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Djokovic needed to play four sets and two breaks to overcome American Frances Tiafo 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-2) and 6-3, and continue his quest for the ninth crown. in Australia and 18th in “Grand Slam”.
“The match was very difficult. A great fight by Francis, a great match on his part,” acknowledged Djokovic, after it took him three and a half hours to overcome the obstacle of Tiafu and resolve his first meeting with the 23-year-old. -Old American, ranked 64th in the world.
He continued: “But it is not the first time that I find myself in a similar situation. I know how to deal with these kinds of circumstances.”
In the next round, Djokovic will face an American, Riley Opelka or Taylor Fritz.
Djokovic won his 17th Grand Slam title in last year’s final, when he reversed his 1-2 loss to Team Team in a five-set victory.
Unlike Djokovic, his second-placed third-placed team had little difficulty beating German Dominik Koepfer 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.
It took just 1 hour 39 minutes for the 2020 Flushing Meadows champion to overtake the world’s 70th German, who had never beaten one of the world’s top five.
After struggling a bit in the first set, Teim dominated the match and settled it in his favor after conceding just two halves in the second and third groups.
Thiem, who faces local champion Nick Kyrgios or French champion Ugo Humberre in the third round, was pleased with their presentation on Wednesday, saying: “It was amazing frankly. I really like this stadium (Margaret Court Arena) and I have good stats. ” . I’m very happy to be back. “
He continued: “Today was good. It is my best game in Australia so far (in this edition).”
Team, which was crowned last summer at Flushing Meadows with its first major title following their historic return in the final to Germany’s Alexander Zverev (he lost the first two groups before returning from afar), runs the Australian championship under the supervision of his father. , Wolfgang, for the absence of his Chilean coach Nicholas Maso due to the Corona virus.
Wawrinka departure
The career of Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, the 2014 champion who won three major titles in his career, ended in the second round when he lost to Hungarian Marton Vucovic after a marathon match that lasted almost four hours 5-7 1-6 6-4 6- 2 6-7 (9-11).
Despite his experience and 35 years of age, Wawrinka did not benefit from the three points to settle the game in his favor in the tiebreak of the fifth group and lost the next five points, to dismiss the championship that was crowned in 2014 in the at the expense of Spaniard Rafael Nadal, and his effort to win his first major title since his coronation at Flushing Meadows in 2016.
“It sure was a tough match, five sets, four hours,” said the Swiss.
Wawrinka struggled in his preparations for the Australian championship after contracting the Coronavirus in December, and admitted: “This is not my best level, but I was fighting. I had some opportunities to fix the match, but I did not take them.” . I hesitated a bit when I got the decisive point and I lost it. “
Vucovic, the 29-year-old who reached the fourth round last year before going into the hands of Swiss legend Roger Federer, will face Canadian Milos Raonic in the next round, who in turn defeated the French 6-7. Corentin Mutet. (1-7), 6-1, 6- 1 and 6-4.
Argentine Diego Schwarzmann also qualified for the third round by beating French Alexander Muller 6-2 6-0 6-3 and Canadian Atheist Denis Shapovalov eleventh by beating Australian Bernard Tomic 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 .
Serena is relaxing
Among women, American veteran Serena Williams, the 39-year-old woman who was looking for the equivalent of the absolute record for the number of major titles and who signed up on behalf of Australian Margaret Kurt (24), did not find it. difficult to reach the third round by winning the tenth seed over Serbian Nina Stojanovic 6-3 6-0. Meanwhile, the career of her older sister Venus ended in a severe defeat to Italy’s Sarah Irani 1-6, 0-6.
Serena, whose last major title dates back to the Australian championship in particular in 2017 when she was crowned pregnant, before giving up four chances to equal Kurt’s number (she lost both the Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows finals in 2018 and 2019), was very happy with his performance, especially in the second group.
“I didn’t think much of the second group as I did the first. I think when I don’t think much, I feel more relaxed,” she said.
But the American veteran, whose career ended last year in the third round, emphasized the need not to relax too much, adding: “It’s really about finding the right balance for me.”
Kvitova and Andresco exit, Jaber qualifies
The seven-time Australian championship winner will face the Russian Anastasia Potapova, who in turn defeated the Hungarian Timia Babush 6-2, 6-4.
Venus Williams was not the only major victim on Wednesday, as Czech ninth Petra Kvitova, 2019 runner-up and Wimbledon champion during the years 2011 and 2014 in the second round, ended up losing to Romanian Sorana Kirstia 4-6, 6- 1 , 1-6.
The career of young Canadian Bianca Andreasco, eighth and 2019 Flushing Meadows champion, ended at the hands of Taiwanese Su-Wai Hsieh, losing 3-6 2-6.
The Spanish Garbini Muguruza, fourteenth and runner-up, qualified last year by defeating the Russian Lyudmila Samsonova 6-3 6-1, to face Roland Garros 2016 and Wimbledon champion 2017 in the next round, the Kazakh Zarina Dias.
Similar to her achievement last year, Tunisian Anas Jaber, in 27th place, reached the third round by beating Slovak Anna Karolina Schmidlova undisturbed 6-3 6-2.
The 26-year-old accomplished a feat last year as she continued her way to the quarterfinals, before being eliminated by American Sophia Kenin, who later won the title.
In the third round, Jaber will face the Japanese third Naomi Osaka or the French Caroline Garcia.
