Australian Open: De Minaur moves into third round

Australian Alex De Minaur, the No 22 seed, advanced to the third round of the Australian Open by defeating Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 at Melbourne Park on Thursday.

“To be honest, I probably only started feeling comfortable 2-1 in the fourth, if I’m really honest (smiling)” De Minaur smiled at the end. “Then I started to see that he was struggling a bit physically. That just gave me wings.”

“From then on, I felt like I was able to expose him a lot more. But up until then, it was just an absolute battle out there. We were both going at it, both running miles and miles, having very tricky rallies. He’s a very tricky opponent. Especially in these types of conditions where the ball stays very low, in his strike zone. He’s very fit.”

“Yeah, until I saw he started to struggle a little bit physically, I wasn’t feeling comfortable at all.”

De Minaur, ranked No 24, will face Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi next.

In the previous round, the Australian won against qualifier Yu Hsiou Hsu (6-2, 6-2, 6-3).

Mannarino, ranked No 45, beat American John Isner (6-7 (5), 7-6 (8), 6-2, 6-2) in the previous round.

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Tennis Majors

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other second-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 24.297.942, most recent results first):

• Andy Murray vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis: thursday
• Novak Djokovic (4) beat Enzo Couacaud (Q): 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-0
• Benjamin Bonzi beat Pablo Carreno Busta (14): 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1, 7-6 (4)
• Roberto Bautista Agut (24) beat Brandon Holt (Q): 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
• Holger Rune (9) beat Maxime Cressy: 7-5, 6-4, 6-4
• Grigor Dimitrov (27) beat Laslo Djere: 6-3, 6-2, 6-0
• Michael Mmoh (LL) beat Alexander Zverev (12): 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-3, 6-2
• Alexei Popyrin (WC) beat Taylor Fritz (8): 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-2
• Ugo Humbert beat Denis Kudla (LL): 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4
• J.J. Wolf beat Diego Schwartzman (23): 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
• Ben Shelton beat Nicolas Jarry (Q): 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Jenson Brooksby beat Casper Ruud (2): 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-2
• Andrey Rublev (5) beat Emil Ruusuvuori: 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-3
• Tommy Paul beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (30): 6-2, 2-6, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4
• Daniel Evans (25) beat Jeremy Chardy: 6-4, 6-4, 6-1
• Cameron Norrie (11) beat Constant Lestienne: 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3
• Jiri Lehecka beat Christopher Eubanks (WC): 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Botic Van De Zandschulp (32): 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Sebastian Korda (29) beat Yosuke Watanuki (Q): 6-2, 7-5, 6-4
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (3) beat Rinky Hijikata (WC): 6-3, 6-0, 6-2
• Hubert Hurkacz (10) beat Lorenzo Sonego: 3-6, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
• Denis Shapovalov (20) beat Taro Daniel: 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Francisco Cerundolo (28) beat Corentin Moutet: 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 7-5
• Yoshihito Nishioka (31) beat Dalibor Svrcina (Q): 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Daniil Medvedev (7) beat John Millman (WC): 7-5, 6-2, 6-2
• Marton Fucsovics beat Lloyd Harris: 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
• Karen Khachanov (18) beat Jason Kubler (WC): 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe (16) beat Juncheng Shang (Q): 6-4, 6-4, 6-1
• Mackenzie McDonald beat Rafael Nadal (1): 6-4, 6-4, 7-5
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (6) beat Alex Molcan: 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
• Jannik Sinner (15) beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 6-3, 6-2, 6-2