Thursday was an intriguing day as the third-round line-up was finally confirmed with Jannik Sinner filling the top slot as expected, but not before his Aussie opponent, Tristan Schoolkate had given him a bit of a fright at the start.
Never taking things for granted, so very glad to be again in the next round Jannik Sinner
In fact the 23-year-old from Perth surprised the top seed from Italy by claiming the opening set and fighting hard in the early part of the second to Frustrate Sinner for six games finally breaking through to take a 4-3 lead.
He then broke to start the third and basically took full control to prevail 4-6 6-4 6-1 6-3.
“I felt like he was serving really well,” Sinner in his on-court interview.
“He was playing much better than I was at the beginning. It’s a very special place, especially with the Australians here playing with their home crowd, but I have to be very happy still for my performance.
“Never taking things for granted, so very glad to be again in the next round.”
There he faces Marcos Giron of the US who took out Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, 7-5 3-6 7-5 3-6 6-4.
In fact the US had a good day for joining Giron in round three are Taylor Fritz, Alex Michelsen and Ben Shelton though Frances Tiafoe, the 17th seed, suffered a five set loss.
Tiafoe suffered with some physical problems in his opening match against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech including cramp and actually vomited on court late in the fourth set before going through in five.
On Thursday he had to contend with another five setter and no doubt was still feeling the effects of his efforts 48-hours earlier, losing 6-7(3) 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-1 to Hungarian Fabian Marozsan.
Taylor Fritz donated his first round prize money to the LA Firefighters
(Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)
Fritz meanwhile, showed why he had climbed up to No.4 in the world rankings as he powered his way past Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin for the loss of just three games.
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The American’s 6-2 6-1 6-0 means he’s dropped only eight games in two matches and is emerging as strong contender to win his first major titles, if not at Melbourne, then later in the year.
Fritz let slip just eight points on his first serve, broke Garin seven times and afterwards the California native donated his first round prize money to help those affected by the Los Angeles wild fires back where he grew up.
“Southern California has been my home forever,” said Fritz, who reached his first Grand Slam final on home soil last year. “I spent a lot of time, I still spend a lot of time in LA, but I lived in LA for quite a while.
“I have friends impacted. Family, not so much. The house that my brothers grew up in burnt down. Obviously, they’re not living there anymore.
“A lot of people are affected by it. I feel like if you’re in a place to help, then you should.”
His next hurdle is Gael Monfils, the French veteran Gael Monfils, last week’s Auckland champion at 38-years of age, who beat Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 7-5 6-3 7-6(3) to back up his five-set win over his 21-year-old compatriot Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the opening round.
“I’ve been fortunate at the beginning of the season,” said Monfils, who is only the fourth man aged 38 or older to make the third round at Melbourne Park since 1988.
“Felt the body good. Felt I was hitting good. I’m just surfing on the moment.”
And completing the American round up, former quarterfinalist Ben Shelton moved past Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta in 6-3 6-3 6-7(4) 6-4 while the young Alex Michelsen took out the 21-year-old Australian wildcard, 7-5 6-3 7-6(4) and will face the 19th seeded Russian, Karen Khachanov.
Another youngster, 18-year-old Joao Fonscca of Brazil, first round-round conqueror of the 9th seeded Andrey Rublev, who has been making waves over the last few weeks after winning the Next Gen Finals in Jedah last December,
The teenager finally ran out of steam though in the first five-setter of his career against the experienced Italian Lorenzo Sonego who brought his 14-match winning streak to an end with a 6-7(8) 6-3 6-1 3-6 6-3 victory.
Finally last summer’s Wimbledon semi-finalist Lorenzo Musetti won two key tiebreaks to record a 7-6(3) 7-6(6) 6-2 victory over Canada’s Denis Shapovalov while Poland Hubert Hurkacz, was another seeded casualty as he surprisingly fell 6-4 6-4 6-2 to Serb Miomir Kecmanovic.
