The second round of the Australian Open witnessed some exciting matches on Wednesday, with Novak Djokovic advancing to the third round after a grueling match against local favourite Alexei Popyrin.
Women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka continued her dominant run with a comfortable victory over Brenda Fruhvirtova in the evening session, whereas Ons Jabeur suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of 16-year-old Russian Andreeva under the closed roof on the main show court.
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The top 10 seeds including Coco Gauff, Barbora Krejcikova, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas all successfully progressed to the next round, despite varying weather conditions in Melbourne.
Rain washed out more than three hours of play on the outer courts at the start of the day, but the skies had cleared by the time Djokovic took to the court where he has won 10 of his 24 Grand Slam titles.
Djokovic, who had a four-hour first-round clash against qualifier Dino Prizmic, looked in great form in the opening set against Popyrin but lost the second.
The aggressive Popyrin, backed by a vocal crowd, had set points in the third set but Djokovic saved them and went on to win 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3.
In the post-match interview, Djokovic admitted that he hasn’t been playing his best but is still trying to find his form.
The neighbouring Margaret Court Arena was also rocking in the evening session as locals backed Jordan Thompson, who took the first set but eventually lost to Greek seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 4-6 7-6(6) 6-2 7-6(4) in a thrilling match.
Tsitsipas, who lost to Djokovic in the final last year, described the adrenaline and rush he got from the match as insane and said that he gave it his all.
In the women’s singles, eighth seed Maria Sakkari was knocked out by Russian Elina Avanesyan 6-4 6-4 in the final match of the day, whereas Sabalenka continued her fine form with a 6-3 6-2 victory over qualifier Fruhvirtova.
However, Jabeur’s hopes of progressing further were dashed by Andreeva who won 6-0 6-2 in a one-sided encounter.
Brazilian 10th seed Haddad Maia had an easy time in her encounter with 16-year-old Russian Alina Korneeva, easing past her 6-1 6-2.
American men had a mixed day with Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, and Sebastian Korda progressing to the next round, but 17th seed Frances Tiafoe was upset by Czech Tomas Machac 6-4 6-4 7-6(5) and Chris Eubanks lost to fifth seed Rublev 6-4 6-4 6-4.
Alex de Minaur, the 10th seed, won his match against Matteo Arnaldi 6-3 6-0 6-3 and said that it was a little bit of revenge for Australia following their Davis Cup final loss to Italy last year.
