Aussie Open day number 5. The top seeds continue to fall at this year’s Australian Open. Who is going to make semi-finals and the finals?

Day 5 and this means I will start with what happened in the ladies draw. The day started off with a comfortable win for the 20th seed, Krejcikova as she lost just 5 games on her way to defeating unseeded Kalinina. It seems like Krejcikova has put the troubles of 2022 behind her and she is finding her best tennis once again as she did in 2021. Rybakina the 22nd seed performed the first upset of the day in the ladies draw as she beat 13th seed, Collins, in 3 sets. Rybakina started off strong winning the first set 6-2 before Collins hit back and took the 2nd set 7-5. Rybakina ultimately was to strong for Collins as she took the decider 6 games to 2. Pegula and Swiatek both continued to look like contenders for the Australian Open. Pegula dropping just 2 games on her way to the 4th round while Swiatek just dropped 1 game on her way to the 4th round. Gauff knocked out fellow American Pera in straight sets while Ostapenko dropped just 3 games as she defeated Ukranian Kozlova. 24th seed Azarenka performed the 2nd upset of the day in the ladies draw as she knocked out the in form 10th seeded Madison Keys in 3 sets. Keys took the first set convincingly 6-1 before losing the net 2 sets convincingly 6-2; 6-1. Azarenka will face Zhu in the 4th round. Zhu performed the 3rd and final upset in the ladies draw on day 5 as she knocked out 6th seed Sakkari. Zhu had a slip up in the 2nd set but pulled herself together to book her place in the 4th round.

The mens draw started off with a bang as 15th seed Sinner found himself 2 sets to love down against unseeded Fucsovics. Sinner somehow found his mojo just in time as he dropped just 3 games in the next 3 sets. Tsitsipas knocked out Griekspoor in straight sets while Nishioka knocked out McDonald ,who was coming off the high of defeating Nadal in the 2nd round, in straight sets. Auger-Aliassime continued his streak of long matches as he beat 28th seed Cerundolo in 4 sets. Lehecka, last years next gen winner, played an outstanding match as he found a way back from 2 sets to 1 down to beat 11th seeded Norrie. Could he do something incredible this year? Hurkacz took the 1st 2 sets against Shapovalov and looked like he had the better of the Canadian but the Canadian had other ideas as he took the 3rd and 4th set to send the match into a decider. Hurkacz found a way to regain his focus and managed to win the decider 6-3 and book his spot in the 4th round. 18th seed Khachanov defeated the in form American and 16th seed, Tiafoe in 4 sets. Khachanov took the opening 2 sets before Tiafeo took the 3rd. The 4th set headed into a tiebreak and it was Tiafoe who rattled of 6 of the first seven points of the tiebreak to lead Khachanov 6-1. Somehow Khachanov won 5 points in a row to make it 6-6 and he eventually ended up winning the tiebreak 11-9 and with it the match. The last mens match of the day was between 29th seed Korda and 7th seed Medvedev. Medvedev was coming in looking really solid but it was Korda who started the better of the 2 players. The American leading 4-1 with a double break. Medvedev though found a way back and sent the opening set into a tiebreak but it was Korda who held his nerve and played the more aggressive tennis to take the tiebreak 9-7. He then used this momentum to take a 2 set lead as he took the 2nd set 6-3. The 3rd set ended of going the distance as well but once again just like the opening set tiebreak it was Korda who played the better tiebreak. Korda recorded his biggest win of his career and will now face the 10th seed, Hurkacz in the 4th round.

Incredibly not one team has a male sub remaining. Either they are in use or they have been knocked out. Only 6 teams have a lady sub still waiting on the bench. Tomorrow is the last day that subs can be used.

Onto the fantasy leaderboard and we have a new leader. ‘Down Under’ has taken the lead and they lead ‘Live once Serve Twice’ by 3 points after day 5. Our previous leader finally losing a player on day 5 which caused the drop in position. ‘Groundstroke’ still in contention as they are only 2 points off 2nd and 5 off the lead. ‘Drop Shots’ sit in 4th while ‘Wizards’ drop 3 positions and now sit in 5th position. The wooden spoon is now going to ‘Double Pluggers’ who dropped 23 spots and they now sit last.

Matches to watch on day 6 (Last day of week 1)

• Gracheva vs Pliskova(30) (02:00)
• Giorgi vs Bencic(12) (03:15)
• Rublev(5) vs Evans(25) (03:15)
• Humbert vs Rune(9) (04:00)
• Sabalenka(5) vs Mertens(26) (05:15)
• Paul vs Brooksby (05:30)
• Bonzi vs De Minaur(22) (05:30)
• Siegemund vs Garcia(4) (10:00)
• Dimitrov(27) vs Djokovic(4) (10:00)
• Murray vs Bautista-Agut(24) (10:00)
• Linette vs Alexandrova(19) (12:00)

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a tennis fantasy league organiser.http://Eishonline.co.za/jftl