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.
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Matches we’re monitoring today:
Melbourne - Australian Open (Hard)
Women’s matches
Karolina Pliskova vs. Madison Keys (3rd round)
Naomi Osaka vs. Maddison Inglis (3rd round)
Jessica Pegula vs. Oksana Selekhmeteva (3rd round)
Anna Kalinskaya vs. Iga Swiatek (3rd round)
Elise Mertens vs. Nikola Bartunkova (3rd round)
Elena Rybakina vs. Tereza Valentova (3rd round)
Linda Noskova vs. Xinyu Wang (3rd round)
Men’s matches
Eliot Spizzirri vs. Jannik Sinner (3rd round)
Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Novak Djokovic (3rd round)
Ben Shelton vs. Valentin Vacherot (3rd round)
Marin Cilic vs. Casper Ruud (3rd round)
Lorenzo Musetti vs. Tomas Machac (3rd round)
Stan Wawrinka vs. Taylor Fritz (3rd round)
Karen Khachanov vs. Luciano Darderi (3rd round)
Jakub Mensik vs. Ethan Quinn (3rd round)
📺 Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
💬 For real-time match commentary and conversation, follow Court Theory on Bluesky.
Eliot Spizzirri considers his big moment on a big stage against an even bigger opponent in Jannik Sinner.
The ATP released a mini doc on Alex de Minaur as he continues to work through his home slam.
Andrea Petkovic sends a postcard from Melbourne.
Yulia Putintseva sure did celebrate her win over Zeynap Sonmez. 😬
The WTA teens are here and winning in Melbourne.
The British are crunching the numbers on their tennis disappointment.
Just happy to be here? Injured (but functional) players take on a new attitude toward their ailments.
Aryna Sabalenka is understandably quite pleased about her new partnership with Gucci.
The Valentin Vacherot-Arthur Rinderknech connection is only part of the story.
Jana Fett, who has one of the coolest names in tennis, has tested positive for three banned substances.
Do you have what it takes to become an Australian Open ballkid?
