Aus Open Round 3 Recap 🍃 The Hangover Round
Swiatek is out. Djokovic is rising. Honestly, this round felt like a bit of a hangover.
7 seeds left in the women’s draw. This is the lowest number of seeds in an Australian Open round of 16 since the introduction of the 128-draw in 1988. Congratulations to Sabalenka, Gauff, Krejcikova, Zheng, Svitolina and Paolini for surviving this epidemic and Azarenka for beating a higher seed.
RESULTS SUMMARY
TOP 4 SEEDS
Noskova d. Swiatek (1), 36 63 64 ❌
Sabalenka (2) d. Tsurenko (28), 60 60
Gauff (4) d. Parks, 60 62
Djokovic (1) d. Etcheverry (30), 63 63 76
Alcaraz (2) d. Shang (WC), 61 61 10 ret.
Medvedev (3) d. Auger-Aliassime (27), 63 64 63
Sinner (4) d. Baez (26), 60 61 63
UPSETS ([higher] seeds eliminated)
Women’s: Swiatek (1), Haddad Maia (10), Ostapenko (11), Navarro (27)
Men’s: Ruud (11), Dimitrov (13), Paul (14), Shelton (16), Griekspoor (28)
Full draws here.
WOMEN’S SINGLES 🎾
Iga out!
Iga Swiatek is out. Maybe this line from my last post was a sign - that I did not want to see: “This is Swiatek’s hardest start at a Grand Slam. She spent 5 hours 5 minutes on court in the first two rounds (closest was 4 hours at 2020 US Open - when she lost in Round 3 to eventual finalist Azarenka)”. Yes, after this tough start, she lost in the same round - does this mean Linda Noskova is making the final this year?
19-year-old Noskova’s serves were unreturned 39% of the time including 3 times when closing the second set at 5-3 (For Swiatek, this rate was 21% despite faster first serves than her opponent). Free points helped Noskova big time but they were not the only factor. Her flat and powerful groundstrokes rushed Swiatek as we have seen her against this type of hitting (vs. Bencic USO’21, vs. Collins AO’22, vs. Rybakina AO’23, vs. Ostapenko USO’23). The world no. 1 made 20 unforced errors on her forehand. At the end, the difference was really small: Noskova won just 4 more points than Swiatek.
With this, Swiatek’s 18-match win streak comes to an end. Noskova, on the other hand, reaches a Grand Slam 4th round for the first time. Her next opponent is Elina Svitolina (19), and this will be their first meeting.
Nail biters galore
Mirra Andreeva and Diane Parry delivered in drama and mouth-watering rallies. The deciding set saw 34% of rallies go over 9 shots. Parry was up 5-1 in the final set, but Andreeva somehow came back. Parry looked a bit tight, but it was the 16-year-old who found more power in her shots. From 5-1 down, Andreeva won 23 points until match tiebreak and 18 of them were either winners or forced errors and 5 were Parry’s unforced errors. When it mattered, Andreeva took initiative and won this rollercoaster 1-6 6-1 7-6.
Krejcikova had to save 4 break points in 2 games that kept Hunter from serving for the match in set 2, and beat her crowd favorite opponent 4-6 7-5 6-3.
Zheng Qinwen beat countrywoman Wang Yafan 6-4 2-6 7-6 (8) in 2 hours and 40 minutes and she is now the highest ranked player left in the top half of the women’s draw.
Amanda Anisimova beat Paula Badosa in two close sets, 7-6 6-4. Anisimova overcame intense stomach cramps in an 8-minute service game to close out set 1.
Sabalenka and Gauff - comfortably into the last 16
Coco Gauff (4) breezed past Alycia Parks 6-0 6-2. Parks had started the match with a characteristic 2nd serve ace and an uncharacteristic 14-shot rally win, but then started the double faults and the unforced errors. She led the WTA top-100 in ace percentage (11%) as well as double fault percentage (12.6%) last year; and this match was an elongation of the stat. Gauff continued her brilliant returning, but the 2nd serve points won stat still has room for improvement. The 19-year-old moves to her 10th second week at a Grand Slam and will look for her first #AusOpen quarter final against Magdalena Frech. Frech beat qualifier Zakharova 4-6 7-5 6-4.
Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat 28th seed Tsurenko 6-0 6-0 in 52 minutes; and she didn’t even have to hit an ace. When asked about the score, she had a simple answer: “Last year, Iga won so many 6-0 sets. This is one of the goals - trying to get closer to her.”
Give it up for the qualifiers
Dayana Yastremska, a teen prodigy a few years back, finally seems to have found her stride. This is her second 4th round at a Grand Slam (Wimbledon 2019). This week, she won a Grand Slam match for the first time since her provisional doping ban in 2021 (later lifted with “no fault or negligence on Yastremska’s part”). She beat Emma Navarro (27) with first-strike tennis: 35% of serves unreturned despite a 46% first-serve in rate, and she hit 36 winners to Navarro’s 5. She will next face Victoria Azarenka (18).
Maria Timofeeva doesn’t like direct entries into the main draw. In 2023, she won Budapest as a lucky loser. That was actually her first WTA main draw ever. Australian Open 2024 is her second tour-level main draw, believe it or not. And here, she came through qualifying. Overcoming nerves at the start of the match, she beat 10th seed Haddad Maia, 7-6 6-3. Haddad Maia chose to stay behind the baseline over following her shots onto the net (4 net plays in set 2) and made 35 unforced errors, highlighted by a double fault on set point. Timofeeva will play Marta Kostyuk in round 4.
MEN’S SINGLES 🎾
Not too bad
Novak Djokovic looks be to be slowly playing himself into form as he played his best match in the 3rd round. The forehand is still not as reliable as he’d like it to be, but the serve is. He won 86% of 1st serves (10 aces) and 59% of 2nd serves.
ND: I played better than I did in the first two rounds. So, that’s positive change. Starting to feel better - gamewise and physically as well. Positive signs, but I still haven’t been playing at my best.
No losses in the top 10 this round
Daniil Medvedev (3) played an efficient match against his error-prone opponent Felix Auger-Aliassime (27). Auger-Aliassime created only 1 break point, which he converted, but that was it. Medvedev hit 23 winners and 25 unforced errors (understandable given his going to bed at 7am the day before due to his late night match); Auger-Aliassime, 19 winners and 43 unforced errors.
Hubert Hurkacz (9) overcame an in-form Ugo Humbert (21) in 4 sets.
Jannik Sinner (3) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (7) beat their opponents in straight sets, serving one bagel set each.
Match of the round: Two different lefties
Normally I would have expected a lot from Adrian Mannarino (20) vs Ben Shelton (16); but knowing 35-year-old Mannarino spent so much time on court already (8 hours 54 minutes thanks to 2 singles and 1 doubles match which all went to the decider!), I thought he just physically wouldn’t be there. I. Was. Wrong.
Credit to Ben Shelton for trying different things against the most unorthodox ATP player. He sliced a lot on his backhand, mixed his serve, and his serve clock went as high as 231 km/h. Mannarino wasn’t phased though. The 35-year-old Frenchman was stronger in his 2nd serves (54% won) and he impressively approached the net 48 times (69% won). Here are the highlights to this match.
When asked what changed for him after his 34th birthday (4 of his 5 titles came after turning 34), his answer was: Tequila. He’ll face Djokovic next, so why not some?
Fado, Futbol, Fatima, Forehand
Nuno Borges (world no. 69) caused the biggest upset of round 3 on the men’s side by beating Grigor Dimitrov (13) in 4 sets. Borges held his serve like his life depended on it, serving 11 of 12 break points he faced. Back-to-back career wins for him this week.
He becomes the 2nd Portuguese player ever to reach the 4th round at a Grand Slam (Joao Sousa at US Open 2018, Wimbledon 2019) and first at Australian Open.
DON’T MISS THESE MATCHES
ROUND 4
Sunday
Sabalenka (2) - Anisimova 🔥🔥🔥
Krejcikova (9) - M. Andreeva
Djokovic (1) - Mannarino (20)
Sinner (4) - Khachanov (15)
Tsitsipas (7) - Fritz (12)
Monday
Svitolina (19) - Noskova
Azarenka (18) - Yastremska
Alcaraz (2) - Kecmanovic
Hurkacz (9) - Cazaux (WC)
HIGHLIGHTS
19 year old Alex Michelsen with the hot shot.
Regular day at the office for Passvedev.
Death, taxes and Ostapenko being in denial with an electronic line call.
STATS
6 women and 1 man are yet to lose a set: Elina Svitolina, Jasmine Paolini, Oceane Dodin, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Aryna Sabalenka... and Jannik Sinner.
Break point conversion leaders are Coco Gauff (76%) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (52%).
READY… PLAY.
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— Gökalp
