Oh.My.Word what just happened on day 5. Madness happened thats what. So many tight matches. So many seeds falling and those seeds that won, had to win the hard way today on day 5.

In the mens draw the started off with some extremely tight matches. We first had Michelsen the 19 year old from America, defeat the in form and title winning Lehecka in 4 sets, 4-6; 6-3; 6-4; 6-4. Then we had an incredible comeback from 19th seed, Cam Norrie, who found himself in a spot of bother at 2 sets to love down before he recovered the match taking the next 3 sets to book his spot in the 3rd round. 6th seed, Zverev was in a similar predicament as Norrie, as the German found himself 2 sets to 1 down before clawing his way back to defeat Klein, 7-5; 3-6; 4-6; 7-6(5); 7-6(10-7). At the same time as that match was on, we had another thriller happening between 11th seed, Ruud, and Purcell. Ruud however was always leading, first 1 set to love then 2 sets to 1 and then 3 sets to 2. However the final set had to be decided in a long tiebreaker in which Ruud took it 10-7 just like Zverev. Kecmanovic was another who needed a 5th set long tiebreaker to defeat 24th seed, Struff who had come off a 5th set tiebreak win the round before. Kecmanovic winning that match 6-4; 1-6; 7-6(5); 1-6; 7-6(11-9). 14th seed, Paul was one of a few seeds who won and not in 5 sets. Paul managed to beat Draper in 4 sets to book his spot in the next round. Alcaraz and Sonego put on a show for the Rod Laver crowd. The 2 of them making some unbelievable shots from all over the court. Thankfully for Alcaraz who was not playing his best tennis he managed to get the job down in 4 sets. Borges provided us with an upset as he defeated 23rd seed, Davidovich Fokina in straight sets and will now go onto face Dimitrov in the next round as Dimitrov defeated Aussie favourite Kokkinakis in 4 sets. 28th seed, Griekspoor survived a test against unseeded but red hot, Fils. Griekspoor lost the first set however after he took the 2nd set easily he never looked back and took the match in 4 sets. A man who many seem to love after his performance today is Cazaux. The Frenchman winning just his 3rd tour level match and it was against the super sub (picked 26 times as a sub) Holger Rune in a 4 set encounter. Can he continue his form as he faces Griekspoor in the next round. Auger-Aliassime managed to stop his run of 4 1st round exits in grand slams in his last round with Thiem and continued his run at this years Aussie Open with a comfortable 4 set win against Grenier. 9th seed, Hurkacz was yet another seed who found himself in a spot of bother as he was 2 sets to 1 down. But once again it was the seeded player who managed to come back and win the match in 5. Hurkacz winning the final set 6-3 to book his spot in the 3rd round. The last match on and it was on until 3:39am local Melbourne time was the match between 3rd seed, Medvedev and Finnish player, Ruusuvuori. Ruusuvuori looked very impressive in the opening 2 sets as he raced to a 2 set to love lead but a few to many unforced errors in the 3rd set meant he allowed Medvedev a sniff of a comeback as the match went to 4. The 4th set went all the way to a tiebreak where Medvedev showed his class, taking that 7-1 before absolutely demolishing the Fin 6-0 in the final set to book his spot in the next round. Lets hope he can get some sleep tonight.

In the ladies draw it was not as exciting at times but still some huge names did fall and some other huge names were pushed. 1st seed, Swiatek, was first match on Rod Laver and she was pushed by Collins. Collins managed to take the match into a 3rd set and led that set 4-1 before Swiatek rattled off 5 games to take the set and the match. Collins after the match did mention that it is her last year of tour. Stephens made the 12 teams who picked her very happy as she defeated 14th seed, Kasatkina in 3 sets. Stephens having to comeback from a set down to get the match done. Stephens will now face Kalinskaya in the next round. One of the biggest names to fall today was certainly 5th seed, Pegula who won just 6 games in her match against unseeded Burel. An impressive display from the French player. 12th seed, Zheng continues her good form as she defeated Boulter in a straight forward 6-3; 6-3 win. YF Wang defeated Raducanu in 3 sets which marked a great day for the Chinese women. 19th seed, Svitolina, continued on her merry way as she dropped just the 4 games against Tomova. Svitolina will now face a sterner test as she faces Golubic in the next round who has caused issues for seeds in the past. Blinkova won the longest ever tiebreak in a singles match in grand slam history as she beat Rybakina in a 3rd set tiebreak which went all the way to 22-20 to Blinkova. Rybakina is the highest seed out of the tournament in both the mens and ladies draws. Ostapenko the 11th seed, was up against Tomljanovic in the 2nd round. These two have had some things to say to each other when they play but usually the matches between them are tight. Today was no different as Ostapenko survived in a 6-0; 3-6; 6-4 win over the Australian. 18th seed, Azarenka was the last ladies match to start and she managed to survive a test as she beat Tauson in 3 sets, 6-4; 3-6; 6-2 to book her spot in the next round. She will be up against Ostapenko which is a huge match as both players were picked by a few teams in the fantasy tournament.

Onto the Fantasy leaderboard and we have a new leader on day 5 which marks the end of round 2. ‘Fraud Watch’ has taken the lead and sit on 97 points. In 2nd space is yesterday’s leader ‘Tramlines’ who sit on 95 points. ‘Laughing Kookaburra’ had a great day on day 5 and moved up into 3rd place on 93 points. ‘Love All’ had an even better day as they moved up 25 places and into 4th spot. 5th place is tightly contested as there is a 3 way tie between ‘Aussie Guess’, ‘Nada AI’, and ‘Dropshots’. The wooden spoon is still being held by ‘Match Point’ however the bottom of the leaderboard is getting super tight and things could and probably will change.

Fun Fact: Just 7 teams have a female sub who hasn’t been used and is still in the tournament.

Matches to watch on Day 6 (Round 3)

• Machac vs Khachanov(15) (02:00)
• Sinner(4) vs Baez (03:00)
• Fritz(12) vs Marozsan (04:00)
• Van Assche vs Tsitsipas(7) (04:15)
• Mannarino(20) vs Shelton(16) (05:15)
• Djokovic(1) vs Etcheverry(30) (10:00)
• De Minaur(10) vs Cobolli (10:00)
• Korda(29) vs Rublev(5) (11:15)

• Anisimova vs Badosa (02:00)
• Tsurenko(28) vs Sabalenka(2) (03:00)
• Frech vs Zakharova (04:00)
• Avanesyan vs Kostyuk (05:00)
• Andreeva vs Parry (05:00)
• Parks vs Gauff(4) (05:00)
• Timofeeva vs Haddad Maia(10) (10:00)
• Hunter vs Krejcikova(9) (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.