Keeping his composure
Medvedev withstands Kyrgios, crowd to advance
MELBOURNE, Australia — Daniil Medvedev faced a hostile crowd and a full array of Nick Kyrgios’ outbursts and tricks, and still remained calm for long enough to reach the third round at the Australian Open.
The 115th-ranked Kyrgios worked up the crowd, hit ‘tweeners and drop shots, mixed up the pace of his groundstrokes and tossed in an under-arm serve in a bid to ruffle the secondranked Russian.
Medvedev kept his composure, taking a quick trip to the locker room after losing the third set and recovering to win 7-6 (1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 Thursday on a rowdy Rod Laver Arena.
In an on-court TV interview with former champion Jim Courier, Medvedev was asked how he managed to stay so composed.
“That’s the only choice when you get booed between first and second serve,” he said, triggering some more boos.
Kyrgios usually likes to play on John Cain Arena, known locally as the People’s Court because fans with ground passes can get in and the singing and chanting can get wild.
He managed to turn the all-ticketed stadium court into something more akin to a soccer stadium.
In the seventh game of the third set, Kyrgios got two break-point chances when he bunted away a backhand from Medvedev directed at his body and then took off on a circular run behind the baseline to celebrate like he’d scored a goal.
When he converted the break, he danced in the change-over and worked up the crowd. Medvedev lowered the volume with two service breaks in the fourth set to beat the talented but erratic Kyrgios for the first time in three attempts. He served 31 aces to 17 for the Aussie, and converted four of his 11 break-point chances while saving seven of nine on his own serve.
Told later he may have misheard boos, and that Kyrgios’ supporters were mimicking the “siiiuuu” sound soccer fans yell when Cristiano Ronaldo scores, Medvedev said still “it’s not easy to play against the crowd.”
“But they stay as fun matches afterwards because in the end, yeah, we gave the crowd a big show,” he said. “Probably Nick more, because, well, he’s a big entertainer. I think it was a great match to watch.”
Azarenka overpowers Svitolina
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka is into the fourth round for the first time since 2016 after overpowering 15th-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-0, 6-2.
Azarenka accumulated nearly twice as many winners, 17, as unforced errors, nine, and never faced a break point. Svitolina had 26 unforced errors.
Azarenka improved to 5-0 against Svitolina. The 24th-seeded Azarenka won the title at Melbourne Park in 2012 and 2013, and she also has been the runner-up at the U.S. Open three times, most recently in 2020.
At a glance
LOOKAHEAD TO FRIDAY: Friday night under lights will feature two big third-round matches in the women’s draw, with defending Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka facing Amanda Anisimova on Margaret Court Arena and top-ranked Ash Barty on Rod Laver Arena against Camila Giorgi. Wimbledon champion Barty is aiming to be the first Australian woman to win the championship since 1978. On the men’s side, Rafael Nadal will continue his bid for a record 21st Grand Slam title with a third-round match against No. 28 Karen Khachanov and Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini takes on No. 31 Carlos Alcaraz.
THURSDAY’S KEY RESULTS Women’s third round: No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka beat Wang Xinyu 1-6, 6-4, 6-2; Alize Cornet beat No. 3 Garbiñe Muguruza 6-3, 6-3; Clara Tauson beat No. 6 Anett Kontaveit 6-2, 6-4; No. 7 Iga Swiatek beat Rebecca Peterson 6-2, 62; No. 10 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Sam Stosur 6-2, 6-2; Zhang Shuai beat No. 12 Elena Rybakina 6-4, 1-0, ret. Men’s third round: No. 2 Daniil Medvedev beat Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-2; No. 5 Andrey Rublev beat Ricardas Berankis 6-4, 6-2, 6-0; No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4); No. 11 Jannik Sinner beat Steve Johnson 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.
STAT OF THE DAY
9 and 19: Aryna Sabalenka had nine double-faults in her first two service games in her second-round win over Wang. She finished the match with 19.