Jan 16, 2025, 12:17 AM ET
Taylor Fritz, the highest-seeded American man at the Australian Open, needed only 82 minutes to defeat Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin on Thursday and advance to the third round in Melbourne.
Behind a strong first serve, Fritz, the 2024 US Open runner-up and No. 4 seed, cruised past Garin 6-2, 6-1, 6-0.
Fritz has dropped only eight games across two rounds and spent just over three hours on court. Excluding walkovers, that’s tied for the third-fewest games lost by any man en route to the third round of the Australian Open since 1988, when the event switched to hardcourt.
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Defending champion Jannik Sinner had his feathers ruffled early on by local wildcard Tristan Schoolkate on Thursday before recovering his ice-cool composure to reach the third round with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 win.
World No. 1 Sinner had won 30 of his last 31 matches going into the contest and had not given up a set in 15 matches since his loss to Carlos Alcaraz in Beijing last October.
Western Australian Schoolkate ended the latter streak inside 47 minutes by converting the only break point of the opening stanza to the delight of a big crowd basking in the evening sun on Rod Laver Arena.
The Italian continued to struggle to get a handle on Schoolkate’s game early in the second set but a rasping crosscourt winner earned him a break for 4-3 and from then on the match was only going one way.
“It’s always tough to play against a player I have never played before, he was playing really good at the start, serving really well,” said top seed Sinner.
“I have to be very pleased with my performance, never take anything for granted, and I’m really happy to be in the next round. I can improve, yes, but I’ll take it.”
Next up for Sinner as he looks to build on his hardcourt Grand Slam titles in Melbourne and New York last year is American world No. 46 Marcos Giron.
Also advancing on the men’s side was local hope and No. 8 Alex De Minaur, who dispatched American qualifier Tristan Boyer 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.
Frances Tiafoe, the 17th seed, lost 6-7 (3), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan.
Earlier Thursday, Gael Monfils, 38, became the fourth-oldest man to reach the third round since 1988.
Monfils, on the heels of becoming the oldest player to win an ATP Tour title Saturday at the Auckland Classic, beat Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (3) to set up a meeting with Fritz for a spot in the round of 16.
Their only previous meeting came at the 2019 Australian Open (Fritz won their second-round match in four sets).
No. 16 Lorenzo Musetti reached the third round at Melbourne Park for the first time in his career by overcoming Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6), 6-2. Up next for Musetti is American 21st seed Ben Shelton, who took out former Spanish world No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4.
ESPN Research, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
