Melbourne: Austrian third seed Dominic Thiem completed a dramatic comeback from two sets down to beat Australian star Nick Kyrgios in a five-set thriller on Friday at the Australian Open.Thiem beat unseeded Kyrgios 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to progress to the fourth round where he faces Bulgarian 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev upset Argentine eighth seed Dennis Schwartzman 3-6, 3-6, 3-6 while German sixth seed Alexander Zverev eased into the pre-quarters with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 win over France’s Adrian Mannarino.
Serbian top seed Novak Djokovic also had to grind it out in five sets against American 27th seed Taylor Fritz to progress to the pre-quarter-finals. Djokovic won 7-6 (1), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 in a match that was halted for nearly 10 minutes as the Rod Laver Arena was cleared of spectators ahead of the start of a five-day Covid-19 lockdown in the state of Victoria.
Djokovic now faces Canadian 14th seed Milos Raonic in the fourth round.
In women’s singles, 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams beat unseeded Russian Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (5), 6-2 to progress to the fourth round where she faces Belarusian seventh seed Aryna Sabalenga.
Second seed Simona Halep beat Russian second seed Veronika Kudermetova. She faces French Open champion Iga Swiatek, whom she faces for the second consecutive time in the fourth round of a Grand Slam. Polish 15th seed Swiatek beat France’s Fiona Ferro 6-4, 6-3.
Japanese third seed Naomi Osaka beat Turkish 27th seed Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the pre-quarters where she will face Spain’s former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza.