Auger-Aliassime advances to 4th round, Shapovalov eliminated at Australian Open

Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to move on to the fourth round of the Australian Open.

The Montreal native fired nine aces and won 85 per cent of first-serve points, in addition to breaking on six out of 20 chances.

He also had 38 winners to Cerundolo's 22 in a match played Friday afternoon in Melbourne.

After cruising through the third set, the sixth seeded Auger-Aliassime was met with quite the challenge from Cerundolo in the fourth.

After falling behind 2-1, the 22-year-old Auger-Aliassime strung together three consecutive games to go up 4-2.

WATCH | Auger-Aliassime tops Cerundolo in 3rd round:

Auger-Aliassime advances to the round of 16 at Australian Open

2 years ago

Duration 4:21

Félix Auger-Aliassime defeated Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the third round of the Australian Open.

Cerundolo, however, trimmed the deficit thanks to an error from the Canadian after a forehand winner provided him the advantage out of a deuce.

It then turned into a back and forth affair as the two would match one another after every game won.

But that failed to work in favour of the Argentine, as Auger-Aliassime cruised through the final game, taking match point with an ace.

Auger-Aliassime will next meet Jiri Lehecka in a Round of 16 match on Sunday.

Canadian Denis Shapovalov was defeated in his third-round matchup against Poland's Hubert Hurkaczv in men's singles action. The Richmond Hill, Ont. native battled back from two sets down to force a deciding fifth set, but ultimately fell 6-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 3-6.

WATCH | Shapovalov falls in 3rd round:

Shapovalov rally falls short in 3rd round of the Australian Open

2 years ago

Duration 1:54

Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., fell to Poland's Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(3), 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3 in the third round of the Australian Open.

In women's doubles action, Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Giuliana Olmos of Mexico defeated American Shelby Rogers and Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the opening round.

Dabrowski and Olmos fired three aces to just one double fault and won 73 per cent of first-serve points. They also broke on 5-of-9 opportunities.

The third seeded-duo had 25 winners to their opponents' 21.

Dabrowski and Olmos will next meet the Swiss pair of Belinda Bencic and Jil Teichmann.

Meanwhile, fellow Canadian Leylah Fernandez and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the U.S. fell 7-6 (5), 4-6, 3-6 to Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia and China's Zhang Shuai in their first-round match.

After winning the opening set, Fernandez and Mattek-Sands fell apart following a great start to the second.

The duo won the first four games of the middle set. From there, Haddad Maia and Zhang took over with six consecutive games to win the set.

In the third, they built on their momentum, taking three of the first four games. Fernandez and Mattek-Sands could not get any closer than within two games in hopes of a comeback.

Fernandez and Mattek-Sands broke on four of their 12 opportunities in comparison to their opponents going 6-for-10.

Korda takes down Medvedev

Sebastian Korda beat two-time runner-up Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (7), 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the Australian Open's third round Friday night, the latest in a string of victories by young American men against top players at Melbourne Park.

Korda, the son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr, is a 22-year-old from Florida who is seeded 29th.

He equalled his best showing at any Grand Slam tournament by reaching the round of 16.

The No. 7-seeded Medvedev won the U.S. Open two years ago and made it to the final in Australia in 2021, when he lost to Novak Djokovic, and 2022, when he lost to Rafael Nadal after holding a two-set lead.

This result comes on the heels of two other attention-grabbing victories by players from the U.S., whose men last won a Grand Slam title 20 years ago. On Wednesday, Mackenzie McDonald beat No. 1 seed Nadal. On Thursday, Jenson Brooksby beat No. 2 seed Casper Ruud. And now it was Korda's turn to add his name to the list.

On this night in Rod Laver Arena, it was Korda who dictated most of the points, who put his shots right where he wanted them, who charged forward with verve and slick volleys. He even threw in the occasional drop shot, for good measure.

Korda compiled nearly twice as many winners as Medvedev, 50-28, and although there were plenty of unforced errors off his racket, too, that did not hurt the American.

Korda grabbed the lead in each of the first three sets, breaking Medvedev in his first service game every time.

And with the match a fraction longer than 2 1/2 hours old, Korda was serving while ahead 4-3, 40-15 in the third set. So close to advancing, five points away from winning.

Right there, right then, is when Korda slipped up.

After Medvedev made it 40-30 with a forehand winner, Korda got a chance to hit a seemingly simple volley to take the game. But he missed, sending the ball too long. On the next point, he netted a forehand from the baseline, his sixth unforced error off that wing in the set — six more than Medvedev at that moment. A netted backhand then completed the gift-wrapped break, and one love hold later, Medvedev had accumulated eight consecutive points to go up 5-4.

What appeared to be a turning point, though, turned out just to be a blip.

Korda raced to a 6-1 lead in the closing tiebreaker and, while he again needed to settled down after some missed chances, this time he ended things with a forehand winner.

Pegula, Gauff cruise into 4th round

American title favourites Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff had convincing third-round wins on Friday.

The third-seeded Pegula, a quarterfinalist the past two years at Melbourne Park, needed 65 minutes for a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Marta Kostyuk. Seventh-seeded Gauff beat Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-2 to reach the last 16.

Pegula raced through the first set and though Kostyuk established herself in the second set, she was always playing catch-up.

"I thought I just didn't give away a lot of free points," said Pegula, who will meet Barbora Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open champion, in the next round. "I was playing aggressive when I had to but also smart. Happy to be through to the next round."

Gauff had to withstand a barrage of big hitting from Pera.

Top-seeded Iga Swiatek beat Cristina Bucsa, a qualifier from Spain, 6-0, 6-1 in just 55 minutes. Last year's finalist Danielle Collins of the U.S. was beaten 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.

Krejcikova was the first player to advance to the fourth round after a 6-2, 6-3 win over Anhelina Kalinina to open play Friday at Rod Laver Arena.

The 20th-seeded Czech player won the first five games of the match and dominated her Ukrainian opponent. Krejcikova has not dropped a set in three matches.

Tsitsipas advances to face Sinner

In men's play, Stefanos Tsitsipas will take on Jannik Sinner in the fourth round.

Third-seeded Tsitsipas saved a set point in the second set but beat Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-3 to reach the last 16 at Melbourne Park for the third time in four years.

Sinner recovered from two sets down for the first time in his career as he beat Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 after 3 hours, 33 minutes, winning the last 12 games.

"For sure the first two sets were very tough for me," the 21-year-old Italian and 15th-seeded player said. "I went on court with one tactic, then I had to change a little bit, going a little more to his backhand. We made a lot of work in the off-season physically so today I was good physically in the last few sets."

Tsitsipas, the highest-ranked player left in the men's draw following the exits of top-seeded and defending champion Nadal and No. 2 Ruud, was pushed hard in the second set by the 63rd-ranked Griekspoor.

The Dutch player had a set point on Tsitsipas' serve at 6-5 in the second set but couldn't convert it and Tsitsipas pulled away for victory.

Tsitsipas and Sinner have played five times, with the Greek player leading 4-1. The 24-year-old is a three-time Australian Open semifinalist and was the 2021 French Open runner-up to Novak Djokovic. Sinner reached the quarterfinals in Melbourne last year.