A quick glance at the Australian Open:
LOOKAHEAD TO FRIDAY
With temperatures forecast to reach 42 Celsius (nearly 108 Fahrenheit) on Friday, Rafael Nadal might have a sense of deja vu when he sees his opponent across the net for his third-round match. It is Damir Dzumhur, and the only time they have played each other was at Miami in 2016 when Nadal was forced to retire due to extreme heat and humidity. Dzumhur was leading 2-6, 6-4, 3-0 when Nadal quit. "Everything was fine until the end of the first set ... then I started to feel dizzy, not very good," Nadal said. "It was getting worse and worse. Finally, in the second set, I realized that I could not keep playing." The No. 1- ranked Nadal will be hoping for a better outcome this time around, and at least he won't have the humidity to worry about — that's not usually an issue in Melbourne.
The most anticipated match is one between local hope Nick Kyrgios and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Kyrgios had a straight-sets second-round win late Wednesday over Viktor Troicki; Tsonga was forced to come from 5-2 down in the fifth set to beat Denis Shapovalov. Kyrgios said Tsonga was one of his "idols." "He is a good friend of mine ... we played one time and it was a close three-set battle so I am looking forward to it." In their only career meeting, Tsonga won indoors at Marseille last year.
In women's play, second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki will be looking for a more routine match against Kiki Bertens. Wozniacki needed to come back from 5-1 down in the third set of her second-round match against Jana Felt. Another third-round match is an all-Ukrainian affair between 15-year-old Marta Kostyuk and fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina. The two have never played, and Stivolina says she knows little about the newest tennis prodigy from her country. "She has nothing to lose, so that's why I know she goes just for everything," Svitolina said. "You know, a little bit like headless chicken."
— By AP Sports Writer Dennis Passa.
___
FRIDAY FORECAST
Sunny, high of 42 Celsius (108 Fahrenheit)
THURSDAY'S WEATHER
Sunny and hot, high of 40 C (104 F)
ATTENDANCE
Day: 38,072; Night: 25,489; TOTAL: 63,561.
THURSDAY'S RESULTS
Men's Second Round: No. 2 Roger Federer beat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (4); No. 4 Alexander Zverev beat Peter Gojowczyk 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; No. 5 Dominic Thiem beat Denis Kudla 6-7 (6), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; Julien Benneteau beat No. 7 David Goffin 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1, 7-6 (4); Tennys Sandgren beat No. 9 Stan Wawrinka 6-2, 6-1, 6-4; No. 12 Juan Martin del Potro beat Karen Khachanov 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (0), 6-4; Marton Fucsovics beat No. 13 Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-2; No. 14 Novak Djokovic beat Gael Monfils 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3; No. 19 Tomas Berdych beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; No. 21 Albert Ramos-Vinolas beat Tim Smyczek 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (2); No. 25 Fabio Fognini beat Evgeny Donskoy 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; No. 26 Adrian Mannarino beat Jiri Vesely 6-3, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-3; No. 29 Richard Gasquet beat Lorenzo Sonego 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.
Women's Second Round: No. 1 Simona Halep beat Eugenie Bouchard 6-2, 6-2; Hsieh Su-Wei beat No. 3 Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (1), 6-4; No. 6 Karolina Pliskova beat Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-1, 6-1; No. 8 Caroline Garcia beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-7( 3), 6-2, 8-6; Bernarda Pera beat No. 9 Johanna Konta 6-4, 7-5; Maria Sharapova beat No. 14 Anastasija Sevastova 6-1, 7-6 (4); Naomi Osaka beat No. 16 Elena Vesnina 7-6 (4), 6-2; No. 17 Madison Keys beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0, 6-1; No. 18 Ashleigh Barty beat Camila Giorgi 5-7, 6-4, 6-1; No. 20 Barbora Strycova beat Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino 6-3, 6-4; No. 21 Angelique Kerber beat Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-1; No. 26 Agnieszka Radwanska beat Lesia Tsurenko 2-6, 7-5, 6-3; Aliaksandra Sasnovich beat No. 28 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 6-1; No. 29 Lucie Safarova beat Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-4.
STAT OF THE DAY
4: number of aces in Madison Keys' first service game.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I prefer to watch on TV. Or stay on the beach, drinking some beer" — Juan Martin del Potro says where he'd rather be instead of playing tennis in extremely hot weather.
Comments