Australian Open 2021: Day 5– Novak, Thiem, Zverev, Dimitrov all overcome the 3rd round hurdle, Schwartzman and Shapovalov falter


Australian Open 2021: Day 5– Novak, Thiem, Zverev, Dimitrov all overcome the 3rd round hurdle, Schwartzman and Shapovalov falter
Dimitrov Zverev Thiem Djokovic

Day 5 of the Australian open brought mixed results for the seeded players. 1st seed Novak Djokovic, 3 rd. seed Dominic Thiem, 6th seed Alexander Zverev and 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov all qualified into the 4th round. But the tournament ended for 8th seed Diego Schwartzman and 11th seed Denis Shapovalov

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Djokovic stretched to his limits by the 27th seed 

Novak Djokovic is the top seed at this year’s Australian Open and also the defending champion. But all that reputation accounted for nothing when he came up against the 23 year old American Taylor Fritz. Fritz played the match of his life but in the end conceded a 5 set defeat to the champion. Djokovic won in 5 sets 7-6 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-2.

Thiem makes a comeback for the ages

Thiem went 0-2 sets down to Nick Kyrgios, but fought back to win the match 3-2. This is not the first time that Thiem has come back from 2 sets down to win a match and it won’t be the last time either. Thiem was calm and mostly stoic as he made the comeback and won the match 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4. He faces Dimitrov in the next round. 

Zverev shows class in straight set win against seeded opponent

Zverev finished off 32 nd seed Adrian Mannarino in straight sets 6-3 6-3 6-1 to set up a fourth round clash with Dušan Lajović of Serbia. Zverev has played wonderful tennis post his first round match with Marcos Giron, where he was stretched to 4 sets. 

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Dimitrov gets lucky with a walkover

Dimitrov had won the first set 6-0 and was leading the second one 1-0 when Pablo Carreño Busta gave a walkover. Busta had fallen ill and was not in a position to compete. The final scoreline 6-0 1-0 in favour of Dimitrov. 

Schwartzman and Shapovalov exit the tournament

Schwartzman lost to Aslan Karatsev 3-6 3-6 4-6.   

Denis Shapovalov was defeated by Felix Auger Aliassime 5-7 5-7 3-6.

Other Results :

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  • Milos Raonic beat Márton Fucsovics 7-6(7-2), 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
  • Dušan Lajović beat Pedro Martínez 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 

Also read: Australian Open 2021: Day 4– Nadal, Tsitsipas, Medvedev, Berrettini, Rublev all win their 2nd round matches, Coric and Sonego fall