{"id":421070,"date":"2026-01-20T08:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T08:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/421070\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T08:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T08:55:08","slug":"what-to-watch-on-day-4-of-the-australian-open-tennis-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/421070\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Watch on Day 4 of the Australian Open \u2013 Tennis Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Second round action kicks off on Day 4 \u2013 here\u2019s what we\u2019ll be keeping tabs on.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tennisnow.com\/australian-open-day-4-schedule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">SEE THE FULL DAY 4 ORDER OF PLAY HERE <\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-lazyloaded=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"610\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Pro-Player-Gear-610X150-03.jpg\" alt=\"tennis express pro player gear\" class=\"wp-image-54451\" style=\"width:659px;height:auto\"  data-\/>tennis express pro player gearNo.1s on Rod Laver<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s time for the top seeds to take center stage on Rod Laver Arena, as four-time major champion Aryna Sabalenka kicks off the day with a first-round match with Chinese qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan. Up next, six-time Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz faces Germany\u2019s Yannick Hanfmann.<\/p>\n<p>Jovic in the Spotlight<\/p>\n<p>What an opportunity for 18-year-old Iva Jovic. The Torrance, California native will get a shot to play on Rod Laver Arena for the first time when she takes on Aussie Priscilla Hon in the second match of the night session. <\/p>\n<p>27th-ranked Jovic is 8-2 on the season, with a semifinal in Auckland and a final in Hobart. She defeated Katie Volynets 6-2 6-3 in the first round for her second Australian Open main draw win.<\/p>\n<p>Medvedev Heating Up<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s a three-time Australian Open finalist and he\u2019s looking like a contender for a deep run once again. Daniil Medvedev has put his difficult 2025 behind him and looks to be charting a path back to the Top 5, having won two titles in three months. The former world No.1 will face France\u2019s Quentin Halys on John Cain Arena.<\/p>\n<p>If you are looking further into the draw, Medvedev\u2019s draw is shaping up nicely. A potential fourth-round matchup with Learner Tien lurks, and if he finds himself in the quarterfinals, and the seeds hold, he would face Alexander Zverev for a spot in the semis.<\/p>\n<p>Teenagers Rising<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Jovic, two other teenagers will be favored as they bid for the third round: No.8-seeded Mirra Andreeva (18) faces Maria Sakkari in the third match on Margaret Court Arena, while 17th-seeded Victoria Mboko (19) takes on American Caty McNally on 1573 Arena (second up).<\/p>\n<p>18-year-old Tereza Valentova will contest her second round match on Day 5 against Linda Fruhvirtova, which means that four teenagers could potentially make the third round in Melbourne. (19-year-old Nikola Bartunkova will play her first round match on Day 3 against Daria Kasatkina, while three other teenagers \u2014 Emerson Jones, Maya Joint and Sara Bejlek \u2014 have already been eliminated.<\/p>\n<p>Jovic and Mboko are good friends and are actually playing doubles together in Melbourne. They got through their first-round match on Day 3.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">MBOKO &amp; JOVIC MOVING ON! \ud83d\udcaa<\/p>\n<p>The 18 &amp; 19-year-old American\u2013Canadian duo \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Iva Jovic &amp; \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6Victoria Mboko are into the 2nd round of Women\u2019s Doubles at the Australian Open after a 7-5, 6-3 win over \ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf4Eikeri &amp; \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddeaNeel.<\/p>\n<p>A potential RD2 showdown with #4 seed Mertens\/Zhang next. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AusOpen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#AusOpen<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kc477wzAwi\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/kc477wzAwi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jacob Pacheco (@JacobPacheco6) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JacobPacheco6\/status\/2013477164696420671?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 20, 2026<\/a> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Second round action kicks off on Day 4 \u2013 here\u2019s what we\u2019ll be keeping tabs on. SEE THE&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-421070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}