Alex de Minaur will vie for his fourth straight Australian Open Round of 16 appearance courtesy of a win over Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.
Eighth seed de Minaur has barely been troubled so far this week, disposing of Botic van de Zandschulp and qualifier Tristan Boyer in straight sets and covering -8.5-game handicaps in both.
Cerundolo, the 31st seed, has matched his 2023 Australian Open performance by reaching the last 32.
The clay specialist carved out a strong win over Alexander Bublik (7-6 6-3 6-2) in the first round, before countryman Facundo Diaz Acosta (6-2 1-0 ret) pulled the pin early in Thursday’s clash.
Cerundolo has only made it to the fourth round of a slam twice previously – at the 2023-24 French Opens.
De Minaur has progressed to at least the Round of 16 in nine of his last 15 major appearances.
This should be de Minaur’s toughest assignment so far, but expect him to get the job done again without dropping a set.
Fourth seed Taylor Fritz is looking to stamp out veteran Gael Monfils’ remarkable revival in the Australian Open’s third round.
Their only previous meeting was back at the 2019 Australian Open, with Fritz taking out a lengthy four-setter.
Fritz has been ruthless so far, beating Jenson Brooksby and Cristian Garin for the loss of just eight games total.
Unsurprisingly, his booming serve was the bedrock of the two dominant wins – he dropped just 33 points on serve across the two matches.
Monfils won the Auckland Open to climb back No.41 in the ATP rankings.
The 38-year-old’s resurgence continued with a superb five-set win over 30th seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round in Melbourne and a straight-sets victory against Daniel Altmaier.
Monfils was an Australian Open quarter-finalist in 2016 and 2022. Fritz made the AO quarters for the first time last year before making a breakout run to the US Open final.
As good as he has played over the past fortnight, it’s hard to see Monfils having the answers frequently enough to combat Fritz’s service game.
World No.4 Jasmine Paolini confronts 28th seed Elina Svitolina for the first time in the third round of the Australian Open.
Paolini reached the fourth round here last year before getting to the French Open and Wimbledon finals.
A three-time slam semi-finalist, Svitolina was an AO quarter-finalist in 2018-19 and made the last 16 in 2021 and ’24.
After some mixed United Cup results, Paolini has hit the ground running in Melbourne with convincing wins over Sijia Wei (6-0 6-4) and Renata Zarazua (6-2 6-3), but Svitolina represents a sizeable step up in class of opponent.
The Ukrainian veteran had been sidelined since the US Open but has quickly found her groove, defeating Sorana Cirstea (6-4 6-4) and Caroline Dolehide (6-1 6-4).
There’s little between the pair in the head-to-head market or in their respective performance ceilings.
Svitolina’s counterpunching qualities – as well as a penchant for chalking up top-10 wins in big events – bode well for her chances here.
There will be a clear crowd favourite in this all-American showdown between 19th seed Madison Keys and 10th seed Danielle Collins in the Australian Open’s third round.
After outlasting Daria Snigur 7-6 6-3 in the first round, Collins riled the Melbourne crowd on Thursday night with her antics during and after a 7-6 4-6 6-2 battle against Aussie qualifier Destanee Aiava that lasted two and a half hours.
Keys has progressed via a similar path, defeating Ann Li 6-4 7-5 in the first round then holding off Elena-Gabriela Ruse 7-6 2-6 7-5 in a gruelling clash.
Keys has a 2-1 advantage against Collins, winning their most recent encounter in last year’s Internatiounaux de Strasbourg final.
Collins was the runner-up here in 2022 and surged back to prominence last season by winning the Miami Masters.
Keys’ sole grand slam final was back at the 2017 US Open, but she reached the AO semis in 2015 and 2022.
Whether Collins can harness the crowd hostility to her advantage remains to be seen, but she holds considerable appeal as a $3.25 underdog.
This one seems likely to go the distance.