Novak Djokovic fought off another feisty challenge to reach the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday after women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka made more serene progress and Ons Jabeur crashed out at the hands of a schoolgirl.
Women’s eighth seed Maria Sakkari followed Jabeuri soon after, bounced out 6-4, 6-4 by Russian Elina Avanesyan in the final match of the day.
Top 10 seeds Coco Gauff, Barbora Krejcikova, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas all got through their second-round contests in varying conditions as Melbourne lived up to its reputation for changeable weather.
Rain washed out more than three hours of play on the outer courts at the start of the day but the skies had long cleared by the time Djokovic took to the court where he has won 10 of his 24 grand slam titles. As in his four-hour first-round clash against qualifier Dino Prizmic, the 36-year-old Serbian looked in full pomp in the opening set against Australian Alexei Popyrin but lost the second.
The aggressive Popyrin, backed by a crowd in full voice, had set points in the third set but Djokovic saved them and, riled by an exchange with a fan in the crowd, ran out a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 winner.
Djokovic invited a heckling fan to confront him face-to-face.
Explaining what happened later, Djokovic said: “I mean, you don’t want to know (what he said).
“There was a lot of things that were being told to me on the court, particularly from that corner, and the same side the other corner. I was tolerating it for most of the match.
“At one point I had enough, and I asked him whether he wants to come down and tell it to my face. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have the courage to come down.”
Next up for Djokovic is Argentine Tomas Etcheverry who has already accounted
for Andy Murray and Gael Monfils.
Tsitsipas advances
The neighbouring Margaret Court Arena was also rocking in the evening session as locals backed Jordan Thompson as the gutsy Australian plotted an upset of Tsitsipas.
Thompson took the first set but the Greek seventh seed gritted his teeth and battled back to win 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-2, 7-6(4) after a thrilling match where the final 13-minute game and fourth-set tiebreak were alone worth the admission.
“The adrenaline and the rush I got out of this match tonight was insane, you live for these kinds of matches,” said Tsitsipas, who lost to Djokovic in last year’s final.
“The fact that I can go to sleep tonight and know I gave it all makes me extremely happy.”
Sabalenka made short work of 16-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova with a 6-3, 6-2 in the early evening match on Rod Laver Arena — a second dominant victory over a qualifier for the Belarusian in her first grand slam title defence.
“It’s not like these two matches give me confidence,” Sabalenka said. “It’s tennis. You have to be ready for anything. I’m trying to focus on myself and focus on bringing the best tennis I can.”
Andreeva ‘super happy’
Jabeur’s match against 16-year-old Russian Andreeva was played under the closed roof on the main showcourt but the Tunisian sixth seed could hardly blame the conditions given the one-sided nature of her 6-0, 6-2 defeat.
“It was probably my best match,” said Andreeva, who still has to find time for school work along with her training. “I’m super happy with the level that I showed today on the court.”
Brazilian 10th seed Haddad Maia later had little trouble in her encounter with a talented teen, easing past a third 16-year-old, Russian Alina Korneeva, 6-1, 6-2.
Sinner was delighted that the inclement weather forced the roof of Margaret Court Arena to be closed for his match against Jesper de Jong. The fourth seed hit a rich vein of form at the end of last season on indoor courts and dominated the Dutch qualifier 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
After the rain finally relented, the roof was back open for US Open champion Gauff’s second-round clash with fellow American Caroline Dolehide. Initially, it looked like the women’s fourth seed would ease through but Dolehide dragged her into a real scrap and Gauff was forced to fight until her fourth match point to prevail 7-6(2), 6-2.
“It was a tough match. She plays big, pretty much, on every shot,” said Gauff.
De Minaur’s revenge
It was a mixed day for American men with Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Sebastian Korda progressing but 17th seed Frances Tiafoe was upset 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(5) by Czech Tomas Machac and Chris Eubanks losing 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to fifth seed Rublev.
Alex de Minaur’s form has some in Australia thinking he might just be able to end the country’s 48-year wait for a men’s champion and the recent Davis Cup final loss to Italy was on the 10th seed’s mind during his 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 win over Matteo Arnaldi.
“It’s no secret that it was heartbreaking to lose the Davis Cup final at the end of last year,” he said. “Today was a little bit of revenge for Australia.”