SIX of the eight top 16 seeds will compete in the fourth round of the Australian Open, after all the higher ranked players won on day six of the Grand Slam. Seeds featured in seven of the eight matches, three of which were all seeds. In the sole unseeded match, United States’ Mackenzie McDonald won in straight sets over South African Lloyd Harris to be the clear underdog in the bottom half of the draw.

The match of the day was easily fourth seed Daniil Medvedev‘s five-set win over 28th seed Serbian Filip Krajinovic. The Russian looked to have everything under control early, before Krajinovic hit back wiht the next two sets. The fourth seed steadied in the final set to storm away and win 6-0 in the fifth for a 6-3 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-0 victory.

Medvedev dominated in terms of serving with 15 aces to two, whilst winning 77 per cent of his first serve points to the Serbian’s 64 per cent. Krajinovic made the most of his chances at the net however, winning 35 of 47 approaches and hit only three less winners when excluding aces (34-37).

“He played unbelievable, especially in the fourth set,” Medvedev said post-match. “Third set I had some chances… He raised his level. I tried to change my position on the return in the fifth set and it seemed to be working well, I guess.”

Compatriot Andrey Rublev advanced through to the fourth round in easier fashion, defeating veteran Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, 7-5 6-2 6-3. Of the eight players winning through, two were the Russian seeds, and the other two were the Italian seeds. Matteo Berrettini fought off a determined Karen Khachanov to win in three tiebreakers 7-6 7-6 7-6, while 16th seed Fabio Fognini was too strong for the last Australian man in Alex de Minaur.

Fognini won 6-4 6-3 6-2 in the later match, whilst over on Rod Laver Arena, second seed Rafael Nadal booked his spot in the Round of 16 with a straight sets win over Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie. Also through to the next stage were fifth seed Greek talent Stefanos Tsitsipas who defeated Swede Mikael Ymer in straight sets, while 24th seed Norwegian Casper Ruud make his first ever Grand Slam fourth round appearance with a four-set win over Moldovan Radu Albot.

Ruud was clinical in his win, having never made it into an Australian Open third round before, producing nine aces to three against Albot. He won 50 of 58 first serve points, and was more clinical on his second serve with a 63 per cent success rate. Ruud also broke five times from 12 chances compared to Albot’s two from five.

The fourth round matches set up from the day’s results sees Nadal and Fognini going head-to-head to play the winner of Tsitsipas and Berrettini. In the other quarter, Medvedev and McDonald lock horns, as Rublev and Ruud do battle as well. In today’s matches, top seed Novak Djokovic will face 14th seed Canadian Milos Raonic, whilst up the other end, Felix Auger-Aliassime takes on Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev. In the other two matches, third seed Dominic Thiem and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov will face off, while Alexander Zverev takes on Dusan Lajovic.

ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[2] Rafael Nadal (ESP) defeated Cameron Norrie (GBR) 7-5 6-2 705
[4] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) defeated [28] Filip Krajinovic (SRB) 6-3 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-0
[5] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) defeated Mikael Ymer (SWE) 6-4 6-1 6-1
[7] Andrey Rublev (RUS) defeated Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 7-5 6-2 6-3
[9] Matteo Berrettini (ITA) defeated [19] Karen Khachanov (RUS) 7-6 7-6 7-6
[16] Fabio Fognini (ITA) defeated [21] Alex de Minaur (AUS) 6-4 6-3 6-4
[24] Casper Ruud (NOR) defeated Radu Albot (MDA) 6-1 5-7 6-4 6-4
[PR] Mackenzie McDonald (USA) defeated Lloyd Harris (RSA) 7-6 6-1 6-4

Picture credit: ATP Tour