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MEN'S DAY 5: Fritz sets up Monfils clash

cricket16 January 2025 18:27| © AFP
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Taylor Fritz © Getty Images

Fired-up Taylor Fritz scorched through to an Australian Open third-round clash against Gael Monfils with another emphatic win on Thursday, dropping just eight games in the tournament so far.

The American fourth seed was untouchable on Margaret Court Arena, swatting aside Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 in 82 minutes.

Fritz only gave up five games to blitz past Jenson Brooksby in the first round and has spent barely three hours on court.

The win set him up with a trickier clash against 38-year-old Frenchman Monfils, who belied his age with a tight three-set victory over Germany's Daniel Altmaier.

"Always feels great to come out and play a match like that," said Fritz, who is yet to drop serve in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title.

"I played well in my first round too so I'll be high on confidence going into the third round."

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Monfils will be awaiting him, with the veteran enjoying a late career resurgence, winning a title in Auckland ahead of the Australian Open.

"He's a great guy. Just won a title, super happy for him and he's played really well in his last two matches, so it's going to be tough," said Fritz.

After Fritz and Garin sized each other up in the early stages, the American made his move in a lengthy game four, converting from the baseline on his third break point to move 3-1 clear.

He then reeled off seven games in a row to take full control before Garin finally held serve.

But it was futile as Fritz wrapped up the second set in just 30 minutes, then broke Garin's opening serve in set three before romping home.

Fritz is looking to build on a memorable 2024.

He lost the title match at the ATP Finals in Turin in November to top-ranked Jannik Sinner.

That came only weeks after playing the US Open final against the Italian, his first visit to a Grand Slam decider.

He is bidding to become the first American man to make the final in Australia since Andre Agassi won the title in 2003.

FONSECA OUT

Teenage rising star Joao Fonseca was bundled out in the second round by wily Italian Lorenzo Sonego in a five-set thriller.

 

 

The highly rated Brazilian, 18, burst on the scene by stunning ninth seed Andrey Rublev in round one and looked on track for another upset when he won the first set in Melbourne.

But in a seesawing battle, the 55th-ranked Sonego clawed through 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 after 3hrs 37mins of high-quality tennis.

The loss ended a 15-match win streak for Fonseca, who was tipped for the top by Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic this week.

Sonego's reward in a clash against Hungary's Fabian Marozsan, who took down 17th seed Frances Tiafoe, also in five sets.

Little separated Fonseca and Sonego in a first set which went to a tiebreaker, where the Brazilian whipped up the crowd and got over the line.

But he was brought back to earth when a series of unforced errors handed Sonego a break for 2-1 in the second set.

The relentless Italian kept pounding away to earn another break for 5-3, with his big serve giving Fonseca little leverage.

The Brazilian's game began to lose its lustre and he was broken to love, missing a simple net volley, to fall 3-1 behind in the third set.

With his error count rising there seemed to be no way back.

But the teenager was not done and a Sonego double fault handed him a break for 2-0 in the fourth set, holding on to the send the match to a decider.

With the crowd firmly behind him, Fonseca had a break point at 3-3 but failed to covert.

It proved costly, with Sonego breaking in the next game and serving out for the match.

 

 

Fonseca last month became the second-youngest champion of the NextGen ATP tournament since current world No 1 Jannik Sinner claimed the title, also aged 18, five years ago.

He then won the ATP Challenger Tour title in Canberra before powering through Melbourne Park qualifying.

SINNER ADVANCES

World No 1 Jannik Sinner dropped a set for the first time in 14 matches before surging back to keep his  title defence on track.

The Italian top seed had no answers at the start against Australian wildcard Tristan Schoolkate, ranked 173, but found his groove to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 on centre court.

It was his 16th consecutive victory in an ominous sign for next opponent Marcos Giron in round three.

The American punched his ticket by beating Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who was the last person before Schoolkate to take a set off Sinner.

That was back in late September at the Shanghai Masters. Since then, Sinner had won 29 consecutive sets.

"It's always tough to play against a player I don't know very well. I felt like he was serving really well, playing much better in the beginning than I was," said Sinner.

"But I am still very happy with my performance. You can never take things for granted so very glad to be in the next round.

"It was a very tough match. I can improve, yes," he added.

 

 

The 23-year-old, who is defending a Grand Slam title for the first time after his five-set win against Daniil Medvedev in last year's final, was out-of-sorts initially.

Schoolkate belied his ranking, going toe-to-toe in the first set and stunning Sinner by breaking to love at 5-4 when the Italian slammed a forehand into the net.

Sinner's serve was not firing and he uncharacteristically committed eight unforced errors while hitting just six winners.

But he slowly started to get the measure of the Australian, who is on his Grand Slam debut, and broke to love with a forehand winner to take a decisive 4-3 lead in set two.

Schoolkate's resolve faded and a net winner from Sinner gave him an immediate break in the third set as he won four games in a row to take the match out of reach.

The fourth set was a formality with Sinner in the zone.

Sinner is favourite to lift the trophy again at Melbourne Park after a sensational 2024 saw him become the top-ranked player in men's tennis.

Along with the Australian Open title, he added the US Open and ATP Finals crowns, winning eight tournaments altogether.

AMERICAN QUALIFIER TIEN STUNS MEDVEDEV IN LATE-NIGHT EPIC

Inspired American teenager Learner Tien outlasted three-time Australian Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev to reach the third round with a 6-3 7-6(4) 6-7(8) 1-6 7-6(7) victory in a late-night epic on Thursday.

Qualifier Tien's hopes seemed to be fading after fifth seed Medvedev saved a match point with an ace in the third set tiebreak as the Russian stormed back from two sets down to set up a decider on Margaret Court Arena.

But the 19-year-old lefthander tapped into his last reserves of energy and came up with some dazzling tennis to deliver the biggest shock so far in Melbourne and become the youngest American man to reach the third round at the Australian Open since Pete Sampras did so aged 18 in 1990.

"I mean, I was definitely hoping it wasn't going to go to a fifth set breaker, Tien, who was born in California to Vietnamese parents, told the crowd who stayed for the climax of the four hour 49 minute contest that ended at nearly 3am.

"Either way, I was just really happy to get a win. I know I made a lot harder than maybe it could have been. But you know, whatever."

Tien had lost in the opening round in his first three Grand Slam appearances but marked his Australian Open debut by beating Camilo Ugo Carabelli in five sets to line up a clash with Medvedev.

Named after his teacher mother's profession, Tien had all the answers against one of the most wily players in the sport as he schooled Medvedev for most of the opening three sets.

He reeled off five successive games to take the opening set from 3-1 down and showed incredible tactical awareness and clinical precision as he kept a rather passive Medvedev at full stretch during a second set littered with service breaks.

SUFFERING PHYSICALLY

Tien failed to close out the set when serving at 6-5 but snatched the tiebreak with an ice-cool forehand winner.

Any question that he might start flagging against one of the sport's most durable competitors were answered in the third set as he recovered from dropping serve to move into another tiebreak in which he saved a set point before having a match point, only for Medvedev to crack down ace.

It looked like a pivotal moment as Medvedev took the third set and sped through the fourth with Tien finally appearing to be suffering physically.

Medvedev looked clear favourite in the decider but world number 121 Tien courageously stayed with the Russian in a series of gruelling rallies that grew ever more intense.

After a brief rain delay at 5-5, former US Open champion Medvedev served for the match at 6-5 but Tien refused to go away and broke back to send the contest into a first-to-10 breaker.

Again it looked as though Medvedev would survive to fight another day as he moved 6-4 ahead but the fearless Tien won six of the last seven points, clinching a memorable victory on his first match point as a weary Medvedev floated a return long.

Asked whether he had deliberately handed up the fourth set to save energy, Tien offered an unusual explanation.

"Honestly, in the fourth set, I just had to pee so bad," he said. "I was just trying to finish it up fairly quick, but I also wanted to start serving in the fifth so I scrapped out that game at 0-5, and it all worked out well."

Tien is the youngest American to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since Donald Young at the 2007 US Open and his adventure will continue for at least another round against Frenchman Corentin Moutet on Saturday.

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