Double title holder in Melbourne, Aryna Sabalenka (1re) provided the essential by dismissing the Dane Clara Tauson (42e) with a score of 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, Friday in the 3rd round of the Australian Open. But on the court of the Rod Laver Arena, she also showed surprising excitement in her service games. The Belarusian, who must reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open to hope to retain her throne as world No.1 in the face of attacks from her runner-up Iga Swiatek (2nd), was caught four times in her throw-in in the first set and five times in total.
“The first set was very difficult,” Sabalenka emphasized at a press conference. “Winning it gave me a little more mental strength” and confidence about “winning this match without serving at best.” Sabalenka thus achieved a third victory in two sets in a row and will face in the round of 16 the young Russian Mirra Andreeva (15e world at 17), who beat in three sets the Polish Magdalena Frech (26e).
Osaka stops there
Double winner of the Australian Open (2019 and 2021), the Japanese Naomi Osaka (51e) for her part gave up in the 3rd round after losing the first set in the tie-break against the Swiss Belinda Bencic (294e). This is her second withdrawal in a few days, after she threw in the towel in early January in the final of the Auckland tournament against the Dane Clara Tauson (42e).
Returning to the circuit at the start of 2024, after a long break where she gave birth to a daughter, Osaka played a third round of a Grand Slam on Friday for the first time since 2022, already at the Australian Open. Bencic, ex-4e world gold medalist at the Tokyo Games in 2021, returned to the circuit in October after also giving birth to a daughter. She will face in the round of 16 the winner of the duel between world No. 3 Coco Gauff and Canadian Leylah Fernandez (29e).
-Zverev and Alcaraz attending Djokovic
World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz took over from Aryna Sabalenka on the Rod Laver Arena court, before the 3e round of the tenfold winner in Melbourne Novak Djokovic (7e). The Spaniard, in search of the only major title missing from his record in Australia, won but let slip his first set of the tournament against the Portuguese Nuno Borges (33e), beaten 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2.
He will face in the round of 16 the Briton Jack Draper (18e) or the Australian Aleksandar Vukic (68th) to try to match his 2024 quarter-final, the best run of his career at the Australian Open. If he wins the title in Melbourne, Alcaraz (21 years old) will become the youngest player to have won all four Grand Slam tournaments. On Friday, the Spaniard got the local public in the pocket as soon as his match was over by promising to get a kangaroo tattoo if he wins the Australian Open. “All I have to do now is lift the trophy,” Alcaraz laughed.
Direct rival of the Spanish terror for the title in Melbourne, which would if necessary be his first Grand Slam trophy, the German Alexander Zverev (2e) scored a third victory in three sets in a row, against the Briton Jacob Fearnley (92e). Olympic champion in 2021, Zverev won 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and will compete against a Frenchman for his place in the quarter-finals. The French No. 1 Ugo Humbert (14e) and his dolphin Arthur Son (21e) will cross swords in the evening to determine who will have the formidable privilege of going up against Zverev.
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