2022 AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 6 MEN’S NOTES

2022 AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 6 MEN’S NOTES Saturday 22 January 3rd Round Bottom Half No. 2 Daniil Medvedev (RUS) v Botic van de Zandschulp (NED) Page 2 No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) v Benoit Paire (FRA) Page 5 No. 5 Andrey Rublev (RUS) v No. 27 Marin Cilic (CRO) Page 8 No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) v No. 24 Daniel Evans (GBR) Page 11 No. 11 Jannik Sinner (ITA) v (Q) Taro Daniel (JPN) Page 14 No. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) v No. 20 Taylor Fritz (USA) Page 17 No. 32 Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Pablo Andujar (ESP) Page 20 (WC) Christopher O’Connell (AUS) v Maxime Cressy (USA) Page 23 On court today… • Australian No. 1 Alex de Minaur will contest the first match of the night session on Rod Laver Arena today, facing up to Spain’s Pablo Andujar. De Minaur is bidding to reach the round of 16 here for the first time, which would see him become the 55th Australian man to reach the last 16 here in the Open Era – but only the 3rd since Lleyton Hewitt reached the last 16 here for the final time in 2012. Andujar is also aiming to reach the round of 16 here for the first time. Should he do so, on his 11th appearance at the Australian Open, he will go joint-top of the Open Era list for most attempts before reaching the last 16 here. Andujar won the pair’s only previous match, in the final at the Alicante Challenger in 2018. • No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev has cruised through the opening 2 rounds here this week, but he can expect a tough challenge when he takes on former finalist Marin Cilic in the final match of the day on Margaret Court Arena. Cilic won the pair’s first meeting in 2015, but Rublev has won their 4 subsequent meetings, including both matches they contested in 2021. Victory for Rublev today will see him through to the last 16 here for the 3rd time, while Cilic could become the 7th active player to make 20 Grand Slam round of 16 appearances if he upsets Rublev this evening. • Italy’s Jannik Sinner is another player who has recorded 2 comfortable wins here so far this week, and the 20-year-old plays qualifier Taro Daniel in the 4th match on Kia Arena today. Sinner has won both of his previous matches against qualifiers at the Grand Slams but, oddly, lost 4 of the 5 matches he played against qualifiers on the Tour in 2021. A win for Sinner today will see him reach the last 16 at the Grand Slams for the 4th time – becoming the first player to make 4 appearances in the round of 16 at the Grand Slams before turning 21 since Juan Martin del Potro in 2008-09. Daniel, who is through to the 3rd round at a Grand Slam for the first time, must record his first victory against a Top 10 player (on his 7th attempt) if he is to reach the last 16 today. • Christopher O’Connell and Maxime Cressy – who meet in the 3rd match on Court 3 this afternoon – have recorded just 9 Grand Slam match-wins between them, but one of them will reach the round of 16 at a Grand Slam for the first time today. Should O’Connell win, he will become the 8th wild card in the Open Era to reach the last 16 here – and only the 3rd in the last 25 years after Hewitt in 2012 and Denis Istomin in 2017. But his opponent today is one of the form players on Tour so far this season. Cressy finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal at Melbourne in the first week of the year and reached the quarterfinals at Sydney last week – he is aiming to record his 9th Tour-level victory of the season today and claim sole ownership of first place on the list for most Tour-level match-wins in 2022