Australian Open chaos with three-hour suspension as players plan forfeits – overnight wrap | Tennis | Sport
Extreme temperatures wreaked havoc on day seven of the Australian Open (Image: Getty)
Day seven of the Australian Open has gone down as many expected when they saw the forecast. Play has been suspended for around three hours, with the heat stress scale reaching five, its highest number, forcing all matches on outside courts to come to a stop.
The suspension also offered No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner a lifeline, as his match on Rod Laver Arena was paused at the perfect moment for the roof to be closed. Sinner had been cramping, and welcomed a few minutes away from the court. Sinner is one of three Italian men to advance to the fourth round today.
On the women’s side, it’s been a big day for the Americans. But two of them will now face each other. Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula – who co-host a tennis podcast together – will meet in the round of 16. They have to record an episode before their match, and are already planning some fun forfeits for the loser.
Heat chaos
As expected, the extreme heat has caused chaos at Melbourne Park. Play was brought forward to start at 10.30am in an attempt to ensure the players could get on and off the court before the temperatures increased. Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula both won quickly after getting an earlier start time. But two-time reigning champion Jannik Sinner has seriously struggled.
The No. 2 seed was cramping badly at the start of the third set, after splitting the first two sets with world No. 85 Eliot Spizzirri, and called the trainer. While Sinner trailed 1-3, the heat stress scale officially hit 5. Play was suspended on all outdoor courts shortly before 3pm local time, and the referee has now announced that matches wouldn’t resume until at least 6.30pm – a suspension of almost four hours.
On the arena courts, including Rod Laver Arena, where Sinner was, play was suspended for a few minutes until the roof could be closed. It was a lifeline for the Italian, he came from a break down to win the third set, and he and Spizzirri were given a 10-minute break in accordance with the heat policy before set four started, and the Italian went on to win in four.
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Reigning champion Madison Keys faces friend and podcast co-host Jessica Pegula next (Image: Getty)
Forfeits planned in podcast showdown
Good friends and podcast co-hosts Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula have set up an exciting showdown in the fourth round of the Australian Open. Reigning champion Keys and No. 6 seed Pegula host the Players Box Podcast with fellow American pros Jennifer Brady and Desirae Krawczyk. They will face off on the court on Monday, but have to record an episode on Sunday first!
“Actually I think we’re going to try and record tomorrow since we have a day off tomorrow to get our episode for next week,” Pegula said after reaching the second week. “Maybe it will help the numbers on the pod. If we film tomorrow, we can kind of, yeah, market that it was, like, us recording before we had to play each other. We’ll see what kind of segments we can come up. It could be like a trash talk segment before we play.”
Pegula was once exposed on the podcast after one of her Thanksgiving traditions came to light – having apple pie with a slice of cheddar cheese on top. And Keys revealed that they were thinking of forfeits for the loser. The reigning champion explained: “We are filming tomorrow. She said she wants to have, like, whoever loses, like, the other person can come up with something.
“She wants to make me eat her disgusting apple pie with cheese on top of it if I lose, which I said I refuse, so she’s going to have to think of something else. We’re both going to try to think of something to kind of commemorate this moment.”
Italian and American success
We’ve seen a theme in the day session matches. American women Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula, and Amanda Anisimova all earned quick, straight-set victories, while on the men’s side, the Italians are enjoying success. Luciano Darderi beat Karen Khachanov 7-6(5) 3-6 6-3 6-4 to reach the last 16 of a Major for the first time in his career before No. 5 seed Lorenzo Musetti beat last week’s Adelaide champion, Tomas Machac, 5-7 6-4 6-2 5-7 6-2.
And Jannik Sinner survived a few scares in his clash with former college tennis player Eliot Spizzirri to advance 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4. The two-time defending champion was the first to get broken in the second, third, and fourth sets, but still battled back. It leaves some room for all-American and all-Italian clashes in the fourth round, with Keys vs Pegula and Sinner vs Darderi.
Vacherot’s mad return
Valentin Vacherot was ousted in the third round of the Australian Open on Saturday, losing to No. 6 seed Ben Shelton 6-4 6-4 7-6(5) under the roof on Margaret Court Arena. But the Monegasque still managed to pull off one of the shots of the tournament before bowing out.
At 3-3 in the opening set, Vacherot just managed to get his racket on one of Shelton’s huge serves. He smacked the ball back, and it perfectly caught the line. The No. 30 seed went on to lose the point, but commentator John Fitzgerald said: “That’s one of the most amazing shots I’ve ever seen!”
