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The Latest: Rafa into 4th round in Australia; back seems OK
He reached the fourth round at Melbourne Park for the 14th time in 16 trips. The top-seeded Australian beat Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 6-2, 6-4 to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open for the third straight year. The seventh-seeded Rublev will meet Casper Ruud of Norway in the fourth round. 5 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Mikael Ymer of Sweden 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 in the third round. ___3:35 p.m.Unseeded American Mackenzie McDonald has matched his best Grand Slam result by reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open.
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Lockdown: Tennis players getting on with life in Australia
Italian tennis player Simone Bolelli, left, and Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez are escorted to their training session in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. (Luis Ascui/AAP Image via AP)With no way out, tennis players in lockdown are figuring out ways to keep themselves fit within the confines of their Melbourne hotel rooms as they prepare for the Australian Open. Angelique Kerber, who won the Australian Open in 2016, spent her birthday in quarantine on Monday. But local government, tennis and health authorities have said all players were warned of the risks well in advance. โWeโve got to do whatever we can to make it as fair as possible for those players that are in lockdown.โ___More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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72 tennis players in lockdown after virus cases on flights
Italian tennis player Simone Bolelli, left, and Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez are escorted to their training session in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. The number of players in hard quarantine swelled to 72 ahead of the Australian Open after a fifth positive coronavirus test was returned from the charter flights bringing players, coaches, officials and media to Melbourne for the season-opening tennis major. Some players have expressed anger at being classified as close contacts merely for being on board those flights with people who later tested positive. But local government, tennis and health authorities have said all players were warned of the risks in advance. The Australian Open starts Feb. 8 following a week of warmup tournaments at Melbourne Park and the ATP Cup.