Jannik Sinner And Flavio Cobolli, forward, Lorenzo Musetti and Matteo Arnaldi eliminated: this is the verdict of the matches of the second round of the Australian Open which saw the Azzurri involved. Musetti, the last to take the field, succumbed to 19-year-old Frenchman Luca Van Assche at the end of an almost four-hour marathon.
Instead, the tale of Flavio Cobolli continues: the Roman (but Florentine by birth) tennis player, n. 100 in the world, he beat the Russian Pavel Kotov, number 65, in four sets, 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2. He is the first Italian in the history of the Australian Open to reach the third round starting from the qualifications in the Open era and in the third round he will find the Australian Alex De Minaur, number 10 in the world, who eliminated Matteo Arnaldi during the night with a clear 6 -3, 6-0, 6-3, in two hours. Jannik Sinner also did well: the 22-year-old South Tyrolean number 4 in the world easily beat the 23-year-old Dutchman Jesper de Jong in three games, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.. The game was played with the roof closed due to heavy rain. Sinner will face the winner between the Argentine Sebastian Baez (n.29) and the Colombian Danel Galan (n.87).
Among the women, reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka advances to the third round: the 25-year-old Belarusian, number 2 in the world and second seed, beats the 16-year-old Czech Brenda Fruhvirtova, number 107 in the WTA ranking, with a score of
6-3, 6-2, in one hour and seven minutes. Coco Gauff also did well (beat her American compatriot Caroline Dolehid 7-6(2) 6-2). The 2018 winner Caroline Wozniacki was out, beaten by the qualifier Maria Timofeeva 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. (AGI)