MELBOURNE. – World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and men’s sixth seed Alexander Zverev both fought their way back from the brink of defeat to reach the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday, a day of close shaves for top seeds at Melbourne Park.
Swiatek said she was mentally already at the airport when trailing Danielle Collins by two breaks in the third set, while Zverev was picking his flight out of Melbourne as he stood staring at defeat in four sets to qualifier Lukas Klein.
Pole Swiatek showed all the fight of a four-time Grand Slam champion as she rallied for a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory on Rod Laver Arena, while Zverev admitted he was fortunate to prevail 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(7) over the Slovakian world No. 163.
A combination of rain interruptions and tight opening matches kept the list of “completed matches” at Melbourne Park empty until deep into the afternoon on day five of the championships.
Swiatek knew she was in for a potentially tricky contest in the opening match on Rod Laver Arena as world No. 62 Collins had beaten her in the semifinals at Melbourne Park in 2022.
The 30-year-old American, who said after the match that she would be retiring this season, came out firing after losing the opening set and Swiatek needed her best tennis to overhaul a 4-1 deficit by rattling off the last five games in the third set.
“Oh my god, honestly, I was already at the airport,” said Swiatek.
“I didn’t feel like I had control over this match (but) I wanted to fight till the end. I’m happy that I was solid, and I just believed till the end.”
Zverev admitted that Klein’s iron grip on their 4-1/2-hour contest, played mostly under the roof on John Cain Arena, had him plotting his journey back to Monte Carlo.
“I was thinking there’s a Qantas flight at 11 p.m. tonight straight to Dubai and then one to home,” Zverev said.
“A lot of the time I was a spectator in the match. I was just witnessing whether he’s going to hit a winner or miss.”
Second seed Carlos Alcaraz endured a tricky test before finding his groove to overcome Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(3) and make the third round on a day of epic battles.
“I’m really happy with my performance today,” Alcaraz said. “I think both of us played a really high level, high intensity, the match was a little bit tricky with the wind and the sun.”
The double Grand Slam champion, who missed last year’s tournament due to injury, took the opening set with a single break, then in the next set let Sonego off the hook in the ninth game, and was unable to recover from 5-1 down in the tie-break.
Women’s fifth seed Jessica Pegula bucked the trend by being unable to rally in her contest with France’s Clara Burel and the American crashed out 6-4, 6-2.
Casper Ruud, the men’s 11th seed, was also forced to battle hard for his place in the third round as he was taken to a fifth set tiebreak by local Max Purcell before winning 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7).
Ruud thought his match against the unorthodox Purcell was one he might have lost before the boost of confidence he got from a fine showing at the year-opening United Cup.
“That’s a typical match you could end up losing,” he told reporters.
