Canada’s Auger-Aliassime eliminated from Australian Open
Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime was ousted from the Australian Open on Saturday, taking a straight-sets loss to Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena.
Medvedev defeated the Montreal native lost 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in 2 1/2 hours before midnight local time.
It was just the latest late finish for the Russian, after his second-round match finished close to 4 a.m. Friday.
Medvedev will next play Nuno Borges, who upset No. 13 Grigor Dimitrov 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (6).
“At least I have this super ability — I can sleep where I want whenever I want,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview.
The previous time he played Auger-Aliassime in Australia, he had to save two match points before clinching an exhausting quarterfinal in five sets. Medvedev lost the final that year to Rafael Nadal, a year after losing the 2021 decider to Novak Djokovic.
With nine of the top 10 still in contention here after three rounds, he’ll have to be tactically astute to make it back to the final. He says he’s back on track to add another major trophy to the one he captured at the U.S. Open in 2021.
“I want to … try to go again to the final, try to have my chance of winning another Grand Slam,” Medvedev said. “I had another final finally in U.S. Open. Just want to show good tennis, beat good guys, and hopefully get one more title.”
The men’s draw is stacked, with No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 3 Medvedev and No. 6 Alexander Zverev all having straight-set wins Saturday to reach the fourth round.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, No. 4 Jannik Sinner and No. 5 Andrey Rublev already reached the last 16 on the top half of the draw.
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime eliminated in 3rd round:
Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime was defeated by Daniil Medvedev in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in the third round of the Australian Open Saturday.
Auger-Aliassime’s loss means that there are no Canadians left in the singles draws at Melbourne Park.
All eyes are now on Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of Montreal, who did not have to play their women’s doubles match on Saturday.
The Canadian duo, who are the reigning U.S. Open champions and seeded fourth in Melbourne, advanced to the third round after the Russian pair of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Veronika Kudermetova withdrew from the competition.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face off against China’s Hanyu Guo and Xinyu Jiang on Sunday.
In mixed doubles, Dabrowski and her American partner Nathaniel Lammons will take on Australia’s Jamie Murray and Russia’s Yana Sizikova in a second-round match on Sunday.
Swiatek bounced by teenager
Already down a set and facing a break point against Iga Swiatek, No. 50-ranked Linda Noskova decided she had nothing to lose.
She won 11 of the next 12 points to take the second set and swing momentum in their third-round match Saturday, ultimately becoming the first teenager to beat a No. 1-ranked woman at the Australian Open since 1999.
With a big serve and equally big groundstrokes, she unsettled Swiatek and held her cool, even under pressure in the last game to serve it out, for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory that means there’s no top 10 players in the top half of the draw.
“I’m just really kind of exhausted mentally and physically,” Noskova said in her post-match news conference following the upset. “I just believed my game tonight. I just really wanted this.”
Swiatek is a four-time major winner but has never been past the semifinals at Melbourne Park. Even so, she was on an 18-match winning streak and expected to account for the 19-year-old Noskova, who is making her main draw debut at the tournament.
Swiatek beat 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the first round and had to rally from 4-1 down in the third to overcome 2022 finalist Danielle Collins in the second.
Swiatek said the tough opening matches didn’t hurt her.
“Physically I felt, honestly, I didn’t feel anything. So pretty good,” she said. “Mentally, as well, I felt like actually I came back in my match against Danielle, and I could kind of start over and not expect a lot, just try to play my game.
But after taking the first set against Noskova, she struggled for rhythm. The decisive break was in the seventh game of the third set, with two forehand errors costing Swiatek the game.
Two games later, she held at love and forced her rival serve it out, then jumped to 0-30 lead in the 10th game.
But Noskova won the the next four points to finish it off quickly, including an ace to set up match point. She’ll next play Wimbledon semifinalist Elina Svitolina.
Swiatek’s loss leaves No. 12 Zheng Qinwen as the highest-ranked player and two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka as the only past major winner in the top half of the draw.
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, seeded second, U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff, seeded fourth, and No. 9 Barbora Krejcikova are all on the opposite half.
Anna Kalinskaya beat 2017 U.S. Open winner Sloane Stephens 6-7 (8), 6-1, 6-4 to set up a meeting with Jasmine Paolini. The 26th seeded Paolini advanced 7-6 (1), 6-4 over Anna Blinkova, who was coming off a big upset win over 2023 finalist Elena Rybakina in the longest tiebreaker in women’s Grand Slam history.
