3rd seed Elena Rybakina odd one out on day of great escapes

PTI

MELBOURNE, January 18

Twice runner-up Daniil Medvedev battled back from the brink of defeat to make the Australian Open third round on a day of close shaves but fellow third seed Elena Rybakina’s title bid was cut short after a 42-point super tiebreak today.

An out-of-sorts Medvedev dropped the first two sets of his clash with Emil Ruusuvuori and had treatment for a foot blister before the Russian staged a great escape with a 3-6 6-7(1) 6-4 7-6(1) 6-0 victory to finish at 3:39am local time.

Iga Swiatek and Alexander Zverev also survived scares and Carlos Alcaraz was pushed hard before the 20-year-old matched his best run at the year’s opening Grand Slam by getting past Lorenzo Sonego without too much drama.

That was reserved for last year’s runner-up Rybakina’s clash with her former doubles partner Anna Blinkova, who showed steely resolve after the pair split the first two sets to prevail 22-20 in a tiebreak lasting over 30 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

“This day I’ll remember for the rest of my life, on this court with this crowd, it’s the best of my life so far,” said Blinkova as she received a standing ovation.

Top seed Swiatek showed plenty of fight as the four-time Major champion rallied from two breaks down in the final set to beat Danielle Collins 6-4 3-6 6-4. Swiatek knew she was in for a potentially tricky test in the main showcourt opener as Collins had beaten her in the Melbourne Park semifinals in 2022.

Men’s sixth seed Zverev admitted he was fortunate to prevail 7-5 3-6 4-6 7-6(5) 7-6(7) over Slovakian world No. 163 Lukas Klein, whose grip on their 4-1/2-hour contest had the German plotting his journey back to Monte Carlo.

But women’s fifth seed Jessica Pegula was unable to find a way past Frenchwoman Clara Burel and crashed out 6-4 6-2. Dane Holger Rune was another high-profile casualty as the eighth seed lost to French wildcard Arthur Cazaux 7-6(4) 6-4 4-6 6-3. — Reuters

Nagal’s run halted, Bops-Ebden advance

Chinese tennis prodigy Juncheng Shang blunted Sumit Nagal’s challenge to halt the Indian’s impressive run at the first Major of the season. Coming into the match after an inspiring win over a top-30 player, Nagal began in the same dominating fashion but the 18-year-old wild card entrant got better as the game progressed to walk out a winner with a 2-6 6-3 7-5 6-4 scoreline. In men’s doubles, Rohan Bopanna and Australia’s Matthew Ebden beat the local team of James Duckworth and Marc Polmans 7-6(5) 4-6 7-6(10-2).

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