MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - The Latest on the Australian Open (all times local):
12:25 a.m.
Fabio Fognini is taking no shortcuts so far at the Australian Open.
The 12th-seeded Italian has won a pair of five-setters to get to the third round at Melbourne Park - and because his latest win ended after midnight, he has competed on all four days since the tournament began.
Fognini needed more than four hours and a total of five match points to finally get past Jordan Thompson of Australia 7-6 (4), 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (4) in the second round.
In his opening match, which began Monday but concluded Tuesday after being suspended by rain, Fognini came back to win after falling into a two-sets-to-none hole against Reilly Opelka.
The match against Thompson started Wednesday and wasn’t wrapped up until past 12:10 a.m. on Thursday local time at Margaret Court Arena.
Because that one stretched so long, the last match scheduled for Wednesday on that court - No. 10 Madison Keys vs. Arantxa Rus - was moved to Rod Laver Arena.
Keys beat Rus 7-6 (3), 6-2, closing it out a few minutes after Fognini’s victory.
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10:40 p.m.
Roger Federer reached the third round at the Australian Open for the 21st time in a row - that’s every year since his tournament debut in 2000 - by beating Filip Krajinovic 6-1, 6-4, 6-1.
The 20-time major champion has won the title in Australia six times and showed why against the 41st-ranked Krajinovic, winning in 1 hour, 32 minutes.
“I’m feeling really relaxed on court,” the 38-year-old Federer said. “I’m happy. I’m still going, and looking forward to the next one, of course.”
Krajinovic’s first-round match was delayed because of heavy rain on Day 1 of the tournament, and he had to get through a tough five-setter against Quentin Halys. Federer finished off a straight-set first-round win over Steve Johnson in 1:21 on Monday.
“It wasn’t 100% fair he played 3 1/2 hours yesterday and I played zero,” Federer said. “Yeah, I do feel a little sorry … but you’ve got to take advantage of it, I guess.”
Federer will next play John Millman, the Australian who produced an upset win over him at the 2018 U.S. Open.
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9:55 p.m.
Police say up to 20 people were ejected from the Australian Open for disruptive behavior. The group of men were supporting Greek player Maria Sakkari in a late afternoon match on Court 8 against Nao Hibino of Japan.
“About 6.05 p.m. this evening a group of 15-20 males were evicted from the tennis for disruptive behavior,” Victoria state police said in a statement. “The group had received numerous warnings during a match on Court 8 from a match referee, security and police. After the match the group were asked to leave and did so peacefully.”
The 22nd-seeded Sakkari won the match 7-6 (4), 6-4 and will next play either 10th-seeded Madison Keys or Arantxa Rus.
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8:40 p.m.
Serena Williams moved a step closer in her bid for a record 24th major title with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Tamara Zidansek to reach the third round at the Australian Open.
Williams won the last of her seven Australian Open titles in 2017, but hasn’t added a major championship since then. She took time off the tour to have her daughter, Olympia, and has lost four Grand Slam finals in the last two seasons. Her title in Auckland, New Zealand recently was her first at tour-level in almost three years.
The 38-year-old Williams dominated in the first set but was slowed down slightly in the second, when the roof was closed because of rain, and the 70th-ranked Zidansek saved the first seven break-point chances she faced.
“I knew I had to step up, otherwise it was going to be a really long evening for me,” Williams said.
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8 p.m.
Bob and Mike Bryan have started their farewell to Grand Slam doubles with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 first-round win over Rohan Bopanna and Yasutaka Uchiyama at the Australian Open.
The 41-year-old American twins have won six Australian Open doubles championships among their record 16 major titles together. The most accomplished men’s doubles team in history, the Bryans announced late last year that they planned to retire after the 2020 U.S. Open.
They won their last Australian title in 2013.
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7:40 p.m.
Three-time major semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov has been eliminated at the Australian Open by 22-year-old American Tommy Paul in a second-round match that went to a fifth-set tiebreaker.
Paul had never won a Grand Slam match until this week.
He is ranked 80th.
But he built a two-sets-to-none lead against the 18th-seeded Dimitrov, gave that lead away, was two points from defeat and then pulled out the victory.
Dimitrov’s semifinals at major tournaments include a run to that stage in Australia three years ago and at the U.S. Open in 2019.
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7 p.m.
Milos Raonic has set up a third-round match against 2019 semifinalist Stefanos Tsitsipas by beating Cristian Garin 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 at Melbourne Arena.
Raonic, the 2016 Wimbledon runner-up, had 11 of his 19 aces in the third set.
Tsitsipas took advantage of a walkover in his second-round match, advancing without hitting a ball when Philipp Kohlschreiber pulled out of their match because of a muscle strain.
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6:20 p.m.
Tennys Sandgren has upset eighth-seeded Matteo Berrettini of Italy in five sets to reach the third round.
Sandgren is ranked only 100th.
He wasted a two-sets-to-none lead against 2019 U.S. Open semifinalist Berrettini but managed to pull out the victory by a score of 7-6 (7), 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 7-5.
Sandgren improved to 4-0 in five-setters. It was also the fourth top-10 win of his career; two of the others also came at Melbourne Park, back in 2018, when Sandgren reached the quarterfinals.
Up next for Sandgren is an all-American matchup against Sam Querrey.
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4:30 p.m.
Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic avoided the same mistake he made three years go when he met a wild-card entry in the second round in Melbourne.
Djokovic beat Tatsuma Ito 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in a swirling breeze on Rod Laver Arena to advance to a third-round match against another Japanese player, Yoshihito Nishioka, who is coming off a win over 30th-seeded Dan Evans.
In 2017, Djokovic was upset in the second round by Denis Istomin who, like Ito, had earned his spot in the main draw by winning the Asia-Pacific wild-card playoff. That was Djokovic’s worst performance in Australia since a first-round exit in 2006.
His experience at Melbourne Park counted as the wind picked up in the afternoon.
“Credit to (Ito) for fighting to the end. Tough conditions out here,” Djokovic said. “”The wind can get you out of your comfort zone very quickly.”
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3:40 p.m.
Coco Gauff has beaten Sorana Cirstea 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to set up a third-round match against defending champion Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open.
The 15-year-old Gauff rallied after losing the first set and got the pivotal service break in the next-to-last game before serving out against 29-year-old Cirstea, who is playing at the Australian Open for a 12th time.
Gauff started the tournament with her second first-round win over Venus Williams in three majors, following her upset over the seven-time Grand Slam champion at last year’s Wimbledon.
Osaka had to overcame swirling winds on Margaret Court Arena to beat Zheng Saisai 6-2, 6-4 in one of the first matches on Day 3.
Gauff reached the fourth round on her Wimbledon debut and the third round at the U.S. Open.
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3 p.m.
Caroline Wozniacki has continued her farewell tournament by overcoming a 5-1 first-set deficit and beating Dayana Yastremska 7-5, 7-5 on her sixth match point in the second round.
Wozniacki has said she plans to retire after this Australian Open. The 2018 champion had three match points in the 10th game of the second set but Yastremska held in a game after she’d taken a medical timeout to treat her left leg.
Wozniacki eventually clinched it two games later with a service break, and wiped tears from her eyes.
Former No. 1-ranked Wozniacki will next play Ons Jabeur, who beat Caroline Garcia 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
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2:50 p.m.
Coco Gauff has sent her second-round match with Sorana Cirstea to a third set at the Australian Open. After Cirstea won the first set 6-4, the 15-year-old Gauff took the second set 6-3. The winner will play defending champion Naomi Osaka in the third round.
Earlier, Elise Martin beat Danka Kovinic 6-2, 6-0 to complete the last of the eight first-round women’s singles matches played on Day 3. They were carried over because of heavy rainfall on Monday that caused a backlog.
Several of those hadn’t been completed before some other players, including Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova, had advanced to the third round.
The eight matches were all in the bottom half of the women’s draw.
Among the first-round winners were Carla Suarez Navarro, Heather Watson’ and Taylor Townsend. No. 28 Anett Kontaveit and No. 30 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also advanced from the first round.
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2:20 p.m.
Top-ranked Ash Barty has advanced to the third round at Melbourne Park with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Polona Hercog.
Home favorite Barty shook off a habit of losing the first set in recent matches to dominate early and set up a straight sets win.
In the second set, she saved three break points in the eighth game and broke Hercog in the next. Serving for the match, Barty still had to save two break points, one with an ace and the other with a service winner. She had another service winner on match point.
“I was glad I was able to save a few break points there in the second set,” Barty said. “The wind was a huge factor.”
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1:25 p.m.
Sixth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas got a walkover into the third round at Melbourne Park when his Phillip Kohlschreiber pulled out of their scheduled match because a muscle strain.
Tsitsipas will face either Milos Raonic or Cristian Garin in the third round. Tsitsipas has become a local favorite due to Melbourne’s large Greek population.
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12:55 p.m.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova saved three set points in the second set before beating Paula Badosa 7-5, 7-5 to advance to the third round.
Kvitova rallied from 0-40 down in the 10th game of the second set to hold serve and then broke in the next game to regain control of the match.
Kvitova lost last year’s final here to Naomi Osaka, who also advanced Wednesday to the third round. French Open champion and local hope Ash Barty was next up on Rod Laver Arena.
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12:40 p.m.
Defending champion Naomi Osaka overcame swirling winds on Margaret Court Arena to beat Zheng Saisai 6-2, 6-4 and advance to the third round.
Osaka became upset with herself at times. After having her service broken in the second set Osaka threw her racket to the ground, tossed a ball from her hand and kicked the racket along the court. She then sat in her court-side chair with a towel over her head. But she rallied back and clinched the match when Zheng double-faulted on match point.
Third-seeded Osaka said the best part about winning over Zheng was how she was able to deal with all the emotions.
“I hope you guys like the tennis that’s coming after my match,” third-seeded Osaka said, “because it wasn’t that pretty.”
Because of suspended matches from rain on Monday, eight first-round women’s singles matches were not completed Tuesday. That meant Osaka had advanced to the third round before some of those players had finished their first.
In other second-round matches, No. 14 Sofia Kenin beat qualifier Ann Li 6-1, 6-3. Anett Kontaveit beat wild-card entry Astra Sharma 6-0, 6-2 in a first-round match.
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11:10 a.m.
Play is underway on Day 3 at the Australian Open with defending champion Naomi Osaka playing Zheng Saisai in the opening match at Margaret Court Arena.
Later at Rod Laver Arena it’ll be a cavalcade of Grand Slam singles winners. Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is playing the first match there against Paula Badosa, followed by French Open champion and local hope Ash Barty’s second-round match against Polona Hercog.
Closing out the action at Rod Laver will be players with a total of 59 Grand Slam singles championships: Novak Djokovic with 16 concluding the day program and Serena Williams (23) and Roger Federer (20) playing at night.
Temperatures were expected to reach 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) during the day with the possibility of evening showers.
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