The second round of the 2024 Australian Open is now complete and four Australians have reached the third round. They are the 10th seed Alex de Minaur of Sydney, Jordan Thompson of Sydney, Christopher O’Connell of Sydney, and Alexei Popyrin of Sydney.
The most notable win came from Thompson, as he stunned the seventh seed and 2021 Wimbledon semifinalist Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 7-6, 6-1, 7-5. A major reason for the Thompson win came down to the serve. Thompson had 13 aces compared to six for Hurkacz. Thompson will next play the 30th seed Matteo Arnaldi of Italy. This will be their first meeting head to head.
Alex de Minaur is advancing to round three after a 7-5, 6-1, 7-6 win over Otto Virtanen of Finland. Virtanen had eight double faults compared to three for de Minaur. Meanwhile, de Minaur broke Virtanen five times in 14 opportunities. Next up for de Minaur is Daniel Evans of Great Britain. Evans has beaten de Minaur three times. They came at the first round of the 2019 Rogers Cup in Montreal (6-4, 7-6), in the quarterfinals of the 2020 ATP Cup (7-6, 4-6, 7-6), and at the 2023 Davis Cup in Manchester (6-1, 2-6, 6-4).
Christopher O’Connell beat qualifier Mattia Bellucci of Italy 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Service accuracy was the key stat here as Bellucci had nine double faults compared to two for O’Connell. Next up for O’Connell is Italy’s Jannik Sinner, the world number one and 2024 Australian Open champion. O’Connell and Sinner have beaten each other once. O’Connell won 7-6, 6-4 in the second round of Atlanta in 2021. Sinner won 6-4, 6-3 in the fourth round of Miami this year.
Popyrin steamrolled past Pedro Martinez of Spain 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. Popyrin had 13 aces compared to one for Martinez. Next up for Popyrin is the defending US Open champion, and 24-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Djokovic has beaten Popyrin thrice–6-4, 6-2 in the first round of Tokyo in 2019, 6-3, 4-6. 7-6, 6-3 in the second round of the Australian Open in 2024, and 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 in the third round of the 2024 Wimbledon.
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