Jannik Sinner holds his place. A year after winning the Australian Open, the world No.1 is progressing at his own pace on the courts of Melbourne as evidenced by his victory in three sets (6-3, 6-4, 6-2) on Saturday against the American Marcos Giron (46e).
The Italian, winner for 4e times in as many duels against his opponent, joins his rivals Alexander Zverev (2e), Carlos Alcaraz (3e) et Novak Djokovic (7e) among the last sixteen players in the running. Sinner, now on a series of 17 consecutive victories, will face the Dane Holger Rune (13e) ou le Serbe Miomir Kecmanovic.
A streak of invincibility that lasts
Double winner in Grand Slams (Australian Open and US Open 2024), the 23-year-old champion has not been beaten for more than three months and his defeat in the final of the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing against Alcaraz at the beginning of October.
Among the ladies, the world No.4 left on Saturday. The Italian Jasmine Paolini was beaten in three sets (2-6, 6-4, 6-0), offering the 30-year-old Ukrainian a new ticket for the round of 16 of the tournament, a year after the first.
Svitolina in the footsteps of Monfils
She will face Veronika Kudermetova (75) in a Ukrainian-Russian clash.e) and at the same time joins in the second week her husband Gaël Monfils, qualified on Saturday after his victory against Taylor Fritz (4e). “It’s been a crazy battle. I played very poorly in the first set, so I don’t know if I was really inspired (by Monfils’ victory),” Svitolina said on court after typing “Love Ukraine” on the camera.
“All Ukrainians have this fighting spirit. At every level, we fight for what is ours. Combativeness is in our blood,” she stressed.
-Jasmine Paolini is the second Top 5 player to be eliminated in the first week, following the premature defeat of world No.5 Zheng Qinwen in the second round on Wednesday.
Swiatek left only crumbs
Earlier in the day, Poland’s Iga Swiatek (2e) had lined up a fourth victory in as many duels against the British Emma Raducanu (61e), winner of the US Open in 2021. The five-time Grand Slam winner won 6-1, 6-0 and thus joins her rivals Aryna Sabalenka (1re), double title holder, and Coco Gauff (3e). She will challenge for a place in the quarterfinals the German Eva Lys (128e).
After two difficult first matches, the American Emma Navarro (8e) won a third match in three sets in a row, against three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur (39e): 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 Russian Daria Kasatkina (10th) in the next round.e), who dismissed Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (23e) 7-5, 6-1 Saturday. The 7e world Elena Rybakina, winner of Wimbledon in 2022 and finalist in Melbourne in 2023, is also in the round of 16 after her 6-3, 6-4 success against the Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska (33e).
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