Top-10 women on a high
MELBOURNE: On a day when all the top-10 seeded women reached the third round at the Australian Open for the first time since 2007, No 5 seed Elina Svitolina closed out Day 4—and the second round of singles action—with a 6-2, 7-6 (6) win over Lauren Davis of the US. The Ukrainian, who reached two Grand Slam semi-finals last season, said after the match, “I’m happy I could finish in two sets and we can all go to bed now.”
Second seed Karolina Pliskova breezed through to the third round, dispatching Germany’s Laura Siegemund 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday. Pliskova was down 1-3 in the first set but never looked in danger of losing, immediately breaking the 72nd-ranked Siegemund in the next game to get back on serve. and a bleeding nose on his way to a 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 win to reach the third round. Medvedev’s nose started bleeding while he was up 5-0 in the second set and he was back on court firing on all cylinders after a medical timeout to set up a third round clash against Spaniard Jaume Munar or local hope Alexei Popyrin.
On a day when the Australian Open was hit by “dirty rain”, which left the courts muddy and unplayable, workers armed with squeegees and high-pressure hoses rushed to clean the surfaces, delaying matches on most of the courts. The dirty rain, blamed on smoke hanging in the air from Australia’s raging bushfires, is just the latest hazard at a tournament that has been beset by meteorological mishaps.
KYRGIOS TRIUMPHS
Nick Kyrgios said he steered clear of a “very dark place” after suffering a minor meltdown during his 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 win over Gilles Simon in the second round. The 23rd seed, Australia’s best hope of a men’s champion here, appeared on course for a straightforward victory with a cushion of two sets and a break against the 35-year-old Frenchman.
But things suddenly went awry for him when back-to-back double faults put the set back on service before another error set up a break for the Frenchman to win the third set. “I lost my way a little. He’s a tough competitor. He knows how to win matches ... I could have gone to a very dark place in the fourth set but I somehow put it away,” said Kyrgios.