Australian Open, day 4: Schwartzman, Djokovic, Ruud and Murray play in search of the third round

After two days complicated by sweltering heat and rain, the forecast for Thursday in Melbourne promises more pleasant temperatures, with highs of 18C, partly cloudy skies and little chance of rain. Perfect weather for Australian Open 2023 the curtain falls on the second round of the main draw, in a day that will once again diego schwartzmann Already Novak Djokovic as the main attraction.

The littleseeded number 23 in the tournament, will face the American JJ Wolf, 66th in the standings, in a duel that will be played around midnight on Wednesday in Argentina. It will be on Pitch 3, after the game, that the English will play, starting at 21:00 Daniel Evans (25°) and French Jeremy Chardy.

Schwartzman, 25 of ATP extensionarrived at the tournament “touched”, with a left adductor injury that forced him out of his duel in the first round of the ATP 250 in Auckland against Jenson Brookbyand struggled with some discomfort during his Oceanic Grand Slam debut.

The porteño had to work hard to defeat the Ukrainian 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 and 7-6 (7-5) Oleksii Krutychcoming from qualy, in a match which was suspended for more than three hours due to the heat and which he played “pastillado”.

“Everything legal, everything allowed, but I took a pill in the morning and again in the afternoon to be able to play,” he said after the victory in a chat with ESPN who thus cut a negative streak of eight consecutive defeats. He hadn’t won on tour since the second round of US Openlast September.

Wolf, for his part, also beat the Australian in four sets Jordan Thomson.

Djokovic will be in charge of opening the night session of Rod Laver arena, already dawn Argentina. The Serbian, fourth favorite and one of the players who could leave Australia as number one, will clash with the French from 05:00 in our country Enzo Couacaudalso from the previous stage and winner in the first round of the Bolivian Hugo Dellien.

Freight he beat the Spaniard in his debut with a solid 6-3, 6-4 and 6-0 Roberto Carballes Baenain a bout that marked his return to the tournament after his controversial dismissal last year, relating to his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The former number one, now on the fifth step of the standings, wants to add his tenth crown in the first “big” of the season and his 22nd in a Grand Slam, to equal the historical record in that category he currently holds Rafael Nadal.

The other highlight of the day will be the clash between Andy Murray (49th) e Thanasi Kokkinakis (110°), scheduled for the last lap of Margherita Court Arenaaround 6.30 in the morning.

The 35-year-old Scot grabbed an epic win against the Italian in his debut Matthew Berrettini14th in the world and one of the fiercest rivals on the circuit, beaten in a tough match lasting almost five hours by 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7-9) and 7-6 (10- 6).

Murray, a former number one and three-time Grand Slam champion, grabbed his first win against a top 20 player at a ‘big’ since 2017 and took another step in his campaign to return to tennis’ elite after two surgeries hip and several seasons complicated by injuries.

Kokkinakis, champion of the contest last year in doubles with Nick Kyrgiosis one of the big local hopes and started in Melbourne with a solid 6-1, 6-2 and 6-2 against Fabio Fognini.

Casper Ruudsecond favorite and another of the candidates to climb to the top of the standings, will compete against the American from 10.30pm Jenson Brookby. They will also play Andrei Rublev (5th)-Emil Ruusuvuori; Taylor Fritz (8th)-Alexei Popyrin; Rune Holger (9th)-Maxime Cressi Y Alexander Zverev (12th)-michael mmoh; among others.

For the second round of the women’s draw, the highlights are the presentations by On Jabeur Y Caroline Garciasecond and fourth seeds, respectively.

The Tunisian, number two in the world and finalist of the US Open 2022, will face the Czech Marketa Vondrousova, 78th. And the French, fourth in the WTA and recent champion of the women’s Masters, will play with the Canadian Leylah Fernández39th.