It was a mixed day in the Australian Open as a few notable names exited the tournament even as other seeded players marched on.
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The Australian Open is now approaching the business end of the tournament but the shock results keep rolling on. The latest day of action saw a few notable upsets take place in both the men’s and women’s singles draw.
That being said, the home crowd had plenty of reason to cheer thanks to Alex de Minaur. The Australian beat unseeded Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the fourth round.
It was an easy day in the office for De Minaur, although the same cannot be said about others who played. Britain’s Dan Evans had a day to forget.
He was knocked out by Canada’s Felix Auger Aliassime, thus bringing an end to the British presence in the Grand Slam. Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu are also out of the tournament at this point.
Felix flies into the fourth round ✈️
?? @felixtennis cracks 40 winners to just 21 errors in easing past Dan Evans 6-4 6-1 6-1.#AusOpen · #AO2022 pic.twitter.com/4YUk9fQ523
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2022
Another Aussie in Christopher O’Connell also did not fare much better. He lost a four-set match to America’s Maxime Cressy.
Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas also played out a four-setter against Benoit Paire, with the fourth seed advancing to the fourth round. Tsitsipas beat Paire 6-3, 7-5, 7-6(2), 6-4 to book his ticket to the next round.
Arguably the match of the day, however, came courtesy of Roberto Bautista Agut and Taylor Fritz. The match went the distance, as Fritz needed five sets to beat the Spaniard.
Fritz, who’s seeded 20th compared to Agut’s 15th, won the match 6-0, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a match that went back and forth before a winner emerged.
In the women’s draw, there were even more upsets; especially since two unseeded competitors advanced to the fourth round after wins over highly-seeded players.
Sorana Cirstea was one of those women. She beat tenth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to make it to the fourth round.
The smile says it all ?
?? @sorana_cirstea knocks out the 10th seed in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3 2-6 6-2 to advance to the fourth round at the #AusOpen for the second time. #A02022 pic.twitter.com/tvHWznYDal
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2022
And Alize Cornet, who made it to the third round by beating third seed Garbine Muguruza, slayed another seeded opponent to make it to Round 4.
Cornet beat Tamara Zidansek 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to book a date with Simona Halep in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Clara Tauson, who beat Anna Kontaveit to make it to the third round, was eliminated from the Slam. She lost to America’s Danielle Collins 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Aryna Sabalenka overcame another poor start to book her spot in the fourth round. Marketa Vondrousova won the first set against Sabalenka 6-4, however the Belarusian rallied to win the next two sets 6-3 and 6-1.
Elise Mertens beat China’s Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-2 to seal her passage into the fourth round.
