PA Media/DPA
Melbourne
Defending champion Jannik Sinner lost his first set since October but recovered to beat Tristan Schoolkate and reach the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday.
Sinner has been untouchable in recent months and headed into this contest on a 15-match winning streak in which the only set he had lost was to Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the second round of the Shanghai Masters on October 6.
Defeat by Schoolkate, a 23-year-old wild card ranked 173, was therefore unthinkable, and Sinner ultimately pulled away to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.
American teenage qualifier Learner Tien pulled off one of the results of the tournament so far with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (8-10), 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) win over fifth seed Daniil Medvedev. The match went almost five hours.
Another US hope Taylor Fritz raced through to round three with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 thumping of Chile’s Cristian Garin and then announced that he will give around $81,000 to relief efforts.
“I just want everyone to stay safe, it’s just insane what happened,” said Fritz, who used to live in Los Angeles and has family and friends affected.
“I wanted to say something after my first-round match but I’m going to be donating my first-round prize money to LA wildfire relief funds.
“It’s really the least I could do. Southern California’s my home and LA was my home for a very long time so I’m just doing what I can do to help. “ Fritz reached his first grand slam final at the US Open last summer and he has been ruthless so far in Melbourne, losing just eight games in six sets.
He next faces 38-year-old Gael Monfils, who continued his excellent start to the season with a 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Daniel Altmaier.
Home favourite Alex De Minaur has been untroubled so far and he eased to a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 win over American Tristan Boyer, whose home town has been badly affected by the wildfires, while Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic knocked out 18th seed Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets.
It was the end of the road for 18-year-old Joao Fonseca, who, after upsetting Andrey Rublev in round one, lost in five sets to Lorenzo Sonego. Sonego’s fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini, meanwhile, lost a tight four-setter to Holger Rune.
In the women’s draw, second seed Iga Swiatek thumped Rebecca Sramkova 6-0, 6-2 in exactly an hour to set up a meeting with Emma Raducanu and sixth seed Elena Rybakina dismissed another teenager after her first-round win over Australian wild card Emerson Jones, beating 17-year-old Iva Jovic 6-0 6-3.
Eighth seed Emma Navarro survived another battle, eventually seeing off Xiyu Wang 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, while there were more encouraging signs from Ons Jabeur in a 7-5, 6-3 win over Camila Osorio despite the Tunisian struggling with asthma.
Jabeur is unseeded after a difficult season last year with form and fitness. “I’m not 100% satisfied with the level that I want to be in, the level that will allow me to maybe go back to top 10 or allow me to compete with players like Coco (Guaff), Iga, Aryna (Sabalenka), Rybakina,” she said.
“But it’s getting there. I don’t want to be greedy just after coming back from an injury.” Jasmine Paolini also progressed while 10th seed Danielle Collins taunted the Australian crowd after battling to a 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-2 win over local qualifier Destanee Aiava.
