MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — LOOKAHEAD TO SATURDAY
Daniil Medvedev will take on No. 57-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp in the third round as he continues his bid to become the first man in the Open era to win a second Grand Slam singles title at the next major tournament. Medvedev has been the quasi No. 1 at Melbourne Park since defending champion Novak Djokovic was deported on the eve of the Australian Open for not meeting the country’s strict COVID-19 vaccination requirements. The second-seeded Medvedev lost the 2021 Australian final but avenged that by beating Djokovic for the U.S. Open championship. He’s coming off a tough second-round win over local favorite Nick Kyrgios but will be expecting to have more crowd support this time in an afternoon match on Rod Laver Arena. In other matches, fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas faces Benoit Paire and No. 5 Andrey Rublev will take on 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic, who was a runner-up in Australia in 2018. On the women’s side, two-time major winner Simona Halep is against Danka Kovinic and Iga Swiatek takes on Daria Kasatkina.
SATURDAY FORECAST
Sunny, high of 33 Celsius (91 Fahrenheit).
FRIDAY’S WEATHER
Sunny, high of 30 C (86 F)
FRIDAY’S KEY RESULTS
Women’s Third Round: No. 1 Ash Barty beat No. 30 Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-3; Amanda Anisimova beat No. 13 Naomi Osaka 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5); No. 4 Barbora Krejcikova beat No. 26 Jelena Ostapenko 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; No. 5 Maria Sakkari beat No. 28 Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 6-1; No. 8 Paula Badosa beat Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 5-7, 6-4; No. 24 Victoria Azarenka beat No. 15 Elina Svitolina 6-0, 6-2; No. 21 Jessica Pegula beat Nuria Parrizas Diaz 7-6 (3), 6-2; Madison Keys beat Wang Qiang 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2).
Men's Third Round: No. 6 Rafael Nadal beat No. 28 Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1; No. 3 Alexander Zverev beat Radu Albot 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; No. 7 Matteo Berrettini beat No. 31 Carlos Alcaraz 6-2, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (5); No. 14 Denis Shapovalov beat No. 23 Reilly Opelka 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; No. 17 Gael Monfils beat No. 16 Cristian Garin 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-3; No. 19 Pablo Carreno Busta beat Sebastian Korda 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-3; Miomir Kecmanovic beat No. 25 Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-5.
STAT OF THE DAY
8 — Total number of games top-ranked Ash Barty has dropped in the first three rounds of the year's first Grand Slam tennis event.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“I fought for every point. I can’t be sad about that. You know, like I’m not God. I can’t win every match. So I just have to take that into account." — Naomi Osaka after her Australian Open title defense ended in a third-round loss to 20-year-old Amanda Anisimova.
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