7-5.
If successful he is then expected to play Spaniard Rafael Nadal, a previous Australian Open champion (2009) and duel runner up (2012, 2014)…. I hear Rafa does well at Roland Garros as well!
Meanwhile, Berankis’ supporters are urged to watch on for Lithuania’s 2015 Davis Cup opponents from Poland such as Jerzy Janowicz who plays Gael Monfils (France) Thursday.
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