Two Australians reach third round of 2024 Australian Open

We now know the 32 players who have advanced to round three in the singles draws in men’s and women’s action. Of the 32 singles players on the men’s side are two Australians–number nine seed Alex de Minaur of Sydney, and Alexei Popyrin, who also hails from Sydney.

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In round two on Thursday, de Minaur defeated a player who has a similar last name in Spain’s Jaume Munar, 6-2, 6-2, 7-5. It was a complete performance for de Minaur, who served much better than his opponent. De Minaur had eight aces compared to three for Munar, and de Minaur had one double fault compared to nine for Munar. De Minaur also saw Munar’s serve very well. He broke Munar eight times in 17 opportunities.

Meanwhile, Popyrin delivered an upset as he beat the 30th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Like de Minaur, Popyrin’s serve worked extremely well as he had 17 aces.

This was the sixth time that Popyrin has beaten a seeded opponent at a grand slam. He previously beat 2020 United States Open champion Dominic Thiem of Austria (the seventh seed) in the second round of the 2019 Australian Open, 2008 Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France (the 28th seed) in the first round of the 2020 Australian Open, David Goffin of Belgium (the 13th seed) in the first round of the 2021 Australian Open (3-6, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3), 2014 Wimbledon semifinalist, 2017 Australian Open semifinalist and 2019 United States Open semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria (the 15th seed) in the second round of the 2021 United States Open, and Taylor Fritz of the United States (the eighth seed) in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open (6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2). It should be noted that Thiem pulled out during his match with an illness, Tsonga pulled out during his match with a back injury, and Dimitrov withdrew because of a foot injury.

De Minaur will now face Lucas Pouille of France. This will be their first ever meeting. Popyrin will now face world number two and 24-time grand slam singles champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Djokovic has beaten Popyrin twice–6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the 2019 Tokyo Open, and 6-3, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 in the second round of the 2024 Australian Open.

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