Dominic Thiem, who is among the few NextGen players touted to win a Grand Slam this year, won 6-2, 5-7, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2 in 2nd round of Australian Open.
Alexander Zverev file image. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP)
World number five Dominic Thiem came on top of a five-set scare, while number seven Alexander Zverev won on straight sets to enter the third round of the men’s singles event of the Australian Open 2020 in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Thiem, who is among the few NextGen players touted to win a Grand Slam this year, was challenged on every aspect before he eventually won 6-2, 5-7, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2 against Australian Alex Bolt. The 26-year-old looked fragile at times as the crowd got behind the local lad in the three-hour-22-minute encounter at the Melbourne Arena.
Zverev, on the other hand, eased past 7-6, 6-4, 6-5 against 98th ranked Egor Gerasimov. The German star, who had a poor outing in the recently-concluded ATP Cup, has been practicing seven hours a day. And his efforts are paying off in a nice manner given the way he has been progressing in the Australian Open so far.
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Earlier on the day, Daniil Medvedev of Russia, who suffered a nose bleed and needed a medical time-out, defeated qualifier Pedro Martinez at the Margaret Court Arena to enter the third round.
The world number four beat his Spanish opponent 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 in the match which lasted for about two hours and 10 minutes and during which the roof the Margaret Court Arena had to be closed. Medvedev will now face Alexei Popyrin on Sunday.
The world number one Karolina Pliskova came on top of Laura Siegemund at the Rod Laver Arena. She eased past Siegemund 6-3, 6-3 to qualify for the next round. Pliskova, who had defeated 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams to appear in her first semifinal in Melbourne in 2019, overcame a slow start in the 86-minute match.
Indian Tennis star Sania Mirza, on the other hand, suffered a shock exit from the women’s doubles events after retiring with a calf injury. Mirza, with her Ukraine opponent Nadiia Kichenok, was trailing 0-1 in the second set. They were already one set down against the Chinese duo of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu.
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