Djokovic back in cruise control as Sabalenka, Sinner move ahead

MELBOURNE (Agencies): Novak Djokovic resumed business as usual to move a step closer to an 11th Australian Open title with a host of other contenders also making light work of third-round matches on Friday. Jannik Sinner, Coco Gauff and Stefanos Tsitsipas were equally efficient in their third-round matches, although not quite as much as defending women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka who beat against Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko 6-0 6-0. The opening days of the year’s first Grand Slam have been littered with lengthy duels, marathon tiebreaks and upsets and Djokovic, unbeaten at Melbourne Park since 2018, had survived dogfights in his opening two matches. But the Serb, playing his 100th Australian Open match, was in no mood for a late night as he clinically disposed of dangerous Argentine 30th seed Tomas Etcheverry 6-3 6-3 7-6(2) to move ominously into the second week. “It was a great match, the best for me so far in this tournament and I was pleased with the way I played the entire match,” Djokovic, who is bidding to collect a record 25th Grand Slam title, said on Rod Laver Arena. “He raised his level in the third and we went toe to toe, but I found the right shots in the tiebreaker to close it.”

Djokovic’s 92nd match win at the Australian Open never looked in doubt as he looked sharper than in his laboured victories against Dino Prizmic and Alexei Popyrin. Etcheverry dug deep to extend Djokovic in the third set but the tiebreak had an inevitable feel as the top seed moved through to the last 16 where he will face either rising American Ben Shelton or experienced Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. While day six largely avoided the drama of Thursday’s action, Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva produced a thrilling comeback from 5-1 down in the third set to beat Frenchwoman Diane Parry 1-6 6-1 7-6(5) win. Elsewhere there were some ruthless performances. Sabalenka took less than an hour to beat 28th-seeded Tsurenko, sweeping into the last 16 without dropping a set as she did last year on her way to her first Grand Slam title. Even with top 10 seeds Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, Marketa Vondrousova and Maria Sakkari already out, Sabalenka was not getting carried away.

“Listen, it’s tennis,” the Belarusian second seed said. “As we see with some of the top players losing in the earlier matches, anything can happen.” There was no handshake between the two players after match point and Ukraine’s Tsurenko spoke later about not forgetting the ongoing conflict in her country after Russia’s 2022 invasion, an action in which Belarus was used as a staging post. “People don’t want to talk about war. People don’t want to hear bad news. I get a lot of bad messages on social media, People are annoyed if I post something,” she said. “But it’s very tough to explain if you don’t feel what I feel and how other Ukrainians feel.” Sinner, the hottest player on the men’s tour at the end of 2023, continued his fine start to the season with a 6-1 6-0 6-3 pummelling of Argentine Sebastian Baez but was equally cautious. “Let’s see how I handle the situation when the score is even or I’m down, how I react,” the Italian said. “It’s going to be interesting to see.”

“Great start”:

Seventh seed Tsitsipas was particularly happy with his 6-3 6-0 6-4 win over French young gun Luca Van Assche given he had lost the opening set in his first two matches at Melbourne Park. “I had a great start to the match,” he said after firing 36 winners on Rod Laver Arena. “Things worked out for me pretty nicely at moments that I needed it the most.” Tsitsipas will next face Taylor Fritz, who he beat at the same stage in 2022. Gauff is another contender who might exploit the haemorrhaging of top women’s seeds and she looked like she might be about to hand out a second “double bagel” of the day when she raced through her first set against Alycia Parks. The U.S. Open champion’s compatriot and longtime friend did manage to stall her progress by getting on the board in the second set but Gauff still eased into the fourth round with a 6-0 6-2 win in just over an hour on Margaret Court Arena. There was more American success when Amanda Anisimova, ranked 442nd in the world after a lengthy lay-off, overcame former world number two Paula Badosa 7-5 6-4. Tenth seed Alex De Minaur maintained home hopes in the men’s draw with an easy win against Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli, meaning he has reached the last 16 without dropping a set.