Tsitsipas, Medvedev advance to 3rd round of Australian Open

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev have qualified for the third round of the 2023 Australian Open after Wednesday's matches.

Third seed Tsitsipas of Greece defeated his Australian opponent Rinky Hijikata 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 in a second-round match at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena.

Tsitsipas, 24, who was the 2021 French Open finalist, will face Dutch national Tallon Griekspoor in the next phase.

Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev, who is still competing under a neutral flag due to Russia's war on Ukraine, reserved his place in the third round after beating Australia's John Millman with the sets of 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.

Medvedev, 26, who won the 2021 US Open and has played in the Australian Open final twice, will take on US player Sebastian Korda in round three.

Ranked sixth in women's singles, Maria Sakkari from Greece came back against 18-year-old Diana Shnaider at Margaret Court Arena.

Sakkari won the match with sets of 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to march to the third round.

She will play against Lin Zhu in the next stage.

Meanwhile, Victoria Azarenka, who won the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013 in women's singles, reached 150 Grand Slam match wins.

Azarenka, 33 dominated Argentina's Nadia Podoroska 6-1, 6-0 to reach the third round in the Australian Open.

She has been playing in Grand Slams since 2006.

In the next round in Melbourne, Azarenka will meet world no. 10 Madison Keys from the US.