MELBOURNE, Jan 23 – Highlights of the sixth day at the Australian Open on Friday (times GMT):<\/p>\n
0640 GAUFF OVERCOMES EARLY HICCUP TO ADVANCE TO LAST 16<\/p>\n
Third seed Coco Gauff beat fellow American Hailey Baptiste 3-6 6-0 6-3 to set up a fourth-round tie with Czech 19th seed Karolina Muchova, who needed just over an hour to beat Magda Linette 6-1 6-1.<\/p>\n
READ MORE<\/p>\n
Alcaraz turns showman in Moutet mauling at Australian Open\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sabalenka passes Potapova test to reach Australian Open fourth round<\/p>\n
Medvedev fights back from two sets down to beat Marozsan<\/p>\n
Teen sensation Mboko sparkles in Melbourne to book Sabalenka matchup<\/p>\n
Putintseva embraces role as villain as Turkish fans boo her at Australian Open<\/p>\n
Sabalenka hopes to be ‘grandma’ of the women’s tour<\/p>\n
De Minaur prepared for ‘absolute battle’ with Tiafoe at Australian Open<\/p>\n
Djokovic rolls back years, Sinner supreme, Keys books third round berth<\/p>\n
Supreme Sinner overpowers home hope Duckworth<\/p>\n
Defending champion Keys survives mid-set wobble to advance<\/p>\n
Maestro Djokovic mows down qualifier Maestrelli in Melbourne<\/p>\n
Swiatek sees off Bouzkova to reach Australian Open third round<\/p>\n
Osaka tones down outfit and beats Cirstea to reach Australian Open third round<\/p>\n
Veteran Wawrinka outlasts Gea to extend Australian Open stay<\/p>\n
Vacherot shows Shanghai success was no fluke by shining in Melbourne<\/p>\n
Alcaraz, Sabalenka pass Australian Open tests to reach third round<\/p>\n
0525 PUTINTSEVA OVERCOMES SONMEZ AND HOSTILE TURKISH FANS<\/p>\n
Yulia Putintseva beat Zeynep Sonmez 6-3 6-7(3) 6-3 in a match where she not only had to contend with the plucky Turkish qualifier but also the Turkish fans packed into the Kia Arena, who booed her even after her victory.<\/p>\n
“Honestly, it was a really crazy atmosphere here. The guys (Turkish fans), look at them. They’re very passionate about what they’re doing,” the Kazakh player said after cupping her ear and blowing kisses to the fans who had given her a hard time.<\/p>\n
“It’s very great to see, especially against me, because I love this kind of battle.”<\/p>\n
0520 ALCARAZ BEATS MOUTET IN ENTERTAINING ENCOUNTER<\/p>\n
Carlos Alcaraz beat Corentin Moutet 6-2 6-4 6-1 in an entertaining match where the Frenchman made 17 drop shots to give the top seed a good workout.<\/p>\n
The match was also Alcaraz’s 100th in a Grand Slam as he tied Bjorn Borg for the best win-loss record (87-13) on joining the century club.<\/p>\n
0425 MEDVEDEV SCRIPTS EPIC COMEBACK IN FIVE-SETTER<\/p>\n
Daniil Medvedev fought back from two sets down to beat Fabian Marozsan 6-7(5) 4-6 7-5 6-0 6-3 in a match that lasted three hours and 43 minutes to reach the last-16.<\/p>\n
Medvedev will next face American Learner Tien, who knocked him out in the second round last year and has a 2-1 record against the Russian.<\/p>\n
0358 DAVIDOVICH FOKINA RETIRES, PAUL THROUGH<\/p>\n
American 19th seed Tommy Paul advanced to the last 16 after Alejandro Davidovich Fokina retired while trailing 6-1 6-1 with what seemed like a thigh injury.<\/p>\n
The 14th seeded Spaniard had taken a medical timeout in the second set and also went off court for treatment.<\/p>\n
0250 TIEBREAK QUEEN SABALENKA ADVANCES<\/p>\n
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka beat Austria’s Anastasia Potapova 7-6(4) 7-6(7) to move into the fourth round. Sabalenka has won her last 19 Grand Slam tiebreaks, the longest such winning streak in the Open Era. <\/p>\n
0235 TEEN MBOKO BEATS TAUSON<\/p>\n
Canadian 19-year-old Victoria Mboko earned a 7-6(5) 5-7 6-3 win over Danish 14th seed Clara Tauson to reach the fourth round on her Australian Open debut.<\/p>\n
She is the first Canadian to reach the last 16 since Eugenie Bouchard in 2015.<\/p>\n
0225 FAST LEARNER THROUGH TO LAST 16<\/p>\n
American Learner Tien beat Portugal’s Nuno Borges 7-6(9) 6-4 6-2 to advance to the fourth round. After a tense tiebreak, where the 25th seed saved set points, he breezed through the next two sets in a little over an hour to advance.<\/p>\n
0013 PLAY UNDERWAY\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The main showcourts at Melbourne Park are in full swing on Friday, with men’s world number one Carlos Alcaraz set to continue his campaign for a career Grand Slam as he faces Frenchman Corentin Moutet on Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n
Two-time champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus meets Russia’s Anastasia Potapova earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
The Margaret Court Arena hosts an all-American showdown as world number three Coco Gauff faces compatriot Hailey Baptiste.<\/p>\n
Other featured matches include Australia’s Alex de Minaur taking on American Frances Tiafoe and a politically charged encounter between Russia’s Diana Shnaider and Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina across the courts under clear blue skies.<\/p>\n
ORDER OF PLAY ON FRIDAY (prefix number denotes seeding):<\/p>\n
Rod Laver Arena<\/p>\n
Day session (0030 GMT\/1130 AEDT)<\/p>\n
1-Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) v Anastasia Potapova (Austria)<\/p>\n
1-Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) v 32-Corentin Moutet (France)<\/p>\n
Night session (0800 GMT\/1900 AEDT)<\/p>\n
29-Frances Tiafoe (U.S.) v 6-Alex de Minaur (Australia)<\/p>\n
Elena-Gabriela Ruse (Romania) v 8-Mirra Andreeva (Russia)<\/p>\n
Margaret Court Arena<\/p>\n
Day session (0030 GMT\/1130 AEDT)<\/p>\n
11-Daniil Medvedev (Russia) v Fabian Marozsan (Hungary)<\/p>\n
3-Coco Gauff (U.S.) v Hailey Baptiste (U.S.)<\/p>\n
Night session (0800 GMT\/1900 AEDT)<\/p>\n
12-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) v 23-Diana Shnaider (Russia)<\/p>\n
10-Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan) v Tomas Martin Etcheverry (Argentina)<\/p>\n
John Cain Arena<\/p>\n
Day session (0000 GMT\/1100 AEDT)<\/p>\n
17-Victoria Mboko (Canada) v 14-Clara Tauson (Denmark)<\/p>\n
19-Tommy Paul (U.S.) v 14-Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Spain)<\/p>\n
Night session (0600 GMT\/1700 AEDT)<\/p>\n
29-Iva Jovic (U.S.) v 7-Jasmine Paolini (Italy)<\/p>\n
3-Alexander Zverev (Germany) v 26-Cam Norrie (Britain) REUTERS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Jan 23 – Highlights of the sixth day at the Australian Open on Friday (times GMT): 0640…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-431914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}