Final Grand Slam of 2015 starts with exciting first round action.
One match to pick out is, Lu versus Kukushkin. Lu played the previous week’s tournament in Winston Salem. His quarter final match up, however, never took place, due to a walkover. Lu, did not play and withdrew from the tournament at quarter final stage, because of a back injury. The back injury occurred during the third set of his 1/16 final win against Chung.

“There’s a disk that had some inflammation inside, and the inflammation got into the muscle and got it tight,” Lu said. “It was really affecting my serve. We’re all looking forward to next week, but I’m still upset.

“We did everything we could with the ATP (trainers). There’s still some soreness, and I really couldn’t do anything natural. It really didn’t make sense to go on the court and play. It’s not smart.”

Kukushkin is a 1.64 favorite in first round match against Lu. Lu has had 5 days rest since the injury came about. Is Lu ready for a possible 5 set match?

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