Daniil Medvedev has overcome Nick Kyrgios and all his tricks and the constant noise of a boisterous crowd to advance to the third round of the Australian Open.
Second-seeded Medvedev, who won the U.S. Open last year and was runner-up in Australia, is the highest-ranked player in the tournament after nine-time champion Novak Djokovic was deported for failing to meet Australia’s strict COVID-19 vaccination requirements.
He had to work hard for his 7-6 (1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over No. 115-ranked Kyrgios, who worked up the fans in Rod Laver Arena like a crowd at a soccer match.
Andy Murray is out of the Australian Open two days after posting his first win at the season-opening tennis Grand Slam tournament in five years.
The former No. 1-ranked Murray lost to 120th-ranked Taro Daniel 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.
Murray only lost five games in a best-of-five-set Davis Cup encounter against Daniel in their only previous encounter, and he had never lost to anyone ranked above No. 91 at a major tournament.
But Daniel, a 28-year-old qualifier from Japan, broke in the ninth game of the third set to take a 5-4 lead and then served it out to advance to the third round of a major for the first time.
The 34-year-old Murray, a five-time runner-up in Australia, was playing on a wild-card entry.
His win over 21st-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round was his first at the Australian Open since 2017. Injuries and illness kept him out in 2018 (hip), 2020 (pelvis) and 2021 (COVID-19), and he lost a five-setter in the first round in 2019, which many thought might have been his last in Australia.
Fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas has advanced to the third round of the Australian Open with a 7-6 (1), 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 win over Sebastian Baez in a match featuring two former junior world No. 1 players.
French Open runner-up Tsitsipas was a semifinalist at the Australian Open last year and has now reached the third round at Melbourne Park for the fourth straight year.
Tsitsipas said the 21-year-old, No. 88-ranked Baez has “one of the biggest forehands” he’s faced and he was glad he “overcame that obstacle.”
He will next play either No. 26 Grigor Dimitrov or Benoit Paire.