It was day 4 at the Australian Open and the drama would continue. Many intense matches were on display and top seeds progressed with not much suffering. We also witnessed a big upset as the play progressed. Let’s recap the action from Melbourne Park as the Australian Open enters its crucial stage.
The Favorites
Top seed Rafael Nadal was out on the Rod Laver arena against Argentine Federico Delbonis. The Argentine showed a lot of grit and even took the 2nd set to a tie breaker. However Nadal who is in the quest of his 2nd Australian Open title looked too much determined. He would eventually come through in 3 sets and set himself up nice and comfortable in the 3rd round.
The 4th seed Daniil Medvedev met the less known Spaniard Pedro Portero and went through in straight sets. Medvedev’s serve was working great as he threw a flurry of aces throughout the match.
Dominic Thiem had an intense 5 set slugfest with local boy Alex Bolt. The Austrian who is the 5th seed in this tournament had to come from behind to win the match. He did exactly that by dominating the last 2 sets and avoiding the possible upset.
The Challengers
World Number 7 Sascha Zverev was up against Belarusian Egor Gerasimov. The German who seems to have found his mojo back secured a relatively comfortable 3 set victory to book a spot in the 3rd round.
Talented French star Gael Monfils overcame the 1st set loss against big serving Canadian Ivo Karlovic to win the match in 4 sets. Russia’s Andrey Rublev also secured a comfortable victory against Japanese player Yuchi Sugita.
Big serving American John Isner also won his match very comfortably in 3 straight sets against the Chilean youngster Alejandro Tabilo. Spain’s Fernando Verdasco had to dig a bit deep and won his match in 4 sets against the dangerous Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Local hero Nick Kyrgios who looks to have somehow found his motivation overcame some stiff resistance by Frenchman Giles Simon but progressed through in 4 sets.
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Epic Matches And Upsets
There were some great matches on display which remained unpredictable till the very last point. America’s rising star Taylor Fritz beat South African Kevin Anderson in 5 pulsating sets in what was the contest between 2 big servers. Fritz won the last 2 sets in dominant fashion showing exemplary grit and determination.
Stan Wawrinka had to fight a 5 set battle against Italian Andreas Seppi. The match rolled to and fro till Wawrinka broke in the 5th set and then sealed the match. The match of the day was played between Russian Number 2 Karen Khachanov and 21 year old Mikael Ymer of Sweden. The young Swede showed great talent and temperament taking the big hitting Russian down to the wire. The match went to the 5th set tie breaker and Khachanov made use of his experience to finally seal it 10 games to 8.
Another pulsating encounter took place between Belgium’s David Goffin and Pierre Herbert of France. The match swung back and forth with Goffin winning the 1st and 2nd set easily. Herbert would then equally dominate the next 2 sets before Goffin broke in the 5th set and then closed the match.
That is all for the highlights on Day 4 of the Australian Open 2020. It was 128 players who started the campaign but now just 32 remain. We will be back tomorrow to bring you the recap of Day 5 as the tournament enters its crucial stage.