Day 3 marks the end of the first round at this yeard Australian Open. Oh and what a 1st round it was. There were 20 5-set matches in the 1st round of this years Aussie Open which is the most 5-set matches in the first round at any Aussie Open in the history of the open era which is just crazy.

Day 3 means that this post will begin with the men. The day started off with 2 19-year olds getting through their opening rounds in 4 sets. Michelsen and Fils were those 2 men. Norrie, Lehecka and Ruud all made it safely through in straight sets. 28th seed, Griekspoor had a tough opponent in the opening round in Safuillin who had been playing amazing tennis in the lead up tournaments. Safuillin cruised to a 2 set to love lead however Griekspoor managed to win the 3rd set tiebreak to send the match into a 4th set. From then on Griekspoor was the man with the momentum and the 28th seed completed the comeback by taking the final set 7-5. An amazing win from the Dutchman. 13th seed, Dimitrov, who like Safuillin had been playing great did not start well as he lost the first set to Fucsovics. Dimitrov recovered well however to win 4-6; 6-3; 7-6(1); 6-2 and book his ticket to the 2nd round. Draper had to fight back from 2 sets to 1 down against Giron to book his spot in the next round. Not only did he do that, he did that while battling with his emotions so much that at the end of the match he threw up. Hopefully he will be rearing to go in the next round against Tommy Paul who won his match in straight sets. 8th seed, Rune who was one of the most picked players in this years Aussie Open with 26 picks (all of which were subs) struggled against Nishioka. He won the match however in 4 sets 6-2; 4-6; 7-6(3); 6-4. 31st seed Bublik was one of the few male seeds to fall in the 1st round. Bublik never found his best tennis in the straight sets defeat to Nagal who became the first Indian man to beat a seed at a grand slam since 1989. In front of his home support, Kokkinakis managed to produce a hard fought win against Ofner. The match ending 7-6(1); 2-6; 6-7(4); 6-1; 7-6(10-8). 6th seed, Zverev was yet another seed who needed a set to warm up in this years Aussie Open. Zverev losing the first set against fellow German Koepfer before taking the next 3 sets to book his place in the next round. Sonego and Evans had a great battle on court 3. Sonego the man to come out on top in 4 sets. The last match on was the number 2 seed and number 2 in the world Alcaraz who cruised past Gasquet after the 1st set went to a tiebreak. An impressive display from the potential world number 1 after this grand slam is done.

In the ladies draw, 14th seed, Kasatkina was in a bit of a struggle after losing the 2nd set to Stearns but Kasatkina found a way to take the 3rd and book her place in the 2nd round. Stephens made 12 teams happy as she won her first round match 6-3; 6-1 in impressive fashion. Number 1 seed and number 1 in the world, Swiatek started off her campaign with a straight sets win against Kenin. Kenin managing to push Swiatek to a tiebreak in the 1st set before the Polish player dropped just 2 games in the 2nd set. Unfortunately for Kerber her grand slam comeback was not perfect as she lost in 3 sets to Collins. Collins now goes on to face Swiatek for a place in the 3rd round. 18th seed, Azarenka was pushed by unseeded Italian, Giorgi. Azarenka winning the match 6-1; 4-6; 6-3. 22nd seed, Cirstea found herself packing her bags even though she led 6-0; 2-0 against YF Wang. Wang came back to win the 2nd set 7-5 and the 3rd set 6-2 to defeat Cirstea and book her spot in the next round. Boulter, Pegula, Raducanu and Ostapenko all won their opening rounds in straight sets. 12 seed, Zheng who impressed at the united cup had to come back from a set down against American, Krueger. Zheng taking the match 3-6; 6-2; 6-3 and will now face Boulter for a place in the 3rd round. Rybakina the 3rd seed was up against Pliskova in the opening round. A heavy weight battle in the fantasy league with 23 teams picking Rybakina and 16 teams picking Pliskova. Pliskova found herself an early break up but it was Rybakina who had the first set points at 5-6 in the opening set. Pliskova managed to take it to a tiebreak with some good serving and then led the tiebreak 6-3. This time however it was Rybakina’s turn to save set points and pull it back to 6-6 before taking it 8-6. Once she had the 1st set wrapped up she got the early break in the 2nd and went on to win it 6-4 to knock out Pliskova and book her spot in the 2nd round. The last match on for the ladies was Tomljanovic and Martic. Tomljanovic with the help of her home crowd managed to come through in a tough 3 setter, 7-6(3); 4-6; 6-4 to book a meeting with Ostapenko in round 2.

Now we move onto the leaderboard where there has been changes at the top. ‘2nd Choice’ jumped up 17 places and proved that they are not 2nd choices as they lead the way after round 1 on 58 points. Right behind on 57 points and moving up 30 places is ‘Wobbles’. There is a joint 3rd place between ‘Laughing Kookaburra’ and ‘Love All’ who both sit on 55 points. ‘Fraud Watch’ and ‘Another Try’ sit in a joint 5th on 54 points. The leaderboard is awfully close with the top 10 separated by 5 points and the top 54 separated by just 14 points. Lots to play for. Currently ‘Match Point’ hold the wooden spoon with a measly 23 points in the opening round.

Matches to Watch on Day 3

• Sinner(4) vs De Jong (03:00)
• Marozsan vs Cerundolo(22) (03:15)
• Musetti(25) vs Van Assche (03:15)
• Fritz(12) vs Gaston (04:00)
• De Minaur(10) vs Arnaldi (04:15)
• Korda(29) vs Halys (05:15)
• Monfils vs Etcheverry(30) (05:15)
• Shelton(16) vs O’Connell (06:00)
• Tiafoe(17) vs Machac (06:00)
• Eubanks vs Rublev(5) (08:00)
• Thompson vs Tsitsipas(7) (10:00)
• Djokovic(1) vs Popyrin (11:15)

• Fernandez(32) vs Parks (02:00)
• Jabeur(6) vs Andreeva (03:00)
• Badosa vs Pavlyuchenkova (04:00)
• Gauff(4) vs Dolehide (05:00)
• Garcia(16) vs Frech (05:45)
• Kostyuk vs Mertens(25) (08:00)
• Fruhvirtova vs Sabalenka(2) (10:00)
• Sakkari(8) vs Avanesyan (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 fantasy organiser.