LIVE: The last two local hopes in the Australian Open singles – Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin – are back in action on Saturday as they eye a place in the fourth round.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray is back in action just 18 hours after he left Melbourne Park after his 5h 45m epic over Thanasi Kokkinakis.
And fourth seed Novak Djokovic continues his charge on another busy day at the Open!
Follow Day 6 of the Australian Open in our live blog below, and scroll to the bottom of the article for the latest updates and a full Order of Play!
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Popyrin topples 8th seed in huge upset | 01:44
‘WORST ATHLETE IN THE FAMILY’
He’s won the Australian Open as a junior, and on Friday night stunned former world number one Daniil Medvedev – but Sebastian Korda says he’s still the worst athlete in his family.
22-year-old Korda’s father Petr won the Australian Open in 1998, but he was far from alone in enjoying success down under.
Seb said: “I love playing in Australia, my family loves playing in Australia. We’ve got a lot of awesome moments here, super awesome!
“Even better though, my sisters won the Australian Open in women’s golf! Both of them, one here in Royal Melbourne and the other one in Royal Adelaide.”
On-court interviewer John Fitzgerald joked that meant Sebastian was underachieving.
“I don’t know what I’m going to be ranked,” Korda replied, “But my mum’s career high was 24 [in tennis], my dad was two, Nelly my sister was number one [golf], my older sister Jessica was number six [golf].
“I’m definitely the worst athlete in the family so far!”
In his press conference afterwards, he joked about his family’s love of Australia: “We should get residency or something, we should get a house.”
Remarkably, Nelly is currently competing in the opening LPGA event of the season – thge Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
She was one shot off the lead after an opening round 4-under 68, but said she wouldn’t be watching her brother’s big match with Medvedev.
“Yeah, I’m not going to be watching,” Nelly Korda said.
“Hopefully it’s not still going by the time I’m up. Hopefully he’s won already. But yeah, I’m sure my parents are going to watch. They’ll be a little sleep deprived tomorrow walking 18.”
If their children keep succeeding in their respective sports, Petr and Regina will likely have to skip more sleep just to keep up.
AUSSIES HUNT FOURTH ROUND
De Minaur last year reached the fourth round – his best-ever result on home soil – but the world number 24 has a massive opportunity to repeat the feat when he faces No. 48 Benjamin Bonzi.
Bonzi is already in uncharted waters, with the Frenchman into the third round of a slam for the first time in his career – while De Minaur has never lost at the Open to an unseeded player.
23-year-old wildcard Popyrin might seem a slimmer chance than his countryman to reach the fourth round. After all, he is the lowest-ranked player alive in the draw. But there’s plenty of cause for optimism.
The world no. 113 faces American Ben Shelton, a 20-year-old who has risen nearly 500 places to world no. 89 in the last 12 months. In fact, the son of former star Bryan Shelton had never left US soil until his trip down under this month! Shelton’s only previous grand slam appearance – at the US Open in 2022 – saw him dumped out of the first round in his maiden five-set match, giving up a two sets to one lead.
Popyrin, by contrast, is a battle-hardened professional in his sixth Australian Open main draw appearance, and is into the third round of a grand slam for the fifth time in his career. The Australian needed lengthy two five-set battles to book his place in the third round, but is a proven warrior when it comes to going the distance.
And on John Cain Arena – the place he has made his home this tournament – the Australian will fancy his chances of another upset victory and his greatest-ever slam run.
UNSEEDED SEMI-FINALIST? Upsets blew the AO wide open. Now an Aussie can set an all-time record
MINI GOLF BEHIND USA DOMINANCE
First it was a bizarre NSFW drawing. Now one USA star has revealed the latest secret weapon in the American takeover of the Australian Open: mini golf.
Team USA crushed all comers in the United Cup to start the year, with their men’s and women’s players showing a remarkable camaraderie and togetherness on and off the court.
The Americans carried that hot form into the Australian Open, where a whopping 24 Americans reached the second round. By the third round, eight of the final 32 men all hailed from the states – their best return since 1996.
The exciting new crop of American players have spoken at length about inspiring each other to greater heights, though there’s been a healthy dose of friendly banter between the rising stars.
Seventh seed Coco Gauff, still just 18 years old, surged into the fourth round with a straight-sets demolition on Friday.
In her press conference, she opened up about the exciting new era of American tennis.
Gauff said: “I definitely think on the men’s side they’re, like, thriving really. It’s like eight people in the round of 32 I saw. I think it’s incredible.
“I think on the women’s side, we’re always like the guys need to catch up, you guys need to put in your work. I think they’re here. I’m hoping that, you know, eventually, hopefully soon, we’ll have our slam champion on the men’s side (for the first time since Andy Roddick in 2003).
“That would be pretty cool if an American woman and guy could win the same slam. I don’t know when the last time that’s happened or if it’s ever happened. I’ll be pretty excited.”
Gauff opened up on the close relationship between the American women’s and men’s competitors, saying: “It feels great, honestly. I always look forward to the joint events. When they’re playing, I look at the draw and I’m happy they’re in the draw. We went mini golfing the other night. It’s something I want to do more at more tournaments especially.
“I mean, I’m going to be around these people hopefully for a long time, so I think that we all just push each other and root for each other. Yeah, I appreciate it.”
But she joked that it’s not always niceness between the players, saying she’s more used to roasting her friends.
“I don’t know, hopefully they like — most of the time I’m roasting them online, so I don’t know if they like it or not. It’s quite opposite. They always post nice things about me, and I’m like always roasting them. It’s okay. I think they like it. I definitely appreciate it. It makes things more fun and I’m grateful that they’re doing well on tour and that we can push each other to be better.”
‘We’re not allowed to take a piss!’ | 00:38
MURRAY’S BRUTAL TURNAROUND… BUT BRIT BACKS HIM
Andy Murray, 35 years young, seems more like a tennis robot than a human at times. And we’re talking about his incredible play, not his metal hip! After 10 sets and well over 10 hours on court, the Scot is back in the Aus Open third round for the first time since 2017, but the big question is whether he has any chance of recovering from his late-night exertions against Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Murray wrapped up that match at 4.05am on Friday morning after 5h 45m on court, and only left Melbourne Park around 7am. 18 hours later, he’ll be back on Margaret Court Arena against Spain’s No. 24 Roberto Bautista Agut.
But is another five-set epic on the books? The Spaniard came through the second round in a five-set clash of his own, fighting back from two sets down against American qualifier Brandon Holt.
Andy Murray has now played a whopping 250 grand slam matches, the seventh-most among men in the Open era. He’s won 198 of those matches – 79.2 per cent. Winning his 199th will take something special – but we’ve seen plenty of that already this week.
Fellow Brit Cameron Norrie said Friday: “Andy was finishing at a ridiculous hour. It can be brutal for him. It’s going to be a tough turnaround for him. He looks ready, and he is moving well. If anyone can do it, he can keep going.”
AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 6 – ORDER OF PLAY (All times AEDT)
Day session from 11am — singles matches only.
Rod Laver Arena
Varvara Gracheva vs. [30] Karolina Pliskova (CZE)
Camila Giorgi (ITA) vs. [12] Belinda Bencic (SUI)
Not before 2:30pm
Benjamin Bonzi (FRA) vs. [22] Alex de Minaur (AUS)
Night session from 7pm
[27] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) vs [4] Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Magda Linette (POL) vs [19] Ekaterina Alexandrova
Show Court 1
Nuria Parrizas Diaz (ESP) vs Donna Vekic (CRO)
[5] Andrey Rublev vs [25] Daniel Evans (GBR)
[5] Aryna Sabalenka vs [26] Elise Mertens (BEL)
Night session from 7pm
Andy Murray (GBR) vs [24] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP)
John Cain Arena
Not before 1pm
Ugo Humbert (FRA) vs [9] Holger Rune (DEN)
Night session from 7pm
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) vs Ben Shelton (USA)
KIA Arena
Not before 2.30pm
J.J Wolf (USA) vs Michael Mmoh (USA)
Night session from 7pm
Laura Siegemund (GER) vs [4] Caroline Garcia (FRA)
1573 ARENA
Not before 1pm
[23] Shuai Zhang (CHN) vs Katie Volynets (USA)
Linda Fruhvirtova (CZE) vs Marketa Vondrousova (CZE)
COURT 3
Not before 2.30pm
Tommy Paul (USA) vs Jenson Brooksby (USA)
Follow the Australian Open in the live blog below!
