Australian Open 2016 Schedule: Replay TV Coverage, Live Stream for Friday's Draw
The Hisense Arena crackled with energy on Friday at the 2016 Australian Open, as a raucous crowd cheered on young Australian Daria Gavrilova, who upset No. 28 Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her young career.
Gavrilova showed incredible grit and determination in her Day 5 victory, withstanding eight aces and 45 winners from her opponent while also putting Mladenovic in some difficult spots that resulted in a staggering 61 unforced errors.
BBC 5's David Law noted the 21-year-old was classy in victory, while at the same time Christopher Clarey of theย New York Timesย admired her expressive play:ย
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Gavrilova's win on Friday followed a straight-sets trouncing of No. 6 Petra Kvitova in the second round.
Replay Info For Friday's Draw (Day 5, Third Round)
Watch:ย ESPN (U.S. only)ย
Friday Replay Coverage:ย The Tennis Channel from 7 a.m. ET to 3 p.m. ET; ESPN2 from 3 p.m. ET to 6 p.m. ET
Full Schedule:ย AusOpen.com
Should Gavrilova make it past the fourth round and into the quarters, she might find No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska, who continued her brilliant play on Friday with an easy 6-4, 6-0 win over Monica Puig.
The Polish star, unbeaten in eight matches in 2016, played it cool in her post-match comments, per the Australian Open:
Radwanska will play unranked Anna-Lena Friedsam in the fourth round. Friedsam upset No. 13 Roberta Vinci on Day 5 to earn the matchup.
Both the men's and women's top seeds were in play and in form on Friday. Serena Williams cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Daria Kasatkina at Rod Laver Arena. Williams smacked six aces and won 23 of 24 first-serve points. The entire match took just 45 minutes.
It was a typically overpowering performance from the American superstar, who won here in 2015. She looks a fine bet to reach the final again this year.ย
The other top seed and defending champ, Novak Djokovic, also won in straight sets on Friday, though his match was marginally tougher. Djokovic defeated No. 28 Andreas Seppi 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (6) to book a spot in the fourth round. He displayed excellent calm under pressure in the contest, coming back from down 4-6 in the third-set tiebreaker to win it 8-6 and close out the match.ย
It should come as little surprise that No. 3 Roger Federer is still alive and kicking in the tournament, beating No. 27 Grigor Dimitrov in four sets. Per AusOpen.com's Vivienne Christie, Federer set a record by becoming the first player to win 300 matches at Grand Slam events.
"It's very exciting, I must tell you. Like when I reached 1000 last year, it was a big deal for me. Not something I ever aimed for or looked for, but when it happens, it's very special,โ said Federer, per Christie.
Even at the ripe age of 34, Federer hardly looks to have lost a step, still able to dominate the game's top players on his day.ย
In other notable results on Friday, No. 7 Kei Nishikori and No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga moved through to the fourth round, while No. 24 Roberto Bautista Agut upset No. 12 Marin Cilic in three tough sets, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 7-5. No. 29 Nick Kyrgios lost his third-round matchup to No. 6 Tomas Berdych in four sets. He did manage to provide some fresh antics before losing, per Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times:
Kyrgios, who had played very well in the first two rounds but was simply outclassed by Berdych, was downtrodden in the post match press conference, according to Sport360's Reem Abulleil:
No. 5 Maria Sharapova earned her 600th career win on Friday, sandwiching a shaky second set between two breezy ones to beat young American Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-0.
While the numbers show it was a pretty much the expected result for Sharapova, the match did provide the best rally of the tournament thus far, a 27-stroke epic that delighted Federer, per Deadspin:
The elegant Russian is always a threat to reach the final, but she hasn't yet shown the tricky guile of Radwanska or the dominance of Williams. Those two are head and shoulders above the rest as the tournament moves into the weekend and the latter stages of the draw.
All stats courtesy of AUSOpen.com unless otherwise noted.
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