Davidovich Fokina evades, Draper lasts the whole way

Spanish comeback master Alejandro Davidovich Fokina performed another astonishing rescue on Friday to advance into the second week of a Grand Slam for the third time in his career.

Forty-eight hours after coming back from two sets down to defeat Felix Auger-Aliassime, the world No.66 repeated the feat by overcoming young Czech Jakub Mensik 3-6 4-6 7-6(7) 6-4 6-2 at Kia Arena.

This comeback was even more impressive than his attempts to overcome the Canadian, as he saved two match points in a thrilling manner during the tiebreak of the third set.

Indeed, Mensik nearly secured the win without a shootout when he served for the match at 6-5 in the third set, only to get broken after leading 30-0 just two points away from triumph.

Once more, the Czech was close to reaching the last 16 when he was ahead 6-5 and 7-6 in the tiebreak, but he could only stand in shock as those opportunities vanished.

At 6-5, Davidovich Fokina had to pursue and retrieve a Mensik netcord, and with the Czech’s second match point at 7-6, the Spaniard stayed in the game with an excellent angled backhand volley while under pressure.

“The sentiment that I always persevere and compete fiercely in each point, each match, it instills a great deal of confidence and strength in me to push through to the next round,” stated the 25-year-old Spaniard, who will face Tommy Paul for a shot at the quarterfinals on Sunday.

“Throughout all these years, I’ve experienced many highs and lows.” This year, I resolved to contest every point. The outcome is irrelevant. “Do not focus on the outcome.”

The ex-Junior Wimbledon champion faced a challenging season in 2024, with his ranking dropping from No.26 to 61 by the end of the year. However, the effort he put in before his journey to Australia is starting to yield benefits.

“I believe the effort that the entire team invested during the five weeks of pre-season really energized me.” “It doesn’t matter what occurs on the court,” Davidovich Fokina explained.

In another late AO show ending around 1am, 15th seed Jack Draper claimed his third consecutive five-set match victory to arrange a clash with Carlos Alcaraz.

After battling through matches with Mariano Navone and Thanasi Kokkinakis, the British No. 1 once again persevered narrowly to triumph 6-4 2-6 5-7 7-6(5) 7-6[10-8] against Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic.

In another match, second seed Alexander Zverev’s easy progression went on as he claimed his third consecutive victory in straight sets, defeating young Scot Jacob Fearnley 6-3 6-4 6-4.

The German, who achieved a year-end No.2 ranking for the first time in his career in 2024, has yet to face anything more demanding than a 6-4 set in this tournament.

Zverev must remain cautious when facing French No.1 Ugo Humbert in the fourth round, as the talented lefty advanced when his close friend Arthur Fils had to retire due to an ankle injury while he was behind 4-6 7-5 6-4 1-0.

American No. 2 Paul is making good progress, and it was Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena who was outperformed this time in his third match of the week.

Paul took five sets to win against Christopher O’Connell in his opening match, then needed four sets to defeat Kei Nishikori, before achieving a straight-sets win on Friday 7-6(0) 6-2 6-0, which propelled him into the top 10 of the ATP live rankings.

Another player appearing to be on cruise control this week – and indeed throughout this year – is Czech Jiri Lehecka, who has now achieved eight victories out of eight in 2025.

The recent champion in Brisbane defeated Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi with scores of 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 and can now get ready to face 10-time champion Novak Djokovic in two days.