The Serbian Novak Djokovic, titled 10 times in Melbourne, advanced to the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory against the Italian Francesco Maestrelli, 141^e in the world.

Djokovic had a 6-1 advantage in breaks.

His rival had the upper hand 10-5 for aces, while each player committed four double faults.

The Italian dominated 29-19 in winning shots, but he also committed 35 unforced errors (12 more than the 24-time major tournament champion).

“I knew little about him before Wednesday,” Djokovic said of Maestrelli, a 23-year-old qualifier who was making his main draw debut at a prestigious tournament.

“But I respected him – I don’t underestimate anyone. He has a powerful serve and his balls are heavy. He lacks experience on big stages, but he has the type of game that can take him far. »

Djokovic has 399 Grand Slam victories.

In the third round, his rival will be Botic Van de Zandschulp, who beat Shang Juncheng 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-3.

He has won 101 tournaments in total, most recently in Athens in November.

Sinner without difficulty

World No.2 Jannik Sinner did not hang around on the courts Thursday, easily dismissing Australian James Duckworth (88^e world) in three sets 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.

The four-time Grand Slam tournament winner didn’t really have to draw on his resources to qualify for the 3^e round, locking in his victory in just under two hours.

The 24-year-old Italian, for the second match of his season, played against Duckworth and continues to impress with this 17^e victory in a row, undefeated since his retirement in early October 2025 in the third round of the Masters 1000 in Shanghai.

Even if the double title holder in Melbourne seemed at times still in training, with a few rare mistakes quite unusual for him, the gap with his opponent of the day was really too great for there to be the slightest suspense.

The Australian, however, tried everything and actually held up rather well in the second round after being caught by the throat at the start of the first (6-1). But Sinner knew, each time he had to, to raise his level of play slightly to make the difference, giving off an overwhelming impression of superiority.

The third set seemed to be a repeat of the first with Duckworth unable to find the key to disrupt the Italian, who concluded with an ace.

“I’m in great shape at the moment […] The body feels good, and on the mental side, it’s a good moment,” assured Sinner on court after this victory.

“The first tournaments are always a bit special, especially since it’s a Grand Slam, and it’s always been a special tournament for me,” he explained. Asked about the aspects of his game that he thought he needed to adjust at the start of the season, the Italian smiled and explained that he had to “still” work “on the drop shots on the backhand side”, after having missed some during this meeting.

In two matches in Melbourne, the world No.2, who certainly benefited from the abandonment of Hugo Gaston in the first round after two rounds played, will therefore have dropped only 10 games.

He will face 3^e turn the American Eliot Spizzirri (85^e global).

Eighth-seeded American Ben Shelton won 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 against Australian qualifier Dane Sweeny.

Fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy defeated compatriot Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

Karen Khachanov, seeded number 15, defeated American Nishesh Basavereddy 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.

Wawrinka overcomes Gea in more than 4 hours 30

Veteran Stan Wawrinka, 40, qualified for the third round by eliminating young Frenchman Arthur Gea (198^e) 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10/3) at the end of an ultimately unbearable 4 hour 33 minute standoff.

With the support of a public fully committed to his cause – apart from a group of diehard French supporters – and benefiting from cooler temperatures on this fifth day of the tournament, the Swiss (139^e), winner in Melbourne in 2014, found the resources to win against a young but inexperienced 21-year-old.

“I’m exhausted… But it’s my last Australian Open, so I’ll stay as long as possible,” told the spectators the Swiss who announced that he would retire at the end of the season.

“You gave me the energy that an old man like me needs,” he told the spectators after sending them a heart with his hands.

Triple winner in Grand Slam (also including Roland-Garros 2015 and the 2016 United States Open), in full domination of the Big3 Federer-Nadal-Djokovic, Wawrinka had not passed the first round in Australia since 2021.

This time he will try to reach the round of 16 by facing the American Taylor Fritz (9^e).

Thursday, Wawrinka recovered each time the Frenchman took the advantage to reach two sets everywhere.

And in the decisive round, it was he who broke first to take the lead and put maximum pressure on his opponent in the final straight.

At 2-0, Gea broke (2-1) and called the kinesiologist to have bandages placed under his knees. He resumed the game and equalized at 2-2.

The Frenchman then had a break point for 3-2, but the Swiss kept his faceoff.

To the great pleasure of the public, the two men remained neck and neck, producing very beautiful tennis, spectacular exchanges, winning shots and suspense.

Gea thus had two break points to lead 4-3, service to follow, but Wawrinka erased them and once again saved his service game.

In turn, the Swiss had two break points to lead 5-3 serve to win the match, but Gea saved them then equalized at 4-4. At the height of the tension during this game, the Frenchman had a shoe problem and took a time out to change a lace.

In the process, twice, Wawrinka forced Gea to serve so as not to lose. Twice, the French held the shock and equalized until taking the match to the super tiebreaker.

And this time, the young man’s nerves broke when those of the old wolf held up.

“It was a long match, I don’t know if I’ll recover from it. But I’m going to have a beer, I deserve it,” commented Wawrinka, already drunk with joy, before leaving the court.

Winner of the Nouméa Challenger at the beginning of January, the 21-year-old Frenchman had never won a single match on the main circuit. He will remember from his first Australian Open a very nice victory against the Czech Jiri Lehecka (19^e) in the first round and a phenomenal match against Wawrinka in the second.