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Tennis News, Alex De Minaur advances to Round 4 of the 2022 Australian Open v Jannik Sinner after he defeated Pablo Andujar in straight sets

by Sports Benches

What an easy win for Alex De Minaur here at Rod Laver Arena as the Aussie nailed down Spaniard Pablo Andujar in straight sets (4-6, 4-6, 2-6), he will now advance into the 4th round which is his career-best here so far and will face 11th seed Italian Jannik Sinner on Monday for a shot towards the Final 8.

Andujar was disappointed with the loss where he showed some fight that remained so competitive against De Minaur for the majority while fighting for these stage wins, he just missed that finishing part that fell just short twice before Andujar was wiped out this quick in the 3rd and final set.

And nice to see the Aussie crowd upped the noise for their hometown hero Alex De Minaur, who is the only guy still in contention, for the Round of 16. He’s got that build-up base going that allowed him to stretch a decent lead while Andujar fought back late, it gave him time to keep the momentum as this game goes on and it worked well where he went all-in with a super-easy run to the finish line.

We’ll see if this stella campaign from “The Demon” continues on Monday and have an extended shot towards the title.

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Felix Auger-Aliassime too good for Dan Evans in straight sets at John Cain Arena as he advances to Round 4 of 2022 Australian Open

by Sports Benches

Felix Auger-Aliassime too good for Dan Evans at John Cain Arena where he nailed down in straight sets (4-6, 1-6, 1-6), he will be watching the Andrey Rublev and Martin Cilic tie with interest & study what these players are like where one of them will meet him for Round 4 on Monday.

For Evans, he endured a huge blow against the 9th seed Canadian which wasn’t easy to reflect on after this match, even though he came off a brilliant warm-up spell before the main draw in Sydney via the semis. He was on the same page at the beginning where Evans narrowly fell short & had the chance to tie 2-2 in the 3rd set, unfortunately, the Brit just couldn’t unpack some fire having fell way behind before Auger-Aliassime comfortably made it home at the other end.

And Auger-Aliassime is one of two Canadians alongside Denis Shapovalov in the 4th Round as this is be an exciting time right now for that country, he displayed lots of Grand Slam quality that helped him shift up a few gears ahead of Evans & never looked back ever since. He had an excellent 2nd half last year with the Quarter-Final in Wimbledon & Semi-Final at the US Open, he has Daniil Medvedev on his radar where he hopes to upset last year’s runner-up in the Final 8 & potentially come home with a grand slam trophy.

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Chris O’Connell’s stellar campaign to his 2022 Australian Open spell have came to an end as Maxime Cressy advances to Round 4 v Daniil Medvedev

by Sports Benches

Tough luck for Chris O’Connell as his stellar spell to the 2022 Australian Open campaign has just come to an end v Maxime Cressy in Round 3 at Court No.3, he fought back with a 1-1 lead even it’s a very close tiebreaker, unfortunately, it didn’t help him stay in contention especially when he had a hip issue earlier on, couldn’t bridge his strong 1st half feel & Cressy began to notice these weaknesses in which helped him collect the remaining 3rd & 4th sets.

Well, O’Connell is age 27 in his prime right now as he hopes to use this breakthrough campaign in Melbourne towards better honors this season in the ATP Circuit, while improving his other Grand Slam records in Paris, Wimbledon & New York later this year.

And congratulations to Cressy with the win where he was always on top of his game apart from the narrow 2nd set loss, he wrapped a very easy first set before Cressy pulled way ahead of O’Connell as this tie goes on that reflected an excellent run of momentum in the end. The American will have a difficult encounter next up though, if he was to get past 2nd seed Russian Daniil Medvedev in the 4th Round on Monday.

Final Score: 2-6, 7-6 via 8-6 tiebreaker, 3-6, 2-6

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Taylor Fritz advances to Round 4 of the 2022 Australian Open after he defeated Roberto Bautista Agut thanks to an early start & 2nd half rebound

by Sports Benches

Such a brilliant contest between Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut and American Taylor Fritz in R3 of the 2022 Australian Open at Kia Arena, Fritz had an easy start before Bautista Agut began to catch up with the next two sets that puts him a games away towards the finish. However, this tie isn’t over after all when Fritz went on to level 2-2 lead through the 5th set decider & blew Bautista Agut away with the win.

Final Score: 0-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6

Bautista Agut disappointed to leave early from the main draw, having not made it past the third round since 2019 when he last played in the Final 8 back then. He battled so hard after an uneasy opening set run & almost pulled off a stunning comeback with a 2-1 lead in set No.4, he was just unable to stop Fritz’s 2nd half rebound that went on and on until the Spaniard eventually ran out of ideas in the end after match point.

And Fritz played amazing tennis where he fired off well with a quick and easy opening set lead, now he may have been inconsistent a couple of times as it almost put Fritz on the brink of elimination but the American improved his 2nd half momentum when it comes to the executions and that helped play a big part of his comeback today.

We’ll see if Fritz can knock down another higher seed player in the 4th Round on Monday for a spot in the Final 8, this time it’s coming from the Top 5 in Greek Stefanos Tsitipas, who was a semi-finalist here last year.

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Tennis News, Danielle Collins went from the opening set down to a thrilling comeback against Dane Clara Tauson in the 3rd Round at Rod Laver Arena

by Sports Benches

Fantastic rebound from American Danielle Collins with the win, who went from the opening set down against Clara Tauson, to tied 1-1 going into the 3rd set decider and now advanced into the 4th Round of 2022 Australian Open. She will now face Belgian Elise Mertens on Monday for a spot in the Final 8, plus head off straight away to 1573 Arena in the Round 2 doubles tie with fellow American Desirae Krawczyk where they too will face off another American pair of Jessica Pegula and Asia Muhammad.

Final Score: 6-4, 4-6, 5-7

Unlucky from Clara Tauson after being eliminated from Round 3 of the Opening grand slam tournament in Melbourne, she fired off well that gave her the early lead. Now she continued to rack up more games to stay in the game, but she just couldn’t pull off these conversions where Collins read her main weakness that eventually caught up to her before it’s too late.

She’s 19 right now & currently ranked 39th in the women’s WTA singles rankings, it’s also her first Grand Slam main draw here when Tauson only made the 1st Qualifying Round twice in 2020-21 beforehand, so no doubt the Dane will get better with experience before challenging the title at some point.

And Collins was again brilliant on the court when she fought so hard against Tauson & at one point was almost eliminated even though Collins was on the same page, her past experience playing here as a semi-finalist once before in 2019 & fightback gave the American the better edge when she closed in to Tauson at a 1-1 lead, overtook her through the 3rd set decider & held off with the win.

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Tennis News, No problems playing on long periods so far from Denis Shapovalov as he just took down Reilly Opelka in the R3 tie at Margaret Court Arena

by Sports Benches

Denis Shapovalov crossed the finish line 1st ahead of American Reilly Opelka in Round 3 of the 2022 Australian Open at Margaret Court Arena, he fired off well through a close 1st set battle through the tiebreaker before the Canadian was tied 1-1 after the break.

However, Shapovalov later re-grouped himself during the 2nd half run with an improved momentum that was enough to show himself the win in three sets out of four, his opponent for Round 4 on will either be 3rd seed from Germany Alexander Zverev or Qualifier Radu Albot.

Final Score: 6-7 via 4-7 tiebreaker, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6

Looks like he didn’t have any trouble playing for long periods so far from Shapovalov having gone past Serbia’s Laslo Dere in Round 1 & Kwon Soon-Woo during Round 2, Shapovalov is always on top of his game even though he narrowly lost the 2nd set spell as this is all about the overall result where the Canadian managed to get the job done with little to no fuss.

And Opelka never gave up when he fought a series of close battles against Shapovalov after the American tied 1-1 going into the 3rd set, however, the lack of executions/conversions when trying to bridge from his 1st half run saw Opelka being left further behind before Shapovalov confirmed his elimination as soon as this Round 3 tie was done just over the three-hour mark.

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Tennis News, Miomir Kecmanovic advances into Round 4 for the first time of 2022 Australian Open after he upsetted 25th seed Lorenzo Sonego from Italy

by Sports Benches

Hats off to Miomir Kecmanovic from Serbia, who just eliminated 25th seed Italian Lorenzo Sonego, as he advances into the 4th Round of the 2022 Australian Open which will be his first time & face either Frenchman Gael Monfils or Cristian Garin from Chile.

Final Score: 6-4, 6-7 via 8-10 tiebreaker, 6-2, 7-5

Unlucky from Sonego with the loss there, he had to fight back during these tough battles against Kecmanovic when the Italian tied 1-1 via the tiebreak. However, Sonego lost his shape having fallen behind for the majority where he had a few missed opportunities to execute & get ahead of Kecmanovic before it was too late.

And Kecmanovic had a ball against one of the Top 25 seeds in this year’s Australian Open draw, the Serbian fired off well that gave him the upper hand after the opening set. Although he narrowly lost the 2nd set spell via a close battle through the tiebreak, but Kecmanovic is class all-round with a super easy 3rd set followed by the 4th set which was enough to confirm his breakthrough win.

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Tennis News, Stefanos Tsitsipas advances to Round 3 of 2022 Australian Open after a competitive R2 match-up today v Argentine Sebastian Baez at Margaret Court Arena

by Sports Benches

Another decent match-up we’ve just seen on the 4th Day of the 2022 Australian Open as Stefanos Tsitsipas went from the opening set down to the next three sets nailed down against Argentine Sebastian Baez at Margaret Court Arena, he will wait for either Grigor Dimitrov from Bulgaria or Frenchman Benoit Paire as his next opponent for Round 3.

Final Score: 6-7 via 1-7 tiebreaker, 7-6 via 7-5 tiebreaker, 3-6, 4-6

Unlucky from Baez with the loss where he fired off well with the narrow 1st set lead via the tiebreaker, although he never gave up continuing that fight having won some games back along the way but just couldn’t hold back an elite opponent from the Top 5 like Tsitsipas in the end. He will leave Melbourne Park with room for improvement whenever Baez plats next time, but at least he just pocketed over $100,000 prize money after his 1st career Grand Slam win from the previous round v Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

And how good is Tsitsipas, who terrifically completed this match-up, as he came out from the 1st set loss & tied Baez 1-1 through another tiebreak through the wire before the Greek managed to renew his momentum through the 2nd half run in Sets 3 & 4 that became his turning point towards the homestretch.

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Tennis News, Alex De Minaur continues his winning start on R2 of the 2022 Australian Open campaign in straight sets v Kamil Majchrzak at Rod Laver Arena

by Sports Benches

Alex De Minaur continues his winning start to the 2022 Australian Open campaign with a comfortable win against Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak in straight sets (4-6, 4-6, 2-6) at Rod Laver Arena, he wrapped this 2nd Round tie in 1 hour and 39 minutes.

De Minaur always got his build-up base up and running that helped stay ahead over Majchrzak, it gave the Aussie ample time to get the job done during the first two sets while the Pole began to catch up before he shut his opponent out towards the finish line with a nice & easy third set spell.

His best result here was Round 3 twice in 2019 & 2021 where De Minaur hopes to get past the Spaniard in Pablo Andujar before Round 4, and as long as he keeps that winning form then a Finals eight spot will come to him having made it once two years ago at the US Open.

And Majchrzak didn’t have a great day out, who did his best to hold back De Minaur, having won some games & closed in along the way towards the end of these first two sets. However, he just couldn’t hijack his opponent’s stella momentum & finish it off his way before Majchrzak became eliminated so quick in the 3rd & final set.

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Tennis News, Sam Stosur wraps up her singles career at the 2022 Australian Open with the doubles still the come before beginning retirement after her defeat in RD2 v Anastasia Pavlychenkova

by Sports Benches

Sam Stosur may have just been eliminated in Round 2 from this year’s Australian Open women’s singles tournament by 10th seed Russian Anastasia Pavlychenkova (2-6, 2-6), but what a stellar career she’s had in the singles circuit for a long time having been runner-up in the 2010 French Open, won the 2011 US Open women’s singles title & an elite player in the doubles with four grand slam championships too.

Now she still has the doubles campaign to play a part later on in Melbourne with Zhang Shuai (Women’s doubles) & Matt Ebden (Mixed doubles), but Stosur will also want to end things on a high note on home soil before she begins retirement off the court & spend more time with her partner Liz and 1 1/2 year old daughter Genevieve.

It’s great to see Sam Stosur lift the profile of Tennis in Australia that inspires these kids to take up this sport & follow her lead in the hope of becoming the next Grand Slam star, have a look at Ash Barty, who currently holds the baton in this legacy, having won the French Open in 2019 as well as Wimbledon last year & now she hopes to become the next Aussie win at home for the first time since Chris O’Neil in 1978.

For now, we wish her all the best on life off the court.

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