Melbourne [Australia], January 16 : Top-seeded players Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur secured a spot in the third round of the ongoing Australian Open on Thursday with wins over qualifiers Cristian Garin and Tristan Boyer.
Both players completed their matches within 60 seconds of each other, with fourth-seeded Fritz downing Garin within an hour and 22 minutes by 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 while the eight-seeded and local favourite Minaur defeated Boyer in just under two hours by 6-2, 6-4 6-3.
Fritz is playing at his highest seeding in a Grand Slam and the world number four has not broken through during his first two matches, smashing 24 winners against Garin. Against Garin, he won 80 per cent of his first-serve points and 60 per cent of second-serve points.
Speaking after the match, Fritz said as quoted by the ATP official website, "It always feels great to come out and play a match like that. I played well in the first round too, so I am high in confidence going into the third round. This is awesome."
On stage, he also announced donating his 132,000 Australian dollars worth of first-round prize money for relief efforts for the Los Angeles fires.
The American's third-round challenge will be the recently crowned Auckland champion Gael Monfils, who defeated Germany's Daniel Altmaier 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(3) to extend his win streak to seven.
De Minaur on the other hand will be facing Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo, the 31st seed in the competition.
Speaking about Boyer, De Minaur said, "He is a dangerous player who takes the racquet out of your hand. My team did some scouting but ultimately it was about me bringing the best version of myself."
Both players also have tough quarterfinal opponents, with Fritz seeded to face Daniil Medvedev while Minaur could face the world number one Jannik Sinner.
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