A lookahead to today’s action
With temperatures forecast to reach 42 Celsius (nearly 108 Fahrenheit) today, 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, secondseeded 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.”
TODAY FORECAST
Sunny, high of 42 Celsius
YESTERDAY’S WEATHER
Sunny and hot, high of 40 C
ATTENDANCE
Day: 38,072; TOTAL: 63,561 Night:
QUOTE OF THE DAY
25,489;
“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.
Nick Kyrgios (17), Australia, vs. JoWilfried Tsonga (15), France Kiki Bertens (30), Netherlands, vs. Caroline Wozniacki (2), Denmark
Margaret Court Arena
0000 GMT Denisa Allertova, Czech Republic, vs. Magda Linette, Poland Pablo Carreno Busta (10), Spain, vs. Gilles Muller (23) Luxembourg Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, vs. Magdalena Rybarikova (19), Slovakia
Not before 0800 GMT Rafael Nadal (1), Spain, vs. Damir Dzumhur (28), Bosnia Jelena Ostapenko (7), Latvia, vs. Anett Kontaveit (32), Estonia
Hisense Arena
0000 GMT Bob and Mike Bryan (6), United States, vs. Max Mirnyi, Belarus, and Philipp Oswald, Austria Elise Mertens, Belgiuim, vs. Alize Cornet, France
Not before 0500 GMT Ryan Harrison, United States, vs. Marin Cilic (6), Croatia