(Melbourne) The favorite and world number one racket, Aryna Sabalenka, defeated China’s Bai Zhuoxuan 6-3, 6-1 to reach the third round of the Australian Open tennis tournament.
Facing a tenacious opponent, the Belarusian needed seven set points to win the first set. Playing defensive tennis, Bai (702e) made several drop shots which allowed him to prolong the match.
Sabalenka won this first major tournament of the season in 2023 and 2024, but lost the final to American Madison Keys last year. She is seeking a fifth Grand Slam title, while she has also triumphed twice at the United States Open.
Bai was in the main draw of this tournament for the second time in his career. She defeated Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Sunday, reaching the second round for the first time.
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(Melbourne) Quentin Halys, 83e world, held up well, but did not find the solution against the Russian Daniil Medvedev (12e) who won 6-7 (9/11), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, Wednesday in the second round of the Australian Open.
The triple finalist in Melbourne (2021, 2022, 2024), beaten last year in the second round, will face the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (47e) to try to climb into 8are of final.
After snatching the first set, Halys achieved the entry break in the second set and had three balls at 40/0 to lead 3-1.
But instead, the Russian chained five points in a row to get back to 2-2 and dominate the rest of the round. And the game ended with an ace.
Halys therefore does not equal his best Grand Slam result, obtained three times by reaching the third round at Wimbledon (2023, 2024) and Roland-Garros (2025).
PHOTO PAUL CROCK, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Quentin Halys
“Quentin played very well and I’m happy to have played at a good level to win,” commented Medvedev who believes he is not yet playing as well as in Brisbane where he won before coming to Melbourne where he is “struggling” to adapt to the courts.
“His forehand was very dangerous, even at the end when he was tired. But I dug deep and managed to prevail,” he added.
“It’s been over a year since I last got past the second round of a Grand Slam tournament, so I’m happy,” he added with a laugh.
He indeed played in the quarter-finals of the United States Open in 2024, where he won his only Grand Slam title to date in 2021, before falling in the second round in Melbourne in 2025 then in the first at Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows.
“Above all, I need to rebuild my confidence. If I win five more matches here (and therefore the title, Editor’s note), it will be great. But I will take the matches one after the other,” he concluded.
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Ukraine’s first racket Elina Svitolina He answered questions about the issue at a press conference Alexandra Oleynikova – Playing style and position regarding the presence of Russian and Belarusian players in the tour:
“Oleynikova’s style of play? She brings something new to the game. There are few players like that and it’s always interesting to watch how they set up play, how they create play. It’s very impressive for her to start like this in her first Grand Slam, playing well in her own way. This is very uncomfortable tennis. I think she will be a particularly difficult opponent on clay and you will have to work really hard to beat her.”
Oleynikova’s words regarding the suspension of Russian and Belarusian tennis players? The war has been going on for four years. We’ve talked about this many times, and for me it’s already… gone away. “The decisions have been made by the WTA and now we can just go out there and try to perform well, we can represent our country properly, we can use our voice to attract attention, we can help and remember we can also use our voice to draw attention to our homeland.”
On January 21, Svitolina defeated Linda Klimovicheva and reached the 1/16 final at the Australian Open. Oleynikova lost to major champion Madison Keys in the first round the day before and narrowly missed the first set.
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Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev beat Portuguese Jaime Faria in the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
The meeting between the Russian and the Portuguese, who had qualified for the main draw, ended with the score 6:4, 6:3, 4:6, 7:5. The match lasted 2 hours 50 minutes.
In the next round, the 13th tournament seed Rublev will play against the Argentinean Francisco Serundolo (18).
Grand Slam Tournament. Australian Open. Melbourne (Australia). Hard. Total prize fund: about $75 million
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