Tsitsipas fends off Kokkinakis in 2nd round

Fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas has been pushed all the best way in a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-4 win over No. 267-ranked Australian wild-card entry Thanasi Kokkinakis in a second-round match that delayed the night time program on Rod Laver Area.

Tsitsipas has an enormous following inside Melbourne’s giant Greek group however he he was enjoying an Aussie for the primary time on the Australian Open and needed to deal with having a share help within the crowd.

Tsitsipas will subsequent play Mikael Ymer, who beat 17-year-old Spanish qualifier Carlos Acaraz within the second spherical.

Kokkinakis did not play in any respect in 2020 due to sickness and accidents and that is his first main event for the reason that 2019 U.S. Open. His first-round win over over Kwon soon-woo was his first within the Australian Open foremost draw since 2015.

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6:10 p.m.

Mackenzie McDonald, who received NCAA tennis titles at UCLA, eradicated No. 22-seeded Borna Coric 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to succeed in the Australian Open’s third spherical for the primary time.

McDonald is ranked 192nd after lacking greater than six months due to hamstring surgical procedure and is the lowest-ranked participant Coric has misplaced to in a tour-level match.

McDonald, a 25-year-old American, now will attempt to equal his greatest Grand Slam outcome by attending to the fourth spherical, which he did at Wimbledon three years in the past.

He received faculty championships in singles and doubles in 2016.

Coric was a quarterfinalist finally yr’s U.S. Open. He had a coach therapeutic massage his proper shoulder and higher again after the second set.

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3:30 p.m.

Defending champion Sofia Kenin is out of the Australian Open within the second spherical after a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Kaia Kanepi.

After her first-round win, Kenin talked about how nervous she was because the defending champion at a significant for the primary time.

In opposition to Kanepi, she regarded it. She was close to tears throughout a changeover towards the top of the match.

The Sixty fifth-ranked Kanepi was hardly an underdog: she had crushed Kenin of their solely earlier match and is a six-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist. The Australian Open is the one Slam the place Kanepi has not reached the quarterfinals.

The fourth-seeded Kenin solely had 10 winners within the match, whereas committing 22 unforced errors.

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2:30 p.m.

High-seeded Ash Barty dropped a couple of extra factors in her second-round match on the Australian Open than her first — however the outcome was nonetheless the identical.

Barty adopted up her 6-0, 6-0 drubbing of Danka Kovinic within the first spherical with a a lot tighter 6-1, 7-6 (7) win over fellow Australian Daria Gavrilova.

After dropping simply 10 factors in opposition to Kovinic, Barty was far much less constant in opposition to Gavrilova, racking up 34 unforced errors.

Barty’s serve was a selected drawback: she was damaged 4 occasions, together with when serving for the match at 5-4 within the second set.

“Whenever you play one other Aussie, the rankings exit the window, expertise goes out the window,” she mentioned. “It’s at all times going to be a tough match it doesn’t matter what.”

The 2019 French Open champion had her higher left thigh closely taped throughout the match, although she performed it down after the match with amusing. “This isn’t very refined, is it? I can’t actually conceal it,” Barty mentioned, including it was not an enormous situation. “I’m match as a fiddle, I’m able to go.”

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12:45 p.m.

Former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova advances to the third spherical on the Australian Open by beating American Danielle Collins, a semifinalist at Melbourne Park in 2019, 7-5, 6-2.

Pliskova, seeded sixth, misplaced serve twice in a seesaw first set however pulled it out after which pulled away. She completed with seven aces.

Pliskova has received 65 matches in Grand Slams however remains to be searching for her first main title. She was runner-up to Angelique Kerber on the 2016 U.S. Open.

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12:25 p.m.

American Shelby Rogers advances to the third spherical on the Australian Open for the primary time by beating qualifier Olga Danilovic 6-2, 6-3.

Rogers hit seven aces and misplaced solely three factors on her first serve.

She got here into the event with a profession file of 1-4 in Melbourne, however at age 28 her fortunes have been on the rise. She reached the quarterfinals on the U.S. Open for the primary time final September, and her year-end rating was a career-best No. 58.

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11:00 a.m.

Day 4 at Melbourne Park options the No. 1 ladies’s participant on the earth and the 2020 singles champion in temperatures that are anticipated to be the most popular of the primary week.

High-ranked Ash Barty performs fellow Australian Daria Gavrilova and fourth-seeded Sofia Kenin performs Kaia Kanepi in afternoon matches because the second spherical of singles play concludes. Kenin received her first Grand Slam singles title final yr with a three-set victory over Garbiñe Muguruza at Melbourne Park.

The climate forecast is for principally sunny skies and a excessive temperature of 33 levels Celsius, or 91 levels Fahrenheit.

American 16-year-old Coco Gauff takes on fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina, a two-time Australian Open quarterfinalist, within the opening night time match at Rod Laver Area.

One other American, Michael Mmoh, may have a good more durable process, enjoying No. 2 Rafael Nadal. The Spanish lefthander is seeking to win a males’s-record twenty first Grand Slam singles title.

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