It was another long and exciting Tuesday of tennis at the Australian Open, and LWOT has all of the recaps and reviews of some of the best Day 3 tennis from the men’s draw. All of the first-round matches are now completed, and we’re down to 64 players in the men’s field. Who stood out on Day 3?
Australian Open Day 3 Men’s Recap
Who Looked Good
Much of the attention and accolades on Day 3 go to Joao Fonseca, who controlled the majority of his first-round match against World #9 Andrey Rublev. He won by crushing forehands and overpowering the Russian, winning 7-6(1) 6-3 7-6(5). The win marked Fonseca’s first-ever Grand Slam win, at just 18 years old. He’ll have all of the momentum on his side going into the second round, and who knows how far he’ll end up in this tournament. It could be a deep run.
A ⭐️ is born.
Brazil have a new Fenômeno and his name is Joao Fonseca!
The 18-year-old qualifier beats No.9 seed Andrey Rublev 7-6(1) 6-3 7-6(5)@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen • #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/lBYZunZEcq
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 14, 2025
World #4 Taylor Fritz cruised to a straight sets victory over Jenson Brooksby, as did Fritz’s younger American counterpart Ben Shelton. Shelton struggled early on in the first set but controlled his 7-6(3) 7-5 7-5 win by using his powerful serve. Another Top 8 seed, Alex De Minaur, seemed comfortable in front of the home fans by winning 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 over Botic Van de Zandschulp.
Other matches descended into exciting chaos. Gael Monfils wowed the fans in a five-set victory over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. But no one, other than arguably Fonseca, shined more on Day 3 than Kasidit Samrej. Ranked #418 in the world, Samrej took a shocking two sets to-one lead over Daniil Medvedev, flawlessly firing aggressive winners and hitting sneaky drop shots.
The young player from Thailand eventually struggled physically in what was his first-ever five-set match. Medvedev won 6-2 4-6 3-6 6-1 6-2.
Who Looked Bad
Holger Rune hasn’t been at his best in Grand Slams as of late, but his five-set battle against Zhinzen Zhang prompted concerns about his fitness and consistency. While Rune’s groundstrokes thrived at points during the match, he seemed to wander at points and let Zhang control the court with his forehand.
Meanwhile, home crowd favorite Alexei Popyrin struggled in a four-set loss to Corentin Moutet, which surprised me after his big US Open run last summer. At the Australian Open, Popyrin has upset top players such as Taylor Fritz in the past.
Finally, while Medvedev did enough to win his match against Samrej, his level has to improve if he wants to go deep in the draw. The Russian smashed his racket against the net late in the third set, breaking a camera — and his mental state drifted quite often before he got the momentum in the fourth set. Medvedev made the final of the Australian Open last year and has a multitude of points to defend as a result. Ultimately, he didn’t look that great.
Match of the Day
No question: the match of the day goes to Monfils’ five-set win over Mpetshi Perricard, as mentioned above. The 38-year-old battled in the heat against an opponent nearly half his age, and he initially struggled to close out the match in the third set. Monfils limited Mpetshi Perricard’s ace count to just 19, while Monfils fired 18 aces himself. Monfils cracked some big forehand winners, got the crowd on his side, and eventually grew in confidence late in the fifth set.
Mpetshi Perricard could not break Monfils’ serve once, and Monfils only converted on two of 12 break points. The final score: 7-6 (7) 6-3 6-7 (8) 6-7 (5) 6-4.
However, a shoutout must go to the nine five-set matches played out on Tuesday. It’s a testament to how early Grand Slam matches are getting closer, longer, and more intense as the talent gap continues to widen on tour. Other than a couple of big names like Carlos Alcaraz or Taylor Fritz, no top player dominated their first-round match en route to the next hurdle.
Among the next hurdles in the second round are some tough tests for top players, including Casper Ruud’s match against the tough youngster Jakub Mensik on Wednesday. Following a breakthrough 2024 season, Jack Draper will also have his hands full against the home Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis. All of those predictions and other recaps can be found on LWOT.
Main Photo Credit: Jerry Lai – USA TODAY Sports
