– 4 in a row for Swiatek –
On the court of the Rod Laver Arena, the Polish Iga Swiatek (2nd) scored a fourth victory in as many duels on Saturday against the British Emma Raducanu (61st), winner of the US Open in 2021.
The five-time Grand Slam winner won 6-1, 6-0 and thus joined her rivals Aryna Sabalenka (1st), double title holder, and Coco Gauff (3rd) in the round of 16.
She will challenge the German Eva Lys (128th) or the Romanian Jacqueline Cristian (82nd) for a place in the quarterfinals.
Semi-finalist in Melbourne in 2022, Swiatek was eliminated in the 3rd round of the Australian Open in 2024.
After two difficult first matches, the American Emma Navarro (8th) won a third match in three sets in a row, against the triple Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur (39th): 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 .
“I love tennis so much that I can’t help but go to three sets,” joked the semi-finalist of the last US Open.
She will face in the next round the winner of the match between the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (23rd) and the Russian Daria Kasatkina (10th).
Last member of the top 5 to compete in her 3rd round, the Italian Jasmine Paolini (4th) is expected around 7:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. French time) at the Margaret Court Arena.
The finalist of Roland-Garros and Wimbledon in 2024 will challenge the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (27th).
– Fritz-Monfils as an aperitif before Sinner –
After Navarro’s victory against Jabeur, French veteran Gaël Monfils (38 years old), who became the oldest tournament winner on the main circuit since 1977 in early January in Auckland, has a meeting with world No.4 Taylor Fritz at the Margaret Court Arena.
-The last duel between “La Monf” and the American, finalist of the US Open in 2024, had already been played in Melbourne (in 2019) and had turned into four sets to the advantage of Fritz.
The winner of this 3rd round poster will face the American Ben Shelton (20th) or the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (15th) in the round of 16.
At the start of the evening, world No.1 Jannik Sinner will enter the Rod Laver Arena to face the American Marcos Giron (46th), who has never gone beyond the 3rd round in a Grand Slam.
In the event of a victory against Giron, the defending champion in Melbourne would achieve a 17th victory in a row.
The double Grand Slam winner (Australian Open and US Open 2024) has not been defeated since his defeat in the final of the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing against Carlos Alcaraz (3rd), at the start of the fall.
The 21-year-old Spaniard qualified for the round of 16 on Friday, like Alexander Zverev (2nd).
The young American Alex Michelsen (42nd), aged 20, joined them on Saturday by dismissing the Russian Karen Khachanov (19th) in three sets to offer himself his first round of 16 in a Grand Slam.
Michelsen won 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 and will face in the next round the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo (31st) or the Australian Alex De Minaur (8th), last survivor of the host country in the male table.
In the French camp, the last of the five French people present in the 3rd round, Corentin Moutet (69th), faces on Saturday afternoon the young American Learner Tien, surprise faller of the Russian Daniil Medvedev (5th) in the previous round.
Ugo Humbert (14th) qualified for the round of 16 on Friday, unlike Arthur Fils, forced to withdraw by a foot injury, and Benjamin Bonzi (64th), beaten by the Czech Jiri Lehecka.
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