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Australian Open 2021 Results: Winners, Scores from Friday's Singles Bracket
February 12, 2021
Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem were pushed to their limits on Friday at the Australian Open.
Thiem took on the more challenging task of the two Melbourne finalists from 2020, as he battled through a five-set match with Nick Kyrgios while fans were still allowed inside the grounds.
Djokovic's five-set match with Taylor Fritz was delayed at one point to vacate the fans from Rod Laver Arena. The Australian state of Victoria put in a five-day mandatory lockdown that started at midnight local time.
The top-seeded Serb battled through some injury issues and a hard fight from Fritz and took control in the final set to move into the fourth round.
The five-set wins by Djokovic and Thiem capped a bizarre day in the men's draw, which included an upset win by qualifier Aslan Karatsev over eighth-seeded Diego Schwartzman.
There were no surprises in the women's singles draw on Friday. Those results set up a trio of blockbuster matches involving previous Grand Slam champions in the fourth round.
Top Men's Results
No. 1 Novak Djokovic def. No. 27 Taylor Fritz, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2
No. 3 Dominic Thiem def. Nick Kyrgios, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 Alexander Zverev def. Adrian Mannarino, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1
Aslan Karatsev def. No. 8 Diego Schwartzman, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
No. 20 Felix Auger-Aliassime def. No. 11 Denis Shapovalov, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3
No. 14 Milos Raonic def. Marton Fuscovics, 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov def. No. 15 Pablo Carreno Busta, 6-0, 1-0 (retired)
No. 23 Dusan Lajovic def. Pedro Martinez 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 6-1, 6-4
Djokovic appeared to be in line for an easy win over Fritz, but the 27th-seeded American rallied back to win the third and fourth sets.
At the start of the third set, Djokovic appeared to injure himself when he slipped on the court. He did not take control again until the final set.
Djokovic overpowered Fritz in the final few games to kill any potential upset from the American. After he clinched the victory, the Serb let out a thunderous roar that reflected the fight he went through over five sets.
Fritz finished the match with more aces and winners than Djokovic, but the reigning champion earned a slight advantage in receiving points won and was victorious on four of his nine break-point opportunities.
Thiem found himself in a much different situation, as he went down two sets to Kyrgios. The Australian had a raucous crowd behind him and rode that emotion to the early advantage.
However, the third-seeded Austrian dug deep and battled back from the deficit to put away his toughest challenge yet in his quest to return to the Australian Open final.
Thiem was much better on his second serve, earning points on 72 percent of them in comparison to Kyrgios' 41 percent. Thiem held slight edges in winners, break points won and receiving points won.
Although it was a bit surprising to see Djokovic and Thiem pushed to five sets, no result was as shocking as Karatsev's straight-set sweep over Schwartzman.
Karatsev entered the tournament as a qualifier and defeated two unseeded opponents through three-set triumphs.
On Friday, he looked like the seeded player in his matchup, as he broke Schwartzman on five occasions and held a 50-5 advantage in winners.
Karatsev will face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round. Both men will be playing for their first Grand Slam quarterfinal berth.
Top Women's Results
No. 2 Simona Halep def. No. 32 Veronika Kudermetova, 6-1, 6-3
No. 3 Naomi Osaka def. No. 27 Ons Jabeur, 6-3, 6-2
No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka def. Ann Li, 6-3, 6-1
No. 10 Serena Williams def. Anastasia Potapova, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
No. 14 Garbine Muguruza def. Zarina Diyas, 6-1, 6-1
No. 15 Iga Swiatek def. Fiona Ferro, 6-4, 6-3
No. 19 Marketa Vondrousova def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-2, 6-4
Friday was a routine day for the seven seeded women that won third-round matches.
They all used straight-set victories to move into the fourth round and set up some matches worthy of Grand Slam finals.
Simona Halep and Iga Swiatek will square off in a rematch of the French Open round-of-16, in which Swiatek breezed past the Romanian on the way to her first Grand Slam title.
Garbine Muguruza and Naomi Osaka will face off in a battle of multiple Grand Slam champions. Neither player has lost a set in Melbourne.
Serena Williams does not have to face a Grand Slam winner, but she does have a tough test in the form of Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka has been a fixture in the top 15 of the women's rankings over the last year, but she has not made a deep run at a Grand Slam yet—her fourth-round appearance at the 2018 U.S. Open is her best yet.
Marketa Vondrousova earned what may be perceived as the easiest fourth-round draw in the bottom half of the bracket.
The No. 19 seed will take on unseeded Hsieh Su-Wei, who knocked out eighth-seeded Bianca Andreescu in the second round.
If the higher seeds win in the other third-round matches on Saturday, there will be six matches between seeded players in the fourth round of the women's draw.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from AusOpen.com.