No. 1 seed Medvedev cruises into 4th round
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
As Daniil Medvedev sat courtside trying to rehydrate during a changeover, an image of ninetime Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic flashed up in the stadium behind him.
It was in the third set Saturday, and it was like the absent No. 1 was looking over the shoulder of the player who is effectively the No. 1 seed at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament.
Medvedev, who lost last year’s Australian Open final to Djokovic but avenged that with a victory over the Serb for the U.S. Open title, reached the fourth round for the fourth straight year at Melbourne Park with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win over Botic van de Zandschulp.
The 25-year-old Russian was a conspicuous fan favorite on Margaret
Court Arena, too, two days after being unsettled by the boos and jeers of a parochial crowd on Rod Laver Arena when he ended the run of mercurial Aussie Nick Kyrgios.
He was critical of a lack of respect in that match – mostly about the noise between first and second serves – and this time offered some relationship advice to the crowd.
“Every good relationship must have its ups and downs,” he said in his on-court TV interview, explaining that he planned to be back on court quite often. “I hope it’s going to be more good times than bad times, otherwise it doesn’t work.”
Medvedev later clarified that he didn’t have a problem with the Australian crowds and had been fully expecting to have them against him when he played Kyrgios – just not while he was in his service motion.
“The other night I was playing against an Australian player, very electric Australian player,” he said. “After the match, I think it was, yeah, straightaway pretty actually fun for everybody. That’s how I felt.”
Medvedev avoided a showdown with Djokovic after the world’s topranked player was deported on the eve of the tournament for failing to meet Australia’s strict COVID-19 vaccination criteria.
He also avoided another match against an Australian in the fourth round when wildcard entry Chris O’Connell lost to Maxime Cressy 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2.
Cressy’s win means there are two 24-year-old Americans who’ll be in the fourth round of a major for their first time.
No. 70-ranked Cressy is in his fourth Grand Slam tournament. No. 20ranked Taylor Fritz finally made it in his 22nd attempt, with a 6-0, 3-6,
3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut, and said it “means a ton.” finding a way to get back and come away with a different outcome.”
Part of the motivation to return to the Finals stage stems from the “What if?” questions surrounding the Heat’s championship series against the Lakers.
The Heat was without both Adebayo and thenstarting guard Goran Dragic for a chunk of the 2020 NBA Finals because of injuries. Adebayo missed Games 2 and 3 of the series because of a neck strain and Dragic missed four games during the series because of a torn plantar fascia in his left foot.
“I always think about what if,” Adebayo said. “But you just got to keep going with life.”
For Spoelstra, he wonders what could have
“I was almost close to like tearing up a bit,” Fritz said. “It seems stupid, because so many people have made the second week of Slams but it’s just, like, eluded me for so long.
“I never doubted it would happen, but I definitely was getting sick of playing, you know, Top 4 player for the opportunity every time.”
Fritz next plays French Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas, who fended off Benoit Paire 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-4.
No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime progressed with a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 win over No. 24 Dan Evans, winning 14 of the last 16 games, and will next face 33-year-old happened if the Heat would have won one more game at some point in the series to force a Game 7.
“If we could have just found a way to get one of those earlier games, that’s what frustrates me about it as much as anything,” he said. “If we could have somehow gotten that series deeper, if we win one more game.”
But Haslem doesn’t look back. Despite the obvious question of how a healthy Adebayo and Dragic would have changed that series, he has moved on.
“If I get into the could of, would of, should of then I’m just like the people who say Miami was a bubble team,” Haslem said. “So I don’t get into the would of, could of, should of. I get into the facts. The fact was we just didn’t get it done. The fact was we were the best team in the East no matter what anybody says.”
A few years later, the Heat is again among the East’s best. The organization believes that the postseason experience from 2020 will help during this year’s playoff push.
“Just trying to get to the next opportunity to see who can be the champ in 2022,” Haslem said.
Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion and a runner-up in Australia in 2018.
Cilic upset fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev 7-5, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3 just before midnight in the last singles match completed on Day 6.
On the women’s side, two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep is into Week 2 at Melbourne Park for the fifth consecutive year after a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Danka Kovinic.
She’ll be joined by second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, who advanced 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 over No. 31 Marketa Vondrousova.
A contender for the No. 1 ranking – Sabalenka can
HEAT INJURY AND TUCKER UPDATE
Heat forward P.J. Tucker started Friday’s loss to the Hawks, but left with 3:56 remaining in the first quarter and never returned because of left knee irritation. Tucker missed four games in late December because of lower left leg nerve inflammation.
“P.J. wanted to [play] coming out of halftime,” Spoelstra said. “We just told him we got to think big-picture. The knee irritation was a little bit stiff. We’ll give him treatment and evaluate him when we get back to Miami.”
Tucker is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Lakers with left calf tightness.
The Heat has already ruled out Herro (health and safety protocols),
Kyle Lowry (personal reasons), Markieff Morris (return to competition reconditioning), Okpala (wrist sprain) and Victor Oladipo (knee injury recovery) for Sunday’s contest. It will mark the fourth straight game that Lowry has missed because of personal reasons.
Anthony Chiang: 305-376-4991, @Anthony_Chiang potentially overtake Ash Barty depending on results here – the 23-yearold from Belarus admits her serve is still a work in progress.
The match started ominously, when Sabalenka had two double-faults and was broken in the first game.
But unlike the previous round, when she had nine double-faults in her first two service games and 19 in the match, Sabalenka managed to almost halve that glaring statistic.
“I’m really happy right now,” Sabalenka said, laughing, in her on-court TV interview. “Mostly I’m happy I made only 10 double-faults.”
She’ll work on that ahead of her showdown against No. 115-ranked Kaia Kanepi, who has reached the quarterfinals six times at Grand Slam events – but only once since 2013 and never in Australia.
In other third-round matches, 27th-seeded Danielle Collins of the U.S. rallied from a set and a break down to beat 19year-old Clara Tauson 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. She’ll next meet No. 19 Elise Mertens, who advanced 6-2, 6-2 over Zhang Shuai.
No. 7 Iga Swaitek beat No. 25 Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-3. The 2020 French Open champion will next play Sorana Cirstea, who had a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 win over 10th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who reached the French Open final last year and has been an Australian Open quarterfinalist in three of the past six years.
None of the other players remaining the women’s draw has won as many tour-level titles as Halep’s 23.
Halep’s next opponent will be Alize Cornet, who is playing in her 60th consecutive major and celebrated her 32nd birthday with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over 2021 French Open semifinalist Tamara Zidansek.
Cornet followed up her upset of No. 3 Garbine Muguruza by reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open for the first time since 2009.
‘‘ Bam Adebayo, on losing to the Lakers in the 2020 NBA Finals