MELBOURNE - Title contenders Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Stefanos Tsitsipas all made light work of their third-round ties at the Australian Open on Friday to storm into the second week of the year's first Grand Slam.
After a day of close scrapes, marathon tiebreaks and upsets at Melbourne Park on Thursday, the top seeds were ruthlessly efficient in booking their spots in the fourth round on day six of the championships.
Novak Djokovic, who has been dragged into dogfights in the first two matches of his 10th title defence, will look to emulate them when he takes on Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Rod Laver Arena in the evening session.
Aryna Sabalenka took less than an hour to beat 28th-seeded Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko 6-0 6-0 on the main showcourt, sweeping into the last 16 without dropping a set as she did last year on her way to her first Grand Slam title.
Even with top 10 seeds Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, Marketa Vondrousova and Maria Sakkari already out, Sabalenka, however, was not getting carried away with her impressive progress.
"Listen, it's tennis," the Belarusian second seed said. "As we see with some of the top players losing in the earlier matches, anything can happen.
"I'm just trying to do my best and prepare myself as best I can for each match."
Sinner, the hottest player on the men's tour at the end of last year, continued his fine start to the season with a 6-1 6-0 6-3 pummelling of Argentine Sebastian Baez but was equally cautious.
"Let's see how I handle the situation when the score is even or I'm down, how I react," the Italian said. "It's going to be interesting to see."
"GREAT START"
Seventh seed Tsitsipas was particularly happy with his 6-3 6-0 6-4 win over French young gun Luca Van Assche given he had lost the opening set in his first two matches at Melbourne Park.
"I had a great start to the match," he said after firing 36 winners on Rod Laver Arena. "I'm happy with today's performance. Things worked out for me pretty nicely at moments that I needed it the most."
Tsitsipas will next face Taylor Fritz, who he beat at the same stage last year on his way to the final. The American 12th seed beat Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 3-6 6-4 6-2 6-2 on John Cain Arena.
Gauff is another contender who might exploit the haemorrhaging of top women's seeds and she looked like she might be about to hand out a second "double bagel" of the day when she raced through her first set against Alycia Parks.
The U.S. Open champion's compatriot and longtime friend did manage to stall her progress by getting on the board in the second set but Gauff still eased into the fourth round with a 6-0 6-2 win in just over an hour on Margaret Court Arena.
"I'm really happy with how I played today," said the fourth seed.
"I don't think she played her best tennis today. I know when she's at her best, she's a tough player to play."
There was more American success when Amanda Anisimova, ranked 442nd in the world after a lengthy break from the game, overcame former world number two Paula Badosa 7-5 6-4 despite feeling unwell.
Win or lose, Anisimova will shake hands with Sabalenka over the net after their fourth-round match, a custom absent from the Belarusian's clash with Tsurenko on Friday.
Tsurenko said she would continue to snub Russian and Belarusian players in the same manner and hoped her actions would serve as a reminder of the plight of her people since the 2022 invasion of her country.
"People don't want to talk about war. People don't want to hear bad news. I get a lot of bad messages on social media, People are annoyed if I post something," she said.
"But it's very tough to explain if you don't feel what I feel and how other Ukrainians feel." REUTERS
