Rublev bids farewell to Australian Open; Fritz, Medvedev advance

Andrey Rublev joined the list of Australian Open disappointments. After the eliminations of Grigor Dimitrov, Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round, this Tuesday the Russian tennis player - number 9 in the ATP ranking - said goodbye to the first Grand Slam of the year after falling against the young Brazilian Joao Fonseca - number 112 - in three sets (7-6, 6-3 and 7-6).

At just 18 years old, Fonseca made his Grand Slam debut in spectacular fashion. Despite two of the three sets going to a tiebreak, the Brazilian outclassed his opponent, displaying a level of maturity far beyond his years, especially considering he was facing one of the world’s top tennis players.

The day did not leave only bad news for Russian sport. Daniil Medvedev -number 5- managed to advance to the next round, although he had to work hard against Kasidit Samrej -number 418-.

The duel between the two went to the fifth set (6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2). Samrej was ahead on the scoreboard, but Medvedev employed his veteran experience to end up with the victory.

Another potential favorite to win the Australian Open is Taylor Fritz. The American - number 4 - dominated his compatriot Jenson Brooksby in three sets (6-2, 6-0 and 6-3), giving up only five games.

The Australian Alex de Minaur -number 8-, Norwegian Holger Rune -number 13-, Italian Lorenzo Musetti -number 15-, Polish Hubert Hurkacz -number 18-, Russian Karen Khachanov -number 19- and American Ben Shelton -number 21- also managed to beat their rivals and reach the next round.

Paolini, Rybakina and Navarro advance in Australian Open

After the triumphs of the top three in the WTA rankings -Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff-, on Tuesday other candidates to win the Australian Open like Jasmine Paolini -number 4-, Elena Rybakina -number 7- and Emma Navarro -number 8- did not give any option to their rivals and advanced.

The Italian tennis player -finalist at Roland Garros and Wimbledon last season- saw off China's Sijia Wei -number 117- in two sets (6-0 and 6-4). For her part, the Kazakh -champion at Wimbledon in 2022-, got rid of the young Australian Emerson Jones -number 293- in a resounding way (6-1 and 6-1).

Navarro had more trouble against her compatriot Peyton Stearns -number 46- in a match that took three sets (6-7, 7-6, 7-5). American Madison Keys -number 14- and Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia -number 17- also won.