Two Australians are in round three of the 2024 French Open. They are both in men’s singles action as the 11th seed Alex de Minaur of Sydney and the unseeded Thanasi Kokkinakis of Adelaide both won their first two matches.
On Thursday, de Minaur defeated Jaume Munar of Spain 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 in straight sets. The major story in this match was double faults. De Minaur only had three, while Munar had a dozen.
Kokkinakis meanwhile had a very impressive victory that took five sets to complete. After starting off with a disastrous start, he eventually won 1-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2 over Giulio Zeppieri of Italy. Double faults were also a minor problem for Zeppieri, who had six compared to four for Kokkinakis.
Next up for de Minaur is Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, the 2023 Madrid Masters finalist. Meanwhile, Kokkinakis’s next opponent is the 12th seed Taylor Fritz of the United States, the 2022 Indian Wells champion.
De Minaur has a record of three wins and two losses all-time versus Struff. De Minaur’s wins came in the first round of Indian Wells in 2018 (3-6, 7-6, 7-6), in the quarterfinals of Basel in 2019 (6-4, 7-6), and the third round of Miami in 2024 (7-6, 6-4). Struff’s wins came in the first round of Cincinnati in 2020 (6-2, 6-4), and the second round of Monte Carlo in 2023 (6-3, 6-2). Struff’s win over de Minaur in Monaco last year was the only time they have ever played against each other on clay.
Kokkinakis and Fritz have beaten each other once in two prior meetings. Both matches have been in Los Cabos, Mexico. Kokkinakis won in the quarterfinals in 2017 (7-6, 6-2). Fritz won in the first round in 2018 (7-6, 7-6).
Meanwhile on the women’s side, two top 10 players were eliminated. Ninth seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the 2017 French Open champion, was beaten 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 by Clara Tauson of Denmark. Tenth seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia, the 2022 French Open semifinalist, lost 7-5, 6-2 to American Peyton Stearns.
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