Australian Open:

Fritz and Swiatek stroll into the third round

Taylor Fritz defeated the qualifier Cristian Garin in three sets.(Bild: AP/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Taylor Fritz easily advanced to the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday. The American, seeded fourth, dispatched Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin 6:2, 6:1, 6:0 in less than an hour and a half. World number two Iga Swiatek from Poland was also completely unchallenged in her 6-0, 6-2 win over Rebecca Sramkova from Slovakia. Lucas Miedler got off to a successful start in the doubles competition, while Julia Grabher was eliminated.

Fritz once again did not lose serve. "It feels great to play a match like this," said the ATP Finals finalist, who announced that he would donate his prize money of 132,000 Australian dollars (79,441 euros) to the fire-fighting efforts in Los Angeles. He had already played very well in the first round. "I therefore have a lot of self-confidence." His next opponent will be 38-year-old Frenchman Gael Monfils, who reached the second round for the twelfth time in Melbourne. The 7:5,6:3,7:6(3) against the German Daniel Altmaier was the seventh match win in a row for the Auckland champion.

Much to the delight of the crowd, Alex de Minaur was unchallenged. The eighth-ranked Australian was only on court for two hours in his 6:2, 6:4, 6:3 win over US qualifier Tristan Boyer. Now it's time to play the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo.

Miedler on, Grabher out
For Miedler, the doubles competition with Mexican Santiago Gonzalez got off to a disastrous start. After losing the first set 1:6 against Japan's Seita Watanabe/Takeru Yuzuki, the duo pulled their heads out of the noose with a 6:3, 6:4 win. After 1:25 hours, promotion was secured. Miedler's former partner Alexander Erler and German Andreas Mies will also be fighting for this against Andre Goransson/Sem Verbeek (SWE/NED).

Grabher is already out of the tournament, having also failed to score a success in the doubles after her failure in the singles. Together with Great Britain's Tara Moore, she lost to the Americans Bernarda Pera/Sabrina Santamaria 4:6, 6:2, 4:6. In the singles, the 23-year-old Swiatek fought a duel with Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open winner, to reach the round of 16. The Brit eliminated Amanda Anisimova from the USA 6:3, 7:5.

Yelena Rybakina also advanced to the 3rd round with a 6:0,6:3 win over Iva Jovic. Emma Navarro had to fight hard once again. After her marathon match in the 1st round against compatriot Peyton Stearns (WTA 46), the world number eight from the USA also needed a lot of staying power against China's Wang Xiyu (WTA 108). While she had been on court for 3:22 hours on Tuesday, she "only" needed 2:13 hours for the 6:3, 3:6, 6:4.