Day 3 at the Australian Open saw only one major surprise on the men’s side, with Miami champion Hubert Hurkacz getting dumped in straight sets by tour veteran Adrian Mannarino. Aside from that, every favorite strolled into the third round without much difficulty, including the likes of Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev.
Australian Open Men’s Day 3 Recap
Who looked good
Alexander Zverev had a potentially tricky match against a gritty opponent in John Millman, who had caused him difficulties in past meetings between the two and been a thorn in Roger Federer’s side at Slams as well. However, the German was absolutely clinical and quickly dispatched Millman with a dominant performance, including a bagel in the third set. He looks to be in great shape and ready to fight for his first Grand Slam title.
Gael Monfils seems to be back to his pre-pandemic form and notched another impressive, routine win, this time over a potentially tricky opponent in Alexander Bublik. It’s true that the Kazakh wasn’t exactly focused out there and made life easy for Monfils, but it was still a very disciplined performance from the French, who has to feel good about his chances of reaching at least his first Australian Open semifinal given his draw.
Tallon Griekspoor might have a lost a five-set epic to Pablo Carreno Busta, but what a run he’s had. 29 consecutive wins at all levels, undefeated since last year’s US Open, and beat Fabio Fognini in straight sets here in Melbourne. He put up an immense fight before finally succumbing to the consistent Spaniard, but he showed that he has what it takes to become a mainstay at the tour level.
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Who looked bad
Hubert Hurkacz had an absolutely shocking performance en route to getting eliminated by Adrian Mannarino. The Pole just kept leaking unforced errors all throughout the match and got dismissed in absolutely routine fashion. He’s known for his inconsistency and might have a big run soon, but this was still a highly disappointing start to his Grand Slam year.
Tommy Paul had a theoretically very favorable draw and had legitimate hopes of having his best ever Slam run here, but he couldn’t get it done against Miomir Kecmanovic in a match where he started as a clear favorite. He got outplayed all throughout and lost in straight sets, failing to take advantage of being in the path of the first seed, vacated by Novak Djokovic.
While credit has to be given to Monfils, Alexander Bublik‘s performance was a complete disaster; he looked like he pretty much gave up on the match early on. It’s even more disappointing when you consider that he had a good draw to make a run here.
Main Photo from Getty.
