MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Andy Murray will try to overcome whatever lingering exhaustion he might have after two five-set matches and more than 10 hours of action at the Australian Open when he plays Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in the fourth round. Murray played the longest match of his career to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis across 5 hours, 45 minutes in the second round. That came after a match that lasted nearly 5 hours in the first round.
Murray is a three-time Grand Slam champion and a five-time runner-up at Melbourne Park. He is bidding to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam event for the first time since Wimbledon in 2017. The 35-year-old Murray had a metal hip inserted in 2019. Nine-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic will test out his sore hamstring when he plays 27th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov. Djokovic is 9-1 for his career against Dimitrov. Djokovic would equal Rafael Nadal’s men’s record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles if he wins the Australian Open. No. 4 Caroline Garcia and No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka are among the women in third-round action as Week 1 comes to a close.
SATURDAY’S FORECAST
Mostly sunny. High of 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius).
FRIDAY’S KEY RESULTS
Women’s Third Round: No. 1 Iga Swiatek beat Cristina Bucsa 6-0, 6-1; No. 3 Jessica Pegula beat Marta Kostyuk 6-0, 6-2; Zhu Lin beat No. 6 Maria Sakkari 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-4; No. 7 Coco Gauff beat Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-2; No. 24 Victoria Azarenka beat No. 10 Madison Keys 1-6, 6-2, 6-1; No. 20 Barbora Krejcikova beat Anhelina Kalinina 6-2, 6-3; No. 22 Elena Rybakina beat No. 13 Danielle Collins 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
Men’s Third Round: No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-3; No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4; Sebastian Korda beat No. 7 Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (7), 6-3, 7-6 (4); No. 10 Hubert Hurkacz beat No. 20 Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (3), 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3; No. 15 Jannik Sinner beat Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0; No. 18 Karen Khachanov beat No. 16 Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9).
STAT OF THE DAY
Zero — Number of times in his career Jannik Sinner had come back to win after dropping the first two sets of a match until doing so on Friday.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I was thinking to myself, ‘What is he doing here?’ He should be in bed.” — Stefanos Tsitsipas on seeing Andy Murray at Melbourne Park hours after finishing a match at 4:05 a.m.
