Day 3 saw more upsets on the women’s side than the men’s, but the men’s side had bigger casualties, highlighted by Aussie #1 Nick Kyrgios, and world #7 Marin Cilic.
Kyrgios, who entered the tournament under an injury cloud, played nothing like he did in round 1, as he fell to Andreas Seppi in what is so far the match of the tournament. Seppi prevailed 1-6 6-7 6-4 6-2 10-8, after saving match points. The first set was routine for Kyrgios, as he broke twice, and saved break points in two of his service games against the veteran Italian. He went two sets to love up and looked to be in control, after a second set that was all about effective serving from both players. Kyrgios dominated the tiebreak, and wenet all the way to 4-4 in the third set in control on his serve. Seppi, who had played a bit too defensively the whole match, finally struck when he got a chance, breaking Kyrgios on his only break point chance since the first set, and then holding serve to force a fourth set. Kyrgios, who has suffered defeats in the past because he got distracted, then went off the rails, the steady Seppi kept putting balls back in play, and in the end he forced a fifth set with ease.
Seppi’s consistency was frustrating Kyrgios at this point, and while he was the player with superior weapons, he couldn’t close the deal, failing to break Seppi at 3-4 when he was 0-40 up, and then trading breaks with the Italian for an eventual 6-6 set. The AO has no fifth set tiebreak, so they battled on, a fatigued Kyrgios had a match point/break point that Seppi saved with steady hitting, and then he once again struck like a hawk, breaking and then holding serve for a fifth set victory. The Italian underdog turned out to be a bad matchup for Kyrgios, as he produced a steady level of play, while Kyrgios, who seemed healthy, was all over the map. It’s a definite trial by fire for the still young NK. Seppi won by coming to net a bit more and realizing in the end he had to come forward more to get the job done.
Dan Evans versatile backhand beguiled Marin Cilic. The Croatian continued his early season blues, as Evans won 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-3. Evans reached his first ever ATP final last week, and he’s continued a very high level of play in Melbourne. Cilic seemed to have his will broken after surrendering a late break to concede the second set. The third was rather routine for Evans, and after Evans saved seven break point chances in his first service game of the fourth set, he went on to double break Cilic and take the match, as Cilic was broken in the last game of the match. Evans had better variety on his shots, and more movement than Cilic, who struck too many errors, and was uncharacteristically pedestrian on serve.
Angelique Kerber was looking for her first straight set victory of the tournament, but what she got instead was a two hour war with her countryman Woman Karina Witthoeft. Witthoeft gave Kerber her best shot, from a set and a break down. The world #89 broke back and then was steely on serve to eventually edge a second set tiebreak and force a third set. Kerber was forced to find another level, and she did, taking the third with relative ease 6-2, although Witthoeft had one final break point chance from 1-3 down in the third that she couldn’t take.
Unseeded Cirstea, Pliskova, Riske, and Barthel Join the Third Round Party
Sorana Cirstea, Kristyna Pliskova, Alison Riske, and Mona Barthel all reached the third round with victories over seeded players, and with the exception of Riske, they all did it in straight sets. Cirstea had two many weapons for a rusty Carla Suarez Navarro, Pliskova showed she can match her sisters game with a close victory over Irina-Camelia Begu, and Barthel ended the hopes of Monica Puig with a pair of key breaks. Riske went three sets against Shuai Zhang, but Zhang didn’t put up much resistance in the third, as Riske took it 6-1.
Players joining the above names in round 3 including Eugenie Bouchard, who was untroubled by Shuai Peng, Ana Sevastova, Ash Barty, Garbine Muguruza, Elina Svitolina, Ana Pavlyuchenkova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Venus Williams. They all prevailed in straight sets.
Ying-Ying Duan battled past Varvara Lepchenko 10-8 in the third, while veteran Jelena Jankovic eased past Julia Georges in straights. Outside of Riske, and Venus, Coco Vandeweghe extended the hopes of American women with a straight set victory over Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier. The aforementioned victorious women above complete the top half of the women’s third round draw as seven of the sixteen remaining women in that half are seeded players.
Top Men Murray, Wawrinka, Nishikori, Berdych, Tsonga, and Federer Ease into Round 3 Untroubled
Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, and Kei Nishikori in particular all had a much easier time in round 2, compared to round 1. Murray took young gun Andrey Rublev to school in straights, Federer and Wawrinka both took out Americans in straight sets, as Noah Rubin and Steve Johnson were no match for the Swiss #2 and #1. Nishikori dispatched Jeremy Chardy with much better serving than he showed in round 1.
Federer will have a much tougher match in round 3, as Tomas Berdych dominated Ryan Harrison, his power no match for the defensively minded American. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga didn’t come close to surrendering a set against Dusan Lajovic, and the athletic Frenchman really seems to be enjoying his time in Melbourne thus far.
American men mostly had a bad day in Melbourne, one that was punctuated by Mischa Zverev‘s five set victory over John Isner from two sets down. Once again, Isner became the early victim in a grand slam, due to his inability to break his opponents serve. The veteran Zverev, a former top junior who has had a career resurgence didn’t falter when he came to net late in the match, taking it in a marathon 6-7 6-7 6-4 7-6 9-7.
Sam Querrey eased past teenager Alex De Minaur in a bright spot for fans of team USA, although he faces Murray in a brutal third round matchup. Jack Sock dominated another young gun, Karen Khachanov, in three sets. Bernard Tomic is likewise keeping the lighthouse on for Australian men, Tomic was steady enough in his narrow four set victory over Victor Estrella, that featured two tiebreak wins for Bernie.
Surprise names in the third round include Malek Jaziri, who beat Alexander Bublik in straights, Lukas Lacko, and Steve Darcis. Lacko beat Dudi Sela in 4 sets, coming from a set down, while Darcis, a serve and volleyer like Zverev, posted a four set win over Diego Schwartzman. Rounding on the top half of the men’s third round is Viktor Troicki, who survived being pushed to five sets for the second match in a row, this time Paolo Lorenzi was the player who came up short against the Serbian.
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