Aussie Bites: They're heeeeere.

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Nuts and Bolts

Day 6 Results | Updated Draws

• The Upshot: Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka moved through and Daniil Medvedev and Coco Gauff survived scares, but the day belonged to a trio of WTA teenagers, with 18-year-old American Iva Jovic toppling Jasmine Paolini for her first Top 10 win, and Victoria Mboko and Mirra Andreeva joining her in the Round of 16.
• Bracket Busters: Less than 24 hours after 19-year-old Nikola Bartunkova knocked off 10th seed Belinda Bencic, the youngest player in the Top 100, Jovic, took out an ailing 7th seed Paolini in straight sets, winning 6-2, 7-6(3).

Day 7 Order of Play

• On tap for Day 7: It's set to be an absolute scorcher, with temperatures forecast to crack 100F/40C. Accordingly, play will start an hour earlier at 10am, with RLA and MCA getting underway at 10:30am. Heaven help the men and women who are scheduled second or third on – they'll have to deal with the worst of it, though a possible roof closure could help on RLA and JCA. (AP)
  • Men's matches: Musetti vs. Machac, Wawrinka vs. Fritz, Mensik vs. Quinn, Van de Zandschulp vs. Djokovic, Shelton vs. Vacherot, Cilic vs. Ruud, Khachanov vs. Darderi, Spizzirri vs. Sinner.
    • Wawrinka-Fritz are set for 5pm on John Cain Arena. Set your clocks for that one.
  • Women's matches: Pegula vs. Selekhmeteva, Pliskova vs. Keys, Noskova vs. Wang, Stearns vs. Anisimova, Rybakina vs. Valentova, Mertens vs. Bartunkova, Osaka vs. Inglis, Kalinskaya vs. Swiatek.
    • If we get chalk in the women's matches on Friday, we're set for an absurd Round of 16: Pegula-Keys, Noskova-Anisimova, Rybakina-Mertens, Osaka-Swiatek.

Day 7 Highlights

• The Greatest Rivalry in Tennis will get yet another installment at the Australian Open. What? NO I am NOT talking about Sincaraz. I am TALKING about MEDVEDEV-TIEN IV. That's right, sports fans. The rivalry that turned men's professional tennis on its head last year returns to Melbourne Park, as Daniil Medvedev tries desperately to exorcise the demon that has haunted his last 12 months, that soul-sucking dementor of a beast being this guy:

• Of course, while Learner was putting on a clinic in a 7-6(9), 6-4, 6-2 win over Nuno Borges, Daniil was wandering around wondering if he even wanted that smoke. The man had to rally from 0-2 down to beat Fabian Marozsan 6-7(5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3. He's so drama.

• When you're a talented teenager coming through in the wake of Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, and Mirra Andreeva, it's hard to get people's attention. But the signs have been there from the start of Iva Jovic's pro career that she has the pedigree of a prodigy. She made her Grand Slam debut at the 2024 US Open as a 17-year-old after winning the USTA's under-18s National Championship. She was the youngest woman in the draw and proceeded to win her first-round match, beating Magda Linette. She's advanced past the first round in all but one of her five Grand Slam appearances, a notable fact for any teenager on tour. And she came through last fall in Guadalajara to become the youngest WTA champion of 2025 and youngest American to win a WTA title since Gauff won her first in 2021.
• That win rocketed Jovic up the rankings to finish the year in side the Top 40. And while everyone had their attention elsewhere, she started the 2026 season strong, making the semifinals in Auckland and the final in Hobart.

• All that is to say, we should have seen this coming for the affable Serbian-American from California (I'm not biased, I promise). She has a solid baseline game and after putting in the hours in the gym and the track over the off-season, she's notably stronger and fitter this year. Paolini was nowhere near her best – she blamed a liedown after lunch for upsetting her stomach – but Jovic has been building to this result. She'll play Yulia Putintseva for a spot in the quarterfinals.

• Speaking of Putintseva, she held off another inspired effort from Turkey's Zeynap Sonmez and then let the partisan fans have it:

• Before Jovic blew past Paolini, it was 17th seed Vicky Mboko who made waves with a dramatic three-set win over 14th seed Clara Tauson to advance to her first Grand Slam Round of 16. The 19-year-old looked primed for a straight set win but got tight and squandered three match points before Tauson forced her into a third. No bother for the composed Canadian. She refocused and closed out a 7-5(5), 5-7, 6-3 win. She has a legitimate shot at making a Top 10 debut over the next few months.

• BUT, she'll have to take down the World No.1 if she wants to stay in Melbourne. Mboko will get her first look at Aryna Sabalenka in the next round. Sabalenka overcame a slight wobble to beat Anastasia Potapova 7-6(4), 7-6(7). She still has not lost a set. (AP)
• 18th seed Francisco Cerundolo was outstanding in his 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 win over 13th seed Andrey Rublev. So was Alex De Minaur, who played perfectly to beat Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. That's just an all-time brutal third-round draw for Frances. (ATP)

• Carlos Alcaraz and Corentin Moutet played a fun little 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 friendly. Carlos absolutely remains on his bullshit (complementary):

• Alcaraz will face a familiar foe in the fourth round: Tommy Paul. He advanced when Alejandro Davidovich Fokina retired. Tommy has two wins over Carlos, both on hard court, but both also came before 2024.
• Coco Gauff keeps scrapping and winning, and that's what she does. She had to come back from a set down to better Hailey Baptiste 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. She'll play Karolina Muchova, against whom she's 8-0 in sets. Muchova dropped just two games to Magda Linette.
• But let's take note of Hailey's improvements. She's looking fit and was firing, and her all-court game is so much fun when it's clicking.

• Closing out the night, Mirra Andreeva returned to the Round of 16 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Elena Gabriela Ruse. She'll play Elina Svitolina, who eased past Diana Shnaider in straight sets. This is Andreeva's fourth straight Round of 16 at Melbourne Park. Pretty good for an 18 year old.

Daily Reads

• The Walking Wounded were just happy to get a chance to play again in Week 1. (The Athletic)

There was Stefanos Tsitsipas, who spent last year nursing an ailing back.

There was Grigor Dimitrov, who tore a pectoral muscle two sets to love up against Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, an injury that required surgery and amounted to his fifth retirement in five Grand Slams.

There was Karolína Muchová, who has found some solidity in her ailing wrist.

There was Paola Badosa (back); Tommy Paul (shoulder, adductor, ruptured tendon in his foot); Hubert Hurkacz (torn meniscus); Sloane Stephens (stress fracture in her foot); Shang Juncheng (a bone spur and stress fracture in his foot) and Ben Shelton (shoulder strain).

All of them had moments when they looked into the abyss, wondering what the next tennis version of themselves might look like — or whether it would exist at all.

“Results don’t even matter to me. What matters is training properly and not feeling pain and not being bothered by anything.” Tsitsipas, who contemplated a future without tennis during his back issues last year, said during a news conference ahead of the tournament.

• Very good piece from Charlie Eccleshare, who dives into the thorny issue of broadcast rights in tennis. I suspect the restrictions will loosen but, as with everything in this sport, progress is moving at a snail's pace. (The Athletic)

This combination of platforms, subscription costs and split services is a feature, rather than a bug, because of how central broadcast media rights are to tennis’ financial ecosystem. ESPN will pay $2.04 billion (£1.58 bn) to air the U.S. Open through 2037, while Wimbledon’s broadcast deal with ABC and ESPN networks comes in at $52.5m per year as of 2024, according to SP Global. Those revenues, along with ticket sales and sponsorships, form the three pillars of how tennis tournaments make money.

At the upper echelons of tennis, media rights revenues take up more of that three-way split; moving down the pyramid of events, they take up less. For the biggest events, that means their value requires protection, which means being officious about broadcast restrictions. One of the main limitations to Gauff’s desire for more social content? Players, who create the product for which media companies pay so much, can’t even share footage of themselves.

• Tough to watch: Alexei Popyrin holds back tears as he explains his state of mind after losing his eighth straight match, a heartbreaking five-setter in the first round:

• Is Mirra Andreeva ready to win a Slam? Lots of folks are picking her to break through this year. (ESPN)

When Mirra Andreeva won the Adelaide title last weekend, it didn't take her long to discover that three of the past four winners of that title have gone on to win the Australian Open the same year. That includes Madison Keys, who was a surprise champion in Melbourne 12 months ago.

"Yes, I do know [about it]," she told ESPN in an interview at Melbourne Park after winning her first-round match on Monday. "I'm trying not to think about it as we're different people, different players. I'm trying to keep my mind off of that."

• Things we love to see: Doug Robson on the ground covering the tennis once again. (US Open)
• Giri Nathan still trying to crack the case on why the balls seem to have gotten worse. Could it be that the biggest critic was just playing like crap at the time of the critique? (Defector)

• In more tennis news: Trinity Rodman will stay in Washington D.C. (ESPN)
• More Iva Jovic: Sasa Osmo profiled her last fall. (CLAY)

The recent WTA 500 Guadalajara champion — the youngest title-winner of the season — has the blessing of Novak Djokovic.

Ranked No. 35 in the world, Jovic keeps a note on her phone with all the questions she wants to ask the most successful male tennis player of all time. She admits that when they meet again, she’ll be so nervous she’ll forget everything she wants to say.

“I wrote it down because when I get to that moment to talk to him, I know my mind will go blank,” she told CLAY during a conversation – in Serbian- that took place in New York during the 2025 US Open.

• The Doubles tournaments are already underway, but here is a preview of the event. (The Tennis Tribe)
• More and more Dutch players are going the collegiate route and the Dutch Tennis Federation isn't happy about it. (NOS)
• Viola Davis?!?!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by VIOLA DAVIS (@violadavis)

• Andrea Petkovic has been killing it in the commentary booth, as usual. She has a new newsletter up. (Finite Jest via Substack)

In other news, my new favourite player has emerged from the purgatory of the qualifying tournament. She is 19 years old, her name is Nikola Bartunkova and she casually ousted both Daria Kasatkina in the first round of main draw and beat the red hot and in-form Belinda Bencic in a rowdy late night match. She has the game of Karolina Muchova and the passion of unhinged youth. She serves and volleys, she crushes and rushes, she slices and dices and I’m pretty sure I saw her chop, puree and broil, too. But more importantly, she carries with her a thing that reminds us why we are here in the first place: The exaltation of competition itself. It’s the sound of blood rushing through your veins when the scoreboard hits 4:4 in the third set in front of a drunk, riotous crowd which came to see drama that makes you keep coming back to a sport that not only promises a better life but also a complete loss of sanity.

• I can't wait to see THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE.

• Midnight Snack Review: Freeze-Dried Strawberry Slices from Good & Gather at Target. Um, I guess? I don't know that anything that is freeze-dried has an appealing texture. Just feels like my teeth are biting into chalk. 5/10, I'll get my 1.5 fruit servings another way.
• Bop of the Day: To all who are preparing for that big storm on the East Coast and Midwest, get your snacks, stay home, and let the tennis keep you warm. Or watch ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, SINNERS, BUGONIA, SENTIMENTAL VALUE, EDDINGTON, HOUSE OF DYNAMITE, ETC, ETC. Stay safe everyone.

• Upcoming stream: I'm planning to stream on Twitch on Saturday for a few hours before play starts. Follow me on Twitch for notifications when I go live or join our super fun Discord, where the tennis chat is 24/7.