Category: Tennis

• Russian threw racket, skipped interview, broke camera
• Fined £54,000, one of biggest totals in grand slam history

Daniil Medvedev has been fined more than half of his Australian Open prize money for his behaviour at Melbourne Park.

The Russian, a three-time beaten finalist, crashed out of the tournament in the second round following a five-set loss to American teenager Learner Tien, during which he received a point penalty after throwing his racket, while he also skipped the mandatory post-match press conference.

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• Reigning champion battles heat and wind to deny Tauson
• Andreeva, Vekic, Gauff and Badosa all into round four

Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic advanced to the last 16 after the two-time champion Naomi Osaka retired during Friday’sthird-round match with an injury.

Bencic took the first set in a tie-break 7-6 (3) before Osaka, who pulled out of the Auckland final this month due to an abdominal injury, withdrew. Osaka led 5-2 in the opening set but showed signs of struggles with her abdomen and called for a physio during a changeover. The 27-year-old initially soldiered on after treatment before retiring.

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Danielle Collins got into a back-and-forth with a booing crowd at the Australian Open after eliminating local hope Destanee Aiava, and blowing kisses to the spectators. 'The people that don't like you, and the people that hate you, they actually pay your bills,' the world No 11 said.

• Danielle Collins thanks ‘super drunk’ booing fans for spurring her to victory

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• World No 121 beats No 5 seed 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 1-6, 7-6
• Californian seals victory just before 3am in Melbourne

Learner Tien, a 19-year-old qualifier from California, became the youngest American man to reach the Australian Open’s third round since Pete Sampras in 1990, upsetting a racket-tossing Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 1-6, 7-6 in a thrilling contest that began on Thursday night and ended in the wee hours of Friday in Melbourne.

The four-hour, 49-minute match had a bit of everything, including a six-minute rain delay that interrupted play shortly before 2.30am with Tien serving at 5-5 in the fifth set. When play resumed, Medvedev broke and served for the match at 6-5, but Tien refused to cede, broke back, and forced the concluding first-to-10 tiebreaker, which he emerged to win shortly before 3am. His victory came about two hours after he had failed to convert his initial match point.

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• US fourth seed gives $81,000 from first-round victory
• ‘It’s just insane what happened … I had family evacuate’

Taylor Fritz is donating his first-round prize money at the Australian Open to help people affected by the California wildfires. The American fourth seed raced through to round three with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 thumping of Chile’s Cristian Garin and then revealed that he will give Aus $132,000 (approximately $81,000 or £67,000) to relief efforts.

“I just want everyone to stay safe, it’s insane what happened,” said Fritz. “I wanted to say something after my first-round match but I’m going to be donating my first-round prize money to LA wildfire relief funds.

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British No 1 Jack Draper went through five gruelling sets to beat home favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis to reach the Australian Open third round. Draper said the abuse he got from the crowd helped him as it 'gave me actually energy giving it back a little bit'.

• ‘I had steam coming out of my ears’: Kokkinakis torment in Draper defeat

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• American beats Britain’s Jodie Burrage in straight sets
• 2023 US Open champion is undefeated in 2025

Coco Gauff stretched her unbeaten start to 2025 to seven matches and 14 sets as she moved into the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-3, 7-5 victory Britain’s Jodie Burrage.

Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion and a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park a year ago, went through a bit of a rough patch in the second set, struggling with double-faults and dropping four games in a row to go from a break up at 3-1 to a break down at 5-3. But when Burrage served for the second set, Gauff regained control, using a four-game run of her own to end the contest.

“It was tough. She was serving really well, so I was just trying to manage that, honestly,” the No 3-seeded Gauff said. “She really stepped her level up in the middle of the second set, so I was just trying to be offensive when I could.”

Gauff hit six of her seven double-faults in the second set, but was far steadier at the baseline overall, finishing the match with 11 unforced errors, compared to 37 for Burrage.

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On his grand slam debut, João Fonseca, an 18-year-old Brazilian, beat Andrey Rublev, while there were also wins for Katie Boulter, Daniil Medevdev and Elena Rybakina

Musetti, seeded 16, has taken the third-set breaker to lead Arnaldi by two sets to one; Shelton, seeded 21, leads Nakshima 7-6 7-5 6-5; and Popyrin and Moutet are locked into another brutal game, the clock ticking towards seven minutes when the Frenchman finally secures his hold for 2-1 in the first.

Yet more Italian excellence: Cobolli – a favourite of Coach Calv, our resident expert, who thinks he’s got the lot – leads Etcheverry 7-6. That breaker went to 10-8 and I’d not be surprised if we see a few more in a match that has potential to go on for epochs.

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• João Fonseca beats Andrey Rublev 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Medvedev struggled to 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 success

There were contrasting fortunes for two Russians in the first round of the Australian Open with Andrey Rublev crashing out in straight sets to João Fonseca while Daniil Medvedev smashed a net camera in an angry outburst during his five-set Australian Open win over the lowly ranked wildcard Kasidit Samrej.

Brazilian Fonseca began his grand slam career in spectacular fashion as the qualifier took down the ninth seed 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (5). Fonseca’s first main-draw match at a slam had been eagerly anticipated and the 18-year-old lived up to the hype with a stunning straight sets win in front of a captivated late-night crowd on Margaret Court Arena.

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• Michelsen beats No 11 seed in four sets
• Tiafoe grinds out five-set victory despite illness

Alex Michelsen produced the biggest win so far of his fledgling career to upset 2023 runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round of the Australian Open, and he knew instinctively where credit was due.

The 20-year-old American overcame nerves on his serve in the fourth set before clinching a 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win on Monday over Tsitsipas, the No 11 seed at this year’s tournament.

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Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion, and Alexander Zverev, the no 2 seed, both won in straight sets to move into round two

Talking of Andreeeva, here she is talking to Tumaini Carayol.

I can’t wait to see how she develops but, seeded to meet Saba in round four, she might be on borrowed time. That, contest, though, would be a treat – and most likely a lot closer than our current one. Sabalenka breaks again for 4-0, but Stephens quickly earns 15-40…

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Russian world No 9 has become as well-known for hurting himself on court as for his tennis but feels he has turned a corner

‘I’m definitely feeling much better,” Andrey Rublev says as, with disarming honesty, he offers fresh insight into his long struggle with depression and physically hurting himself on court. “I’m still not in a place where I would like to be but, finally, I have a base. I have something to step on because, half a year ago, I arrived at the worst moment of my life in terms of how I feel about myself.”

We are talking just days away from the Australian Open and Rublev, the No 9 seed who has reached the quarter-finals in three out of the past four years in Melbourne, is charming, interesting and just a little tortured as he tries to understand the reasons for his psychological complexities in a manner as friendly as it is forensic. He turns a sports interview into a free-flowing conversation in which he is not afraid to share revealing personal truths.

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Elena Rybakina has backed her former coach Stefano Vukov and expressed her disagreement with the Women’s Tennis Association as the governing body continued its investigation into the Croat on the eve of the Australian Open. 'I don’t agree with a lot of things the WTA do in the sense of my relationship with Stefano,' said Rybakina, the sixth seed in Melbourne. 'As I said before, I have never made any complaints or any of these things. I always said that he never mistreated me.' Earlier this week, the WTA confirmed it had opened an investigation into Vukov owing to an alleged breach of its code of conduct. He is provisionally suspended from the tour, meaning he cannot receive accreditation and access the private player areas despite his original intent to attend the Australian Open.

• Elena Rybakina slams WTA probe into Vukov as Australian Open nears

• Rybakina defends former coach as WTA investigates claims of misconduct

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