Australian Open: Nadal sails through, Tsonga survives Shapovalov scare
What's the story
Day 3 of Australian Open had a handful of thrillers which included Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcoming a young Denis Shapovalov, and Caroline Wozniacki surviving an upset. Contrarily, the likes of Rafa Nadal, Marin Cilic, and Nick Kyrgios had an easy day at office cruising through their respective matches. Let's have a look at the big results on third day of the Grand Slam.
No sweat
Rafa Nadal beats Leonardo Mayer in straight sets
Rafael Nadal eased into the third round with a straight-set victory over the 52nd-ranked Argentine Leonardo Mayer. The World number 1 made just 10 unforced errors and 40 winners to beat Mayer 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4). The 16-time Grand Slam winner chasing his second Australian Open title now holds a win/loss record of 53-11 at the tournament.
Experience matters
Tsonga ekes out a win against Shapovalov
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the number 15 seed, won by the skin of his teeth after battling the 18-year-old Canadian talent Denis Shapovalov in five sets, 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6, 7-5. The Frenchman will now face Aussie Nick Kyrgios who has been on a roll, sailing through the first two rounds without dropping a set. In his second round, Kyrgios beat Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-4, 7-6.
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Dimitrov troubled by qualifier
Troubled by Mackenzie McDonald and bageled by him in one of the sets, World number 3 seed, Grigor Dimitrov survived a mighty scare to make it to the next round after a nail-biting five-setter 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6, 8-6.
Three-setters
Svitolina, Wozniacki come back to win
After the first two days of upsets in Women's Singles which saw the ouster of Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, day 3 had relatively better results for the top seeds. World number 2 Caroline Wozniacki overcame an upset against Jana Fett 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 while World number 4 Elina Svitolina managed 3-setter win (4-6, 6-2, 6-1), over Katerina Siniakova.
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Ostapenko into the next round
20-year-old Jelena Ostapenko, the reigning French Open champion, won her second round match 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 against Ying-Ying Duan to set up her third round match with Anett Kontaveit.