| Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 16-29 January |
| Coverage: Commentary every day from 07:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra ‘Tennis Breakfast’ live from Melbourne, with selected live text commentaries and match reports on the BBC Sport website & app |
Novak Djokovic battled through injury to reach the Australian Open third round on another day when more of his expected title rivals were knocked out.
The 35-year-old Serb, going for a record-extending 10th men’s triumph in Melbourne, won 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-0 against French qualifier Enzo Couacaud.
Djokovic had a medical timeout, seemingly hampered by an existing hamstring injury, but came through.
A day after Rafael Nadal exited, second seed Casper Ruud was also beaten.
The Norwegian, who reached two Grand Slam finals last year, lost 6-3 7-5 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 to American Jenson Brooksby.
In the same quarter of the draw, eighth seed Taylor Fritz also lost 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 to Australian wildcard Alexei Popyrin.
Twelfth seed Alexander Zverev, still in the early days of his return from a serious ankle injury, was beaten 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-3 6-2 by lucky loser Michael Mmoh, who was a late call-up to the main draw after another player withdrew and said he had to change his flight because he had expected to already be out.
Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev suffered no such upset, beating Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 6-2 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 to set up a third-round meeting with Britain’s Dan Evans.
Djokovic defies pain to book third-round berth
Djokovic entered the Rod Laver Arena with his left thigh heavily taped but it was his opponent Couacaud who struggled with injury early on, rolling his right ankle midway through the first set and requiring a medical timeout.
Djokovic cruised through the rest of the opener but twinges in his hamstring – which was already bothering him before the start of the tournament – slowed him down and allowed Couacaud into the contest. The Serb left the court for treatment and returned with fresh, tighter dressing on his leg.
The 27-year-old Frenchman, making his Australian Open debut in 2023, took advantage and forced the 21-time Grand Slam champion into a second-set tie-break as the crowd got behind his every shot, much to Djokovic’s frustration.
With play defying his ranking of 191, Couacaud bounced back from 3-0 down in the tie-break to mark the first time Djokovic has lost a set to a qualifier or…
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