There are two Australians left in the singles draws at the 2024 Australian Open. Alex de Minaur of Sydney, the 10th seed in the men’s draw, is the last Australian male player left, and in the women’s draw, Storm Hunter of Rockhampton, is the last Australian female player left.
In the second round, De Minaur won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0, 6-3, over Matteo Arnaldi of Italy. He was victorious in only two hours. The major statistic in the match was unforced errors. De Minaur only had 29, while Arnaldi had 52. De Minaur also broke Arnaldi seven times, and won 18 of 19 points at the net, for a very impressive percentage of 95%.
Hunter, a qualifier, beat Germany’s Laura Siegemund, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Siegemund is a doubles specialist as she is fifth in doubles and 78th in singles. Like De Minaur’s match, the big statistical difference in the match came down to unforced errors. Siegemund had 53, compared to 29 for Hunter.
Up next for de Minaur is another Italian, Flavio Cobolli. They are scheduled to play this evening in Melbourne at John Cain Arena. Cobolli delivered an impressive first round upset, as he beat the 18th seed, Nicolas Jarry of Chile, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. This is their first meeting head-to-head.
Hunter will have a much tougher opponent in round three. She is up against the 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic. This will be their first meeting head-to-head too.
On the men’s side, one top 10 player has been eliminated to date. In the second round on Thursday, the eighth seed Holger Rune of Denmark was beaten by Arthur Cazaux of France, 7-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. On the women’s side, five top 10 players are out. They are the third seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, fifth seed Jessica Pegula of the United States, sixth seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, seventh seed Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, and eighth seed Maria Sakkari of Greece.
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