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 of the men’s singles event of the ongoing Australian Open. While world number one Karolina Pliskova came on top of Laura Siegemund at the Rod Laver Arena.
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.
Pliskova 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.
Earlier on the day, Indian Tennis star Sania Mirza 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.
The 33-year-old had earlier pulled out of the mixed doubles event — where she was supposed to partner with compatriot Rohan Bopanna — following the same injury.
Former doubles number one Mirza and Kichenok won the Hobart International last week, which marked the Indian’s return to the court after a two-year break, including her maternity leave.
On Wednesday, Divij Sharan advanced into the second round of the doubles event with his New Zealand partner Artem Sitak. While Rohan Bopanna, partnering Yasutaka Uchiyama, lost the opening round match against Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.