Comeback for Hurkacz against Shapovalov, books spot in last 16

Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 10 seed, advanced to the last 16 of the Australian Open by defeating Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the No 20 seed, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3 at Melbourne Park on Friday.

“I was up in the first and second sets, so getting one of those, at least one of those two, would have changed the match for sure. It’s a little bit difficult to try to win three straight sets against a guy that’s a top-10 player. Difficult that I wasn’t able to close out the first set and hold the break in the second. But, yeah, just tennis, that’s how it goes sometimes.” said the Canadian is press conference.

Hurkacz, ranked No 11, will play the winner of the match between American Sebastian Korda, the No 29 seed, and Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No 7 seed, next.

Ahead of his victory, the Pole won against Spaniard Pedro Martinez (7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-2) and Italian Lorenzo Sonego (3-6, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3, 6-3).

Shapovalov, ranked No 22, beat Serb Dusan Lajovic (6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1) and Japanese Taro Daniel (6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 24.297.942, most recent results first):

• Andy Murray vs. Roberto Bautista Agut
• Alexei Popyrin vs. Ben Shelton
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Novak Djokovic
• Tommy Paul vs. Jenson Brooksby
• J.J. Wolf vs. Michael Mmoh
• Benjamin Bonzi vs. Alex De Minaur
• Ugo Humbert vs. Holger Rune
• Andrey Rublev vs. Daniel Evans
• Sebastian Korda vs. Daniil Medvedev: friday
• Karen Khachanov (18) beat Frances Tiafoe (16): 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9)
• Jiri Lehecka beat Cameron Norrie (11): 6-7 (8), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (6) beat Francisco Cerundolo (28): 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
• Yoshihito Nishioka (31) beat Mackenzie McDonald: 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-2
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (3) beat Tallon Griekspoor: 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Jannik Sinner (15) beat Marton Fucsovics: 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0