A set and a half to get going, then Jannik Sinner takes over and reached the third round of the Australian Open, putting an end to the dreams of glory of Tristan Schoolkate, a 23-year-old from Perth who was in the draw with a wildcard and who erased the gap in the rankings for over an hour. The world number 173, in fact, puts the blue in difficulty far beyond expectations, playing serve and volley and not granting break points until the seventh game of the second set, when the inertia of the match actually changes. Until then, a tense Sinner had struggled to find countermeasures, only to then rediscover his best tennis and close 4-6 6-4 6-1 6-3 in two hours and 46 minutes of play.
“At the beginning he served well, he played much better than me, but I am very happy with my performance, I don’t take things for granted. It was a difficult match, I also had difficulties with the wind but I know that I can improve, that my level of play can be higher and I hope to demonstrate it already in the next round”, the words of the 23 year old from South Tyrol, who then announced his coach Darren Cahill’s farewell to the circuit at the end of the season. In the meantime he is now awaited by Marcos Giron, number 46 in the ranking, already beaten in the only previous match at the Masters 1000 in Shanghai in 2023.
But Sinner will not be the only one representing Italy in the third round in Melbourne where Lorenzo Musetti arrives for the first time in his career. The Carrarino, number 16 in the seeding, after having won the derby with Arnaldi, plays a super match and beats Denis Shapovalov 7-6(3) 7-6(6) 6-2. “I am very happy, very satisfied not only for having finally obtained the third round, but above all for the way in which I obtained it – Musetti rejoices – we are very happy with the mental attitude, in the first match I knew I couldn’t shine but it was It’s important to win. Today I took a step forward.” In addition to Musetti, who will cross Ben Shelton, Lorenzo Sonego also advances.
The 29-year-old from Turin, who equals his best result in Melbourne (2022), stops the race of the Brazilian child prodigy Joao Fonseca, born in 2006, who on his debut had demolished Andrey Rublev in three sets: 6-7(8) 6-3 6-1 3-6 6-3 the final after three hours and 37 minutes. For him now the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan, fresh from the success in five sets over Frances Tiafoe, number 17 in the seeding. However, Matteo Berrettini leaves the scene, not without regrets. beaten by Holger Rune, thirteenth seed, 7-6(3) 2-6 6-3 7-6(6). There were two key moments in the defeat of the 28-year-old Roman, a semi-finalist three years ago: the two set points wasted at 5-3 in the first set and the tie-break in the fourth, where he made a comeback after having been ahead 5-2.
In the women’s draw, however, only Jasmine Paolini remains in the running. The 29-year-old Tuscan, fourth seed, on the stage of the Rod Laver Arena shows herself solid against the Mexican Renata Zarazua, except for a small gap in the second set where she comes back from 4-1 to 4-3 before prevailing 6-2 6-3. “It seemed like seven hours long, maybe I was a little nervous because it was the first time on this fantastic pitch. Renata is tough to play against, the ball always comes back to you, it was difficult but in the end I managed to finish and I’m happy of this.” Now Elina Svitolina, never faced in her career. “It will be tough, I trained here with her, she is playing really well and she is a great champion.”
Nothing to do instead for Lucia Bronzetti, who after the exploit against Vika Azarenka suffered her fifth defeat in six direct matches against the Romanian Jaqueline Cristian (7-5 7-5). As for the big names on the scene today, the elimination of Daniil Medvedev, fifth seed and three-time finalist in Melbourne including the last edition, was sensational. The Russian was beaten by 19-year-old US qualifier Learner Tien, world number 121, who prevailed 6-3 7-6(4) 6-7(8) 1-6 7-6 (7). Endless match at Margaret Court Arena, which lasted 4 hours and 49 minutes and ended at 2.56 local time. Among the other ‘big names’, Taylor Fritz impresses, leaving just three games to the Chilean Garin (the American has also announced that he will donate the almost 80 thousand euros of the first round prize to the Los Angeles relief fund); De Minaur is also ahead, while in the women’s draw Iga Swiatek sweeps Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova away 6-0 6-2. Also in the third round were Rybakina, Navarro and Kasatkina.