The fairy tale of Jasmine Paolini at the Australian Open continues. The Italian defeated Russian Anna Blinkova in two sets, earning her first-ever place in the round of 16 at a Slam. This is happening in a part of the women's draw that no longer sees any 'big' players in the race: in the possible quarterfinals, the challenger will be either Chinese Qinwen Zheng or French Oceane Dodin. Furthermore, world No. 1 Swiatek was shockingly eliminated by 19-year-old Czech Linda Noskova, No. 50 in the rankings, another example of a teenager eager to surprise as already seen in Australia with the very young Mirra Andreeva (16 years old) and Maria Timofeeva.
Alcaraz and Medvedev to the Round of 16
Among the men, there were no surprises for the big names with Alcaraz and Medvedev easily advancing to the round of 16, beating respectively Chinese Shang and Canadian Auger-Aliassime. Hurkacz advances, Ruud and Paul are out, while the fairy tale of French wild card Cazaux continues, who only dropped 5 games to the unfortunate Griekspoor, becoming the first wild card since 2012 to reach the round of 16.
The Paolini Fairy Tale
The applause continues in Melbourne for Tuscan tennis player Paolini who played a practically perfect match against Blinkova, who had beaten her three times out of five and had won the marathon tie-break against Elena Rybakina, signing the biggest surprise of the first week in the women's singles at the Australian Open. The Tuscan, currently number 26 in the rankings (virtually at 24), won with a score of 7-6 (1), 6-4. "I'm very happy, now I love Australia," says Paolini, who had never won a round in previous participations and is now all smiles. "After the first set, I relaxed a bit, down 1-4 I tried to focus more on what I had to do on the court. I'd say it went well. Everyone told me I could play well on hard courts but I didn't believe it. Match after match, I started to feel better and better on this surface and now I really like it." Now there's a tempting opportunity to extend her stay in Melbourne: in the round of 16, she will face Russian Anna Kalinskaya: "It will be another tough match," she explains, "she's playing well, she's tough, I know her quite well and at this point the matches turn on a few points. She's number 75 in the world but she's worth much more than her ranking."
Tomorrow at 6 Sinner-Khachanov
As for Jannik Sinner, the anticipation is growing for tomorrow's match scheduled for six in the morning in Italy against Karen Khachanov. It will be the third encounter on the Margaret Court arena with the South Tyrolean leading 2-1 in head-to-heads, but the difference with the Muscovite has always been minimal. Indeed, it was a single point played on that same court less than 3 years ago. In the midst of the pandemic, the Australian Open was preceded by some 250s in the Melbourne Park facility. In one of these - renamed Great Ocean Road Open - Sinner and the Russian faced each other in the semifinals: the Italian had the upper hand, saving a match point with a smash near the line and then qualifying for the final act of the tournament. The following day, he triumphed in the first all-Italian final in 33 years, beating Stefano Travaglia
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