Austrian Tennis star Dominic on Friday completed a dramatic comeback after losing the first two sets to beat Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in a five-set thriller in the men’s singles event at the ongoing Australian Open.
The third seed Thiem beat unseeded Kyrgios 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to progress to the fourth round of the year’s first Major where he faces Bulgarian 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
On the other hand, Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev continued the trend of upset as he surprised Argentine eighth seed Dennis Schwartzman in straight sets 3-6, 3-6, 3-6.
German sixth seed Alexander Zverev, though, cruised his way into the pre-quarters with a straight set win of 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 win over France’s Adrian Mannarino to keep the hunt for his first Grand Slam alive.
Serbian top seed Novak Djokovic also had to grind it out in five sets against American 27th seed Taylor Fritz to progress to the pre-quarter-finals. Djokovic won 7-6 (1), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 in a match that was halted for nearly 10 minutes as the Rod Laver Arena was cleared of spectators ahead of the start of a five-day Covid-19 lockdown in the state of Victoria.
Djokovic now faces Canadian 14th seed Milos Raonic in the fourth round.
In women’s singles, 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams beat unseeded Russian Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (5), 6-2 to progress to the fourth round where she faces Belarusian seventh seed Aryna Sabalenga.
Second seed Simona Halep beat Russian second seed Veronika Kudermetova. She faces French Open champion Iga Swiatek, whom she faces for the second consecutive time in the fourth round of a Grand Slam. Polish 15th seed Swiatek beat France’s Fiona Ferro 6-4, 6-3.
Japanese third seed Naomi Osaka beat Turkish 27th seed Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the pre-quarters where she will face Spain’s former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza.