Australian Open organisers have scheduled Alex de Minaur’s fourth-round blockbuster against Andrey Rublev for the primetime slot on centre court on Sunday night.
In a surprise move, Novak Djokovic will face Adrian Mannarino on Rod Laver Arena during the afternoon in a match which will be played after Coco Gauff’s clash with Magdalena Frech.
Defending women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka has also been bumped to Margaret Court Arena.
Tennis journalist Neil McMahon noted: “Not often Djokovic does not get his preferred night slot on Rod Laver Arena but they’ve bumped him to the day session tomorrow in favour of Alex De Minaur. If Demon and Novak both make the quarters that day/night schedule is going to be an interesting call.”
It will be the first time in three years Djokovic will play during the day at Melbourne Park.
De Minaur was asked about whether he expected to be on centre court after defeating Flavio Cobolli in the third round.
“I mean, I would love to play on RLA. Obviously that prime time slot is pretty special, and you’ve got to earn it.
“If the organizers decide to put me there, then I’ll be happy to play on it.
“But, yeah, ultimately doesn’t really matter when I play, whether I play first match, whether I play last.
“Whether I play on RLA or Court 27, I’m still going to be the same. I’m still going to walk out there and enjoy it and give it 150 per cent.”
5.25PM: DJOKER WARNS — LATE NIGHTS ARE HERE TO STAY
Novak Djokovic says changing the grand slam daily schedule to a single continuous session would benefit players and help avoid early morning finishes but he does not expect tournament organisers to move away from the current day-night format “because that is how they sell their tickets”.
The scheduling debate was once again put on the agenda when world No. 3 Daniil Medvedev and Emil Ruusuvuori played to 3.39am on Friday morning after their scheduled second-up match on Rod Laver Arena was pushed back beyond 11pm due to a lengthy third set tie-breaker between Elena Rybakina and Anna Blinkova.
After the match Medvedev joked that if he were a fan he would not have stayed to watch his comeback victory and revealed the early morning finish would make recovering for the next round much more difficult.
Djokovic weighed into the debate after his straight-sets victory over Tomas Etcheverry on Friday night, revealing what he believed to be a plausible solution – though conceded he did not expect it to happen.
“The daily schedule and the time of the matches … is a problem obviously when you have men playing best-of-five (sets), as it did last night with day matches (going to) five sets,” the world No. 1 said.
“Yeah it’s not an ideal situation to be in that, for sure. I don’t know, I mean, I don’t see grand slams on main courts, particularly on centre court, changing the format of having day matches and night matches, because that’s how they sell their tickets. That’s how they commercialise. That’s how they promote.”
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5.05PM: AZARENKA STORMS THROUGH FIRST SET
Victoria Azarenka is eyeing an incredible 11th run to the second week of the Australian Open after crushing 11th seed Jelena Ostapenko 6-1 in the opening set of their blockbuster third-round clash on Margaret Court Arena.
The 2012-13 winner broke Ostapenko’s serve twice and heaped pressure on the Latvian star, who gave up 12 unforced errors to only two from Azarenka.
The crowd is firmly with the dual Australian Open champion, whose serve was on song with four aces as the rivals vie for a fourth-round clash against Ukrainian qualifier and world No. 93 Dayana Yastremska.
Despite the lowly-ranked round of 16 opponent, the winner is in the most difficult quarter of the women’s draw, with either Iga Swiatek or Elina Svitolina lying in wait as the most likely quarter-final opponent.
Neither clash will intimidate Azarenka in this form – the Belarusian has been to the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park no fewer than six times including her run to the semi-finals last year.
— Ed Bourke
5PM: MEN’S ROUND OF 16 CLOSE TO BEING DECIDED
There are only four spots left in the men’s round of 16 after Arthur Cazaux, Hubert Hurkacz, Miomir Kecmanovic and Carlos Alcaraz booked their spots.
The 122nd-ranked Cazaux won in straight sets against Tallon Griekspoor, while Hurkacz took down Ugo Humbert in four sets.
Kecmanovic will take on Alcaraz, while Hurkacz will play Cazaux.
The remaining spots will be decided this evening with Cameron Norrie taking on Casper Ruud, Grigor Dimtrov up against Nuno Borges, Daniil Medvedev taking on Fleix Auger-Aliassime and the battle of the Alexs — Zverev against Michelsen.
4.26PM: ALCARAZ CLOSES ON WORLD NO.1
Carlos Alcaraz is closing in on becoming the world No.1 again after Juncheng Shang retired in the third set of their third-round match.
The Chinese star was trailing two sets and 1-0 in the third set when he retired.
Lleyton Hewitt noted on Channel 9 that Alcaraz, who has dropped one set in the opening three rounds, “hasn’t wasted much energy at all to get through to this stage.”
4.20PM: ALCARAZ CRUISING, KECMANOVIC SPRINGS UPSET
A merciless Carlos Alcaraz is in no mood for pleasantries, blowing away Juncheng Shang in two lopsided opening sets.
Alacaraz will move closer to the world’s no.1 ranking — albeit possibly for less than 24 hours — if he completes the third-round win.
Meanwhile, Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic has come from two sets to one down to send 14th seed Tommy Paul packing in five sets.
Kecmanovic won the fourth set in a tiebreak before blitzting Paul 6-0 in the fifth to storm into the fourth round.
French wildcard Arthur Cazaux — who is fast becoming one of the breakout stars of the tournament — is on track for the last 16 and leading Tallon Griekspoor in the third set.
The match betweeen seeds Ugo Humbert and Hubert Hurkacz looks headed for a fifth set.
EARLIER: FISHY CODE VIOLATION CONFUSES US STAR
An unusual pairing of sushi and smoothies as in-match fuel did not do the job for Sloane Stephens as the American ace crashed out of the Australian Open.
The 2017 US Open champion looked flat at times in a surprise third-round loss to Russian-born world No.75 Anna Kalinskaya.
Stephens had two packets of sushi and two smoothies brought out to her bench during the match – only a small amount of which she actually consumed – and also reached for a gel shot in the third set.
However, it was to little avail as Kalinskaya powered to a 6-7 (10/8) 6-1 6-4 victory.
Stephens had saved four set points during the first set tiebreaker, after finding herself 6-3 down.
The American appeared to lack energy during a quick 41-minute second set.
She briefly rallied to hold a 3-1 advantage early in the third set, before fading once again.
Kalinskaya’s previous best result at a grand slam was a second-round berth, something she had achieved on four occasions.
The 25-year-old will face a fourth-round match against the winner of today’s clash between Anna Blinkova and Jasmine Paolini.
1:15PM: ROD LAVER REVEALS HIS TIP TO WIN THE AUS OPEN
Tennis legend Rod Laver believes Novak Djokovic already has “part of his initials” on what would be an 11th Australian Open trophy, suggesting the Serbian star had been toying with fans by dropping sets in his opening two matches.
An 11-time grand slam winner himself, the man who has a court named after him at Melbourne Park said he rated “tough” Australian hope Alex de Minaur highly but would be shocked if he or anyone else toppled Djokovic in this tournament.
Djokovic took four sets to beat world No. 187 Dino Prizmic in his first-round match and was also taken to four sets by 24-year-old Australian Alexi Popyrin in his second-round match.
The 36-year-old was not pushed to a fourth set to overcome 30th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the third round on Friday night, but was taken to a third-set tie-breaker which he dominated 7-2.
“Djokovic, it’s amazing,” Laver, 85, said.
“He has all the shots. He knows exactly when he can play them, when he can’t play them.
“He’s priming himself to get through to the final.
“He’ll lose a set somewhere in that five-setter and so I’m thinking, is he having us on? Because he could win this thing (easily).
“He’s such a great athlete to begin with, but his mind also is tennis and so he sees it. It almost unfolds in front of him, what he should be doing. He’s a great champion.
“He serves well. His ground strokes are unbeatable.
“I have to believe he’s not going to come through unless someone miraculously plays their best tennis to knock him off.
“I think if we could put his initials – actually, part of his initials – on the trophy now.”
Sydney product de Minaur will face fifth-seed Andrey Rublev in a fourth-round match on Sunday, vying for his first quarter-final appearance at his home grand slam.
Laver said he saw plenty of talent and determination in the 24-year-old, but he was not the only rising star on the tour chasing Djokovic.
“Alex de Minaur is a great player,” Laver said.
“He should be doing more than he’s doing, because he’s got a great game.
“Alex is tough, but (so are) all the other players that have improved.”
12:45PM DOUBLE TROUBLE FOR AUSSIES
Reigning men’s doubles champions Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler are locked in a tough battle to preserve their title defence on Court 3 against Germans duo Yannick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer.
The Aussie duo dropped the first set 4-6 but held their nerve to win the second set 6-4 despite coughing up a set point.
They went down a break early in the third set with Hanfmann’s height causing the pair significant problems at the net.
It comes after Hijikata and Kubler played down their chances of back-to-back titles on Friday, instead backing Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson to continue the trend of underdog local pairs surging to the title.
“I think they could be the third straight Aussie pair to win the tournament, if I’m being honest,” Hijikata said of the duo.
“I got to play with Max in Tokyo, and I’ve seen Thommo play a ton – they’re both unbelievable doubles players.
“Now that they’re both out of the singles, they can probably focus on their doubles a bit more … I would say they’re a very good shot to go deep these next couple of weeks.”
Purcell and Thompson are taking on the seventh-seeded combination of Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski in the second match of the day on Show Court 2.
10:00AM: TEQUILA MOCKING SERB: THE BOOZY TRICK TO BLOCKING OUT DJOKER
Novak Djokovic is a master of mental disintegration, but his next Australian Open opponent, Adrian Mannarino, has a mind-altering weapon at his disposal – tequila.
The journeyman on the rise was ranked No. 71 in the world in 2021, but has risen to No. 19 currently, with further improvement to come after he reached the round of 16 by defeating American Ben Shelton.
When asked about how he’s managed to improve his game as he’s aged Mannarino revealed an unorthodox approach to improving his mindset.
“I started tequila, that helps to not think too much,” he said. “You just keep going. Sometimes you need to clear your brain, stop thinking about the past. Don’t look back and just go!”
A clear head will be useful against Djokovic who made headlines for mocking Shelton after their US Open clash in 2023 and took an unsubtle jab at Andy Murry in a recent ATP Tour promotional video.
8:00AM TRASH TALK: DJOKOVIC DROPS FEDERER TRUTH BOMB
Novak Djokovic dropped a couple of truth bombs in his post-match press-conference at the Australian Open revealing his love of “trash talk” – and admitting that his brash personality particularly grated on fellow great Roger Federer.
Despite the comfortable nature of the win on Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic occasionally looked frustrated with himself, exchanging gestures with his coaching team.
“It’s not always a positive pep talk,” he said. “There’s a lot of trash talk happening inside of my head.
“I guess it’s part of the game, it’s part of who I am. I mean, I’m quite certain that everyone goes through their crisis moments, particularly in the matches where they don’t feel their best and they have doubts.” He added: “I’m trying to fight the demons that I have, as anybody else, on the court.”
Djokovic was then quizzed about his younger days on the ATP tour, and if there were any players who took offence to his “expressive” personality.
In response, Djokovic said, “I know certainly Federer didn’t like the way I was behaving at the beginning. I think it didn’t sit with him well. I don’t know about the others.”
“I guess I wasn’t the favourite type of guy to some of the top guys because I was not afraid to say that I want to be the best player in the world”.
The World No. 1 further added, “I never, ever lacked respect. Whenever I start a match, before the match or finish the match, I would always greet the opponent, always acknowledge. Respect is something that I was taught that needs to be present regardless of what is happening.”
7AM: SABALENKA’S DIRE WARNING TO OPPONENTS
Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka labelled her double-bagel demolition of Lesia Tsurenko as “perfection”, but delivered an ominous warning to her challengers when she said she could get “even better”.
The No. 2 seed monstered her Ukrainian opponent in just 52 minutes to power through to the fourth round at Melbourne Park in a performance that would have made her rivals sit up and take notice.
Sabalenka made a meal of the No. 28 seed with the 6-0 6-0 victory on Rod Laver Arena to set up a clash with American Amanda Anisimova in the round of 16.
The 25-year-old has not yet dropped a set and has given up just six games so far in her Australian Open defence.
In her three games so far, Sabalenka has spent a total of 2 hours and 52 minutes on court.
Sabalenka, who won her maiden grand slam in Melbourne last year,
“I think today’s performance was really, yeah, was perfection,” Sabalenka said after the third round victory.
“I’m happy with the level I played today.”
But Sabalenka, who won her maiden grand slam title in Melbourne last year, said she hoped she could still find another gear as she targets back-to-back Australian Open crowns.
“Well, there is always something to improve, you know,” Sabalenka said.
“That’s why you just can’t be happy with the level you are at right now so you always have to keep moving, keep improving.
“That’s why I said like ‘even better’.”
Sabalenka earlier said the benchmark set by world No. 1 Iga Swiatek last year had motivated her to want to sweep her opponents.
“Last year Iga won so many sets 6-0 and this is one of the goals to try to get closer to her,” Sabalenka said on court after the match.
“I am just super happy with the level I am playing and hopefully I can just keep going like that or even better.”
Asked if the tournament was hers to lose, Sabalenka said was wary of the path that still lay ahead of her.
“Listen, it’s tennis. As we see by some of the top players losing in the earlier matches that anything can happen, so I don’t want to look that far,” Sabalenka said.
“I’m just focusing match by match. If I’m ready, ready to be in another one; if not, I’m not. I’m just trying to do my best and prepare myself as best I can for each match.”
Sabalenka predicted a tough match against Anisimova, who is back after taking a break from tennis last May to focus on her mental wellbeing, citing burnout.
“First of all, I’m happy that she’s back on tour. Secondly, we had a lot of great matches against each other, always tough battles,” she said.
“I’m happy that my first week was not simple, but it wasn’t super long matches. First week is past … now it’s time to focus to the next week.
“I’m not expecting easy matches because when you’re getting to (the) last stages of the tournaments, it’s not going to be easy at all.
“I’m just trying to prepare myself as good as I can and make sure I bring my best level and compete in the high level.”
Originally published as Australian Open day 7 live: Latest news, results from Melbourne Park