Day 4 marked the start of 2nd round action. Overall a very good day of tennis. Compared to the first round there was definitely more comfortable wins for some players but in between there was some surprises and some epics.

The day started with the loss of a former Australian Open champion and one of the top picks after round 1, Woznaicki. The Dane lost in 3 sets to Timofeeva 6-1; 4-6; 1-6. Then the 6th seed, Jabeur who looked impressive in her first round was destroyed in the 2nd round by the 16 year old sensation, Andreeva 6-0; 6-2. This result meant that Andreeva became the highest scorer on day 4 with 12 points. 9th seed, Krejcikova, will be pleased with her 6-2; 6-2 win as she looks to found the form she was in, in 2022. Anisimova continues her impressive comeback by beating Podoroska to make it to round 3 where she will face Badosa who looked impressive in her win over Pavlyuchenkova. Parks managed to get the better of 32nd seed, Fernandez much to the disappointment of 12 teams who had the Canadian. Gauff and Haddad Maia both cruised through their 2nd round matches. Gauff pushed to a tiebreak in the first set while Haddad Maia lost just 3 games in her match. Frech who managed to beat not only Saville but also the Aussie crowd in the 1st round, beat 16th seed, Garcia in straight sets. Garcia who was picked by 18 teams could not find the tennis she produced against Osaka and fails again in a grand slam. Sabalenka lost just 5 games in her 2nd round match against the 16 year old, Fruhvirtova who was playing her very first 2nd round grand slam match. Kostyuk won a thriller against 25th seed, Mertens in a 3rd set 10 point tiebreak. Kostyuk winning it 5-7; 6-1; 7-6(10-6). The day ended with a big result in terms of the fantasy league. Avanesyan the 21 year old defeated the in form Sakkari, 6-4; 6-4 much to the disappointment of the 22 teams who had the Greek in their fantasy teams.

Onto the men’s draw. The day started the opposite to the ladies draw as Sinner and De Minaur won their 2nd round matches with ease. Van Assche continued his run here at the Australian Open with a 2nd five set win. This time against 25th seed, Musetti. The Frenchman winning 6-3; 3-6; 6-7(5); 6-3; 6-0. Fritz the 12th seed came through his match in very quick fashion with a 6-0; 6-3; 6-1 which would have come as a relief to the American after his tough 5 set 1st round. 22nd seed, Cerundolo was knocked out in straight sets by Marozsan who will now go onto face Fritz in the 3rd round. 16th seed Shelton was pushed by O’Connell by managed to come through in 4 sets. The American winning the 4th set in a tiebreak to book his spot in the 3rd round. Manarinno played his 2nd 5-set match in the tournament as he beat Munar in the 2nd round. He will be hoping for an easier match in the 3rd round however he is playing Shelton which will be a big step up from his last 2 rounds. Machac provided us with a big upset as he knocked out 17th seed, Tiafoe. Tiafoe who was picked by just 5 teams will be very disappointed to not make it past the 2nd round. 30th seed, Etcheverry continued on his way after his win against Murray with a straight set win against Monfils. 7th seed, Tsitsipas faced a determined Thompson in the 2nd round. Thompson started off the better of the 2 and took the opener 6-4. Tsitsipas hung on in the 2nd set which proved vital as he took the set in a tiebreak. He used this momentum to fly through the 3rd set. The 4th set however proved tricky for the Greek as he failed to serve the set and match out at 5-4. He then had to save set points at 5-6 before eventually taking the match in the 4th set tiebreaker. Korda and Rublev both won their matches in straight sets. Last match on was 1st seed, Djokovic. He looked a bit out of sorts today but Popyrin could not take advantage and the Serb managed to eek out a 4 set win to book his spot in the 3rd round.

Onto the Fantasy Leaderboard and it continues to sway this way and that. Our leaders from day 2, ‘Tramline’ are back in front and lead by just 1 point over ‘Fraud Watch’ who sit in 2nd. ‘Faulty Feet’ sit in 3rd and are just 3 points off the top. ‘Aussie Guess’ are back into the top 5 and sit in 4th. ‘Nada AI’ moved up an impressive 28 spots to sit in 5th. The last prize is currently being split between ‘Pensioner’s Choice’ and ‘Serve with Eish’ who both sit in 6th just 7 points off the top. Amazingly after 4 days of tennis the top 50 are just separated by 21 points. Lots will change in the next 10 days. The wooden spoon holders are still ‘Match Point’ however they have closed the gap to 2 points to ‘Willie Wagtail’ who sit in 79th.

Matches to Watch on Day 5

• Michelsen vs Lehecka(32) (02:00)
• Purcell vs Ruud(11) (03:00)
• Paul(14) vs Draper (03:15)
• Kecmanovic vs Struff(24) (04:00)
• Sonego vs Alcaraz(2) (04:30)
• Fils vs Griekspoor(28) (05:15)
• Mensik vs Hurkacz(9) (06:30)
• Dimitrov(13) vs Kokkinakis (07:00)
• Ruusuvuori vs Medvedev(3) (11:15)

• Swiatek(1) vs Collins (03:00)
• Maria vs Paolini(26) (04:00)
• Stephens vs Kasatkina(14) (04:00)
• Zheng(12) vs Boulter (04:00)
• Raducanu vs Y.F. Wang (05:30)
• Svitolina(19) vs Tomova (06:00)
• Ostapenko(11) vs Tomljanovic (10:00)
• Rybakina(3) vs Blinkova (10:00)
• Tauson vs Azarenka(18) (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.