Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️
Today’s tennis mood: Inspired + anticipation.
We’re marching toward week two of the Australian Open, but not before a whole slate of third-round matches get underway today (that’s Saturday in Australia). Can Stan Wawrinka continue his wild-card run against Taylor Fritz? How will American up-and-comer Eliot Spizzirri handle playing Jannik Sinner on such a massive stage? And let’s see what happens in the all-American match-up of Amanda Anisimova and Peyton Stearns.
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Let’s tennis!
-Allen
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🎾 The Highlights Center: If you missed it overnight, these are the Australian Open match highlights you’ve got to see for yourself…
🎾 Teenspiration: Iva Jovic, the 18-year-old American, claimed her first top-ten win by defeating Jasmine Paolini, 6-2, 7-6, on Friday. That win has put her into the second week of a major for the first time — and she’s done so without dropping a set. These results are from some truly flawless tennis, but a little boost from some Novak Djokovic advice certainly doesn’t hurt.
What she said: “[Djokovic] gave me some very attentive tips for my game and something I can try to incorporate into this match that I just played,” Jovic said in her post-match press conference, “so that was one of the things in the forefront of my mind, because I think when Novak gives you some advice, you follow it!”
🎾 Rematch!: Daniil Medvedev came back from two sets down in a four-hour battle against Fabian Marozsan, putting him into the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday. His reward? Facing Learner Tien in the next round. It was one year ago that the Russian learned exactly what a tough customer the young American is, as he lost in a fifth set tiebreak of the second round of the Australian Open. Tien also got the best of him in Beijing later in the year. Medvedev did finally peel off a win in Shanghai in another fight that went the distance.
🎾 One to watch: Peyton Stearns vs. Amanda Anisimova (3rd round - Australian Open - Melbourne): An all-American battle to see who gets into the second week of a slam? Yes, please. These two ultra competitors will be hammering the ball from the first point. Overall, that favors Anisimova. But expect some craftiness from Stearns to break Anisimova’s rhythm and to give herself space to run around some backhands to clobber more forehands from the reverse position.
The record: Peyton Stearns leads the head-to-head record over Amanda Anisimova, 1-0, after winning in three sets on the clay of Madrid last year.
On the line: Defending ranking points isn’t an issue here. For Anisimova, this match is an obstacle to getting into another major final. Expect her to try to plow through it. On Stearns’s side of the court, this match represents an opportunity to march back toward her career-high ranking of 28 after a (mostly) disappointing 2025.
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
(Yesterday’s poll results: 91.67% of you voted for Alex de Minaur defeating Frances Tiafoe. Indeed, de Minaur won, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.)
And that’s game.
