Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas and Italy's Jannik Sinner will cross swords in the fourth round of the Australian Open, in what will be a rematch of last year's quarterfinal, after registering contrasting victories in their third-round matches on Friday.
The third seed Tsitsipas extended his perfect set record at the 2023 Australian Open to 9-0, beating Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-3. The Greek saved a set point late in the second set before powering through the finish at the Rod Laver Arena.
Already up one place to No. 3 in the ATP Live Rankings this week, Tsitsipas will leave Melbourne as World No. 1 if he wins his first Grand Slam title. Tsitsipas will take a 4-1 ATP head-to-head advantage against Sinner into their fourth-round meeting, including a streak of nine consecutive sets won.
Their most recent meeting came last year in Rome, after the Greek's 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win in Melbourne. "I enjoyed fighting my way through today," Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview.
"It wasn't easy at times. I had the crowd with me, as always. It's always a great sensation when I'm out here. I was good mixing it up today, mixing up my slice, and opening the court.
I think my placement on serve was exceptional today. I didn't have a lot of rallies on my serve, which helped a lot today to keep things clean."
Meanwhile, playing at the Margaret Court Arena, Sinner put the finishing touches on a 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 victory against Hungary's Marton Fucsovics, who was bidding to match his best Australian Open result by reaching the last 16 for the third time.
In both previous instances, he was defeated at that stage by Roger Federer (2018, 2020). "For sure the first two sets were very tough for me," Sinner said. "Obviously I had to change something in my game after the two sets.
I was feeling the ball quite well in the beginning, but in the final shots, I was missing a little bit. Tactically I was not so good." The 21-year-old Italian gained a measure of Grand Slam revenge with the victory, having lost to Fucsovics at the 2020 Australian Open and 2021 Wimbledon.