Tag: Collins

The first three points went the Australian’s way courtesy of a double fault and two unforced errors from Cerundolo’s side of the net.

Cerundolo gets on the board with an ace down the middle, but miscues another backhand and surrenders a cheap break straight away.

But de Minaur is feeling generous and gifts the break straight back, going from 30-0 up to losing the game with three double faults and an error off the backhand wing.

The 31st seed enters first, before eighth-seeded Aussie Alex de Minaur arrives to massive cheers on centre court.

De Minaur wins the coin toss and chooses to receive first.

Australian Alex de Minaur is coming up on Rod Laver Arena from 2pm AEDT, taking on Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo in the third round.

De Minaur is looking to reach the fourth round at his home slam for the fourth straight time and, of course, go further for the first time in his career — the Australian Open is the only grand slam where the eighth seed has never reached the quarterfinals.

De Minaur has never played 31st seed Cerundolo, who should be well rested after countryman Facundo Diaz Acosta retired after just 45 minutes of their second-round clash.

Cerundolo favours the slower clay courts, with successive fourth-round appearances at Roland Garros and four of his five career finals (2/3 titles) coming on clay.

De Minaur is favoured on what is expected to be a very warm outing, which should help the ball get through the court faster.

They’re vying for a spot in the fourth round against 20-year-old American Alex Michelsen, who’s ranked 42nd but beaten 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and 19th seed Karen Khachanov in this year’s tournament.

Emma Navarro is perhaps the least decorated member of the WTA top 10 but the 23-year-old is trending the right way and continues that way with a tough 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over three-time major finalist Ons Jabeur.

Navarro went third round, fourth round, quarterfinal, semifinal in the four slams last year, and the eighth seed has dug deep to pull out an entertaining win over Jabeur, who looked back to her best during that second set.

But Navarro trusted the process and held her nerve in the last set, getting the early break and holding on, serving out the match at her first opportunity.

“I love three sets,” Navarro says after her third straight full-length match.

She’s also played 31 three-setters in the past year, more than any other woman on tour.

Nabarro says her fighting spirit comes from her father, who took her and her siblings on brutally long bike rides that brought them to tears. Yeesh.

“I learned a lot of toughness growing up and that’s thanks to him,” she says.

Twenty-year-old Alex Michelsen has beaten 19th seed Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-2 in an impressive showing to reach the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time.

“I was playing unbelievable. I don’t really know what’s going on, I’ve never hit my forehand that well,” Michelsen says, adding he just wants to ride this momentum, although he seems unsure how sustainable it is.

Michelsen awaits the winner of Australian Alex de Minaur and Francisco Cerundolo, who are coming up in a matter of minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

“It’s gonna be a battle either way so I’m gonna sit back on the couch and watch,” says Michelsen, who’s split his two matches with the Aussie and has never clashed with Cerundolo.

The 19th seed and 2023 semifinalist is one game away from being knocked out by American 20-year-old Alex Michelsen, who leads by two sets and 5-2 on John Cain Arena.

German Eva Lys was supposed to be back home in Hamburg earlier this week after losing to Australia’s Destanee Aiava in qualifying, but instead she’s taking on world number 82 Jaqueline Cristian for a spot in the fourth round.

The third lucky loser, Lys beat Australian number one Kim Birrell in straight sets on five minute’s notice in the first round after 13th seed Anna Kalinskaya’s withdrawal.

The seemingly unshakable Lys is trying to work her way back into this clash with Romania’s Cristian, who leads 5-3  after earlier jumping out to a 4-1 advantage in the opening set.

After holding off big-serving Karen Khachanov 7-5 in a second-set tiebreak, 20-year-old American Alex Michelsen has jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a break of serve early in the third set.

Michelsen is painting the lines with his groundstrokes and forcing Khachanov to move, but the 19th seed can’t keep up.

Michelsen, who’s best slam outing came when he reached the third round here last year, looks an infinitely better player this time around and would need to fall in a heap to miss out on his first round of 16.

If he wins through, he will await Australian Alex de Minaur eight seed or 31st seed Francisco Cerundolo, who are up next on Rod Laver Arena.

Second seed Iga Świątek has spent just 70 minutes on court in taking down Emma Raducanu 6-1, 6-0 and roll into the fourth round, still yet to drop a set.

Raducanu never really had a look-in, with Świątek slamming down 24 winners and making just 12 unforced errors.

The only game she lost was the second of the match, so she won the last 11 games in a row.

Świątek broke three times and won 30 of 47 points in that second set.

Absolutely clinical from the Pole, who’s loving her time in Australia.

“Just enjoying my walks and being in nature,” she says of her plans for her day off.

“I try not to stay in the hotel too much. At home it’s so cold and grey and cloudy that I’m gonna use every opportunity to go out and enjoy Australia because I feel like the world has better colours here. Everything is brighter and more fun.”

A lovely sentiment, but is she just saying it to get the Melbourne fans back on side after that coffee dig?

The first locals in action on day seven have lost I’m afraid.

Ava Beck was a wildcard in the girls’ singles, but has been knocked out by ninth-seeded Brit Mingge Xu 6-1, 6-2.

Meanwhile, in the men’s doubles, Tristan Schoolkate and Adam Walton have lost their second-round clash with American pair Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-2, 6-4.

Three-time grand slam runner-up Ons Jabeur dropped the first set to eighth-seeded American Emma Navarro on Margaret Court Arena.

But Jabeur, who has not been past the third round in Melbourne since her 2020 quarterfinal appearance, has shot out of the blocks in the second set winning 12 of the first 13 points to go up two breaks of serve in about seven minutes.

Iga Świątek has barely given Emma Raducanu an inch of space as she ran through the first set of their third-round clash on Rod Laver Arena.

Raducanu faced two break points in her first service game and it’s been a battle for the 2021 US Open winner ever since, going down two breaks in the opening frame.

Raducanu is only landing her first serve about half the time and Świątek is punishing those second serves.

Raducanu’s hit 11 unforced errors to just three winners, while Świątek has 10 winners and six errors.

The first set lasted just 30 minutes, and Raducanu needs to find a miraculous turnaround to get back into this one. Even that might not be enough, because Świątek is on fire right now.

After winning the first set, Alex Michelsen has gone down a break and 0-3 against Karen Khachanov and he’s taken a medical timeout.

It looked like he landed a little hard on a return of serve and jarred his hip or groin, so he called for the physio, followed him off court and has officially taken a timeout.

The 20-year-old American takes the opening set against 19th seed Karen Khachanov 6-3 in just 35 minutes.

As expected, this match is moving quickly, with short points and quick service games.

A few more errors in that opening frame than both players would like, but Michelsen will be happy with the fact he got one look at a break point against the monstrous Khachanov serve, converted it, then immediately served out the set.

No wasted energy.

Stepping onto Rod Laver Arena first is second-seeded five-time major winner Iga Świątek and 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

Meanwhile, on Margaret Court Arena, three-time grand slam finalist Ons Jabeur takes on eighth seed Emma Navarro.

Jabeur is ranked 39th but this is the first seeded player she’s faced.

It appears Australian world number 195 Destanee Aiava was tested just after her doubles loss with compatriot Maddison Inglis, and wasn’t thrilled.

Her description of the “invasive” process is great:

“they grab u whenever they want and they have to watch u pspspsps, the lady i had was really lovely and it was quick”

With so much talk around doping in tennis at the moment, testing both in and out of competition is in the spotlight.

Aside from the high-profile cases of Jannik Sinner and Iga Świątek, where they actually received adverse findings, there are others like Sweden’s Mikael Ymer, who is servng an 18-month ban after missing three tests.

In elite sports under the World Anti-Doping Agency, athletes have to constantly keep authorities abreast of there whereabouts, and testers can show up.

In a chat with fellow injury-hit players Denis Shapovalov and Dominic Thiem, Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis last year revealed he had missed two tests and was on his last strike.

“I’m shitting myself,” he said, going on to say he hates the rule and the way doping tests are administered.

His comments in the video above are a really interesting perspective, with Shapovalov describing it as “mental torture”.

All is ready on John Cain Arena for the third-round clash between Alex Michelsen and Karen Khachanov, but we were delayed by a few minutes because arrived in the players’ race then had to duck to the toilet.

But we’re underway thanks to the coin toss by Matteo from the Chadstone Tennis Club. Khachanov wins the toss and chooses, as so many players do, to receive.

After a typically hectic first week, enough players have been knocked out now that we can show you every singles match being played today on one screen without your phone melting:

The first main draw singles match of day seven pits American 20-year-old Alex Michelsen against big-hitting Russian Karen Khachanov.

This match is of particular interest to us because whoever gets through, will await the winner of Australian eighth seed Alex de Minaur and 31st seed Francisco Cerundolo.

Michelsen scored the first major upset of the tournament when he knocked out 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening round, then dumped Aussie James McCabe out of his home slam for the second year in a row.

Khachanov, a semifinalist here two years ago, beat French veteran Adrian Mannarino and Canadian world number 86 Gabriel Diallo to reach the third round.

Michelsen is in superb form and is looking to book his first trip to the fourth round at a slam, but 19th-seeded Khachanov has the serving and baseline power to take the racquet out of your hand.

Should be a banger on John Cain Arena.