Day six at the Australian Open saw the conclusion of the third round. The top two seeds in the bottom half, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, advanced as expected, but Andrey Rublev was upset by the 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic, who’ll perhaps now be thinking about winning a second Grand Slam title after a great result.
Australian Open Day Six Recap
Who looked good
Cilic rolled back the years with a great serving performance and win over Rublev. The Croatian had struggled in previous matches against Rublev, but he played at an excellent level this time around, dominating all throughout. It was looking like a straight-sets win until he imploded from a break up in the third set, but he regrouped in time to book a meeting with Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round. Cilic is one of only three people remaining in the draw who know what it is to win a Grand Slam, along with Nadal and Medvedev.
Medvedev keeps rolling; after a very difficult second-round match against Nick Kyrgios, the Russian dismissed Botic van de Zandschulp in a rematch of last year’s US Open quarterfinal. It really was a walk in the park for the Russian, who didn’t get broken all match and was always in cruise control. The Dutchman had actually caused some issues to Medvedev in New York, being the only man to take a set off him throughout that tournament, but he was absolutely no match for the second seed here.
Auger-Aliassime had struggled in previous rounds, but he was absolutely dominant this time around against Daniel Evans, losing only 6 games. After a tight first set, it was one way traffic for the Canadian, who’s become a really consistent Slam performer. After quarterfinals at Wimbledon and semifinals at the US Open, he’ll be looking to go at least one better this time, but he’ll have his work cut out for him.
Who looked bad
While praise has to go to Cilic, Rublev was once again disappointing, as has been the norm since last year’s run to the Cincinnati final. He was exposed for his somewhat one-dimensional game, failing to find solutions to the problems posed by Cilic. It remains to be seen whether he’s ready to take the next step in his career and become a consistent contender for the biggest titles this year.
Roberto Bautista Agut seemed to have a good draw, but the Spaniard was eliminated by Taylor Fritz after taking a 2-1 lead (despite losing the first set 6-0). That will be all the more disappointing considering he had a 5-1 head-to-head lead over Fritz and that the American was 0-7 at this stage of Grand Slam tournaments. Still, Fritz did play well and he earned the first fourth-round appearance at a Slam of his career.
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