It was another great day for the top seeds of men’s draw at the Australian Open but the surprises continued in the women’s section as another seed went down. The day also saw the dream of a 15 year old Marta Kostyuk end. Here’s the wrap of Friday’s results from the Melbourne Park. Indian players were also in action.
Rafael Nadal
Top-seeded Rafael Nadal is through to the fourth round at Melbourne Park, beating Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in a night match at Margaret Court Arena.
Nadal, who lost here in an epic final in 2017 to Roger Federer, is attempting to win this Grand Slam for the second time — the first was in 2009 — and add to his 16 major titles, second among men to Federer’s 19.
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He reached the fourth round in Australia for the 11th time and levelled his career head-to-head record with Dzumhur. Nadal lost their only previous meeting when he had to retire because of heat-related issues in the third set at Miami in 2016.
Grigor Dimitrov
No. 3-seeded Grigor Dimitrov beat No. 30 Andrey Rublev 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in just over three hours in an afternoon match on Rod Laver Arena. He will next face Nick Kyrgios.
Nick Kyrgios
Dimitrov will face Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round, as the local hope defeated 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) with actor Will Smith sitting courtside.
Kyrgios is the last of nine Australian male players left in the singles draw. Mark Edmondson was the last Australian to win his national championship, in 1976, although Lleyton Hewitt came close, losing the 2005 final to Marat Safin.
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6th seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia also won his match, though he was stretched to wire in two of the three sets that he took to win. Cilic defeated Ryan Harrison of USA 7-6(4), 6-3, 7-6(4).
In the women’s section, Caroline Wozniacki and Elina Svitolina won in straight sets while French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko was stunned in three sets.
Caroline Wozniacki
Second seed Caroline Wozniacki displayed a great fighting spirit to register a 6-4 6-3 victory over Kiki Bertens.
Wozniacki had to come back from 1-5, 15-40 in the deciding set against Jana Fett in the second round but stepped up her game and was a relatively comfortable winner against 30th seed Bertens.
Wozniacki next plays 19th seed Magdalena Rybarikova, who battled to a 7-5 3-6 6-1 victory over Kateryna Bondarenko.
Elina Svitolina
It took the brilliance of fourth seed Elina Svitolina to end the run of a 15-year-old Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, who has been the talk of the tennis world, with a 6-2 6-2 victory on Rod Laver Arena.
The teenager came through qualifying round before surprising two top players before reaching the third round but she found Svitolina too strong and too experienced.
Kostyuk was given a wild card into qualifying after winning the junior title 12 months ago.
Jelena Ostapenko
French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko was knocked out by Anett Kontaveit.
The Latvian had her left thigh heavily strapped after losing the first set and, although she took the second comprehensively, it was Estonian Kontaveit who prevailed in the decider to win 6-3 1-6 6-3.
Ostapenko’s exit means there are only two former grand slam champions left in the draw in Maria Sharapova and Angelique Kerber, and they clash in the third round on Saturday.
Indian Players
Rohan Bopanna
Rohan Bopanna and his French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Friday knocked out Leonardo Meyer and Joao Sousa in straight sets to reach the Australian Open third round.
Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin, who won 6-2, 7-6, will next play Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic.
The Indo-French pair took the first set thanks to the two breaks of serve they managed against Meyer and Sousa. They managed 26 winners in the match to their opponents’ 13.
Divij Sharan
Divij Sharan equalled his best Grand Slam performance by reaching the men’s doubles third round at the Australian Open with his partner on Friday.
Sharan and American Rajiv Ram faced stiff resistance from Fabio Fognini and Marcel Granollers before winning 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in the second round which lasted for two hours and eight minutes.
Left-handed Sharan’s serve came under pressure in the tight second set but he was excellent at the net, producing some quality volleys.
Last year Sharan had made the third round at the French Open with Purav Raja.