Canada's Auger-Aliassime eliminated from Australian Open
CBC
Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime was ousted from the Australian Open on Saturday, taking a straight-sets loss to Russia's Daniil Medvedev in Melbourne's Margaret Court Arena.
Medvedev defeated the Montreal native lost 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in 2 1/2 hours before midnight local time.
It was just the latest late finish for the Russian, after his second-round match finished close to 4 a.m. Friday.
Medvedev will next play Nuno Borges, who upset No. 13 Grigor Dimitrov 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (6).
"At least I have this super ability — I can sleep where I want whenever I want," Medvedev said in his on-court interview.
The previous time he played Auger-Aliassime in Australia, he had to save two match points before clinching an exhausting quarterfinal in five sets. Medvedev lost the final that year to Rafael Nadal, a year after losing the 2021 decider to Novak Djokovic.
With nine of the top 10 still in contention here after three rounds, he'll have to be tactically astute to make it back to the final. He says he's back on track to add another major trophy to the one he captured at the U.S. Open in 2021.
"I want to … try to go again to the final, try to have my chance of winning another Grand Slam," Medvedev said. "I had another final finally in U.S. Open. Just want to show good tennis, beat good guys, and hopefully get one more title."
The men's draw is stacked, with No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 3 Medvedev and No. 6 Alexander Zverev all having straight-set wins Saturday to reach the fourth round.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, No. 4 Jannik Sinner and No. 5 Andrey Rublev already reached the last 16 on the top half of the draw.
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime eliminated in 3rd round:
Auger-Aliassime's loss means that there are no Canadians left in the singles draws at Melbourne Park.
All eyes are now on Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of Montreal, who did not have to play their women's doubles match on Saturday.
The Canadian duo, who are the reigning U.S. Open champions and seeded fourth in Melbourne, advanced to the third round after the Russian pair of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Veronika Kudermetova withdrew from the competition.
