Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin qualify for third round of 2023 Australian Open

We now know the 32 players left in the men’s draw at the 2023 Australian Open, and among them are two Australians–Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin of Sydney. They were almost joined in the third round by Thanasi Kokkinakis of Adelaide, but he lost a five set thriller to Andy Murray of Great Britain after being up two sets to love.

De Minaur, the 22nd seed, beat Adrian Mannarino of France, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. The 23-year-old Australian won 73% of his first serve points. Popyrin meanwhile delivered an impressive upset in the second round, as he knocked out Taylor Fritz of the United States, the eighth seed, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2. The key statistic in this match was the fact that Popyrin was able to dictate play in the deciding set. Popyrin had 12 fifth set winners, while Fritz had six.

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In the third round, de Minaur will face rising French player Benjamin Bonzi. In the second round, Bonzi upset the 14th seed and two-time United States Open semi-finalist Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-1, 7-6. Bonzi was one of four players in the second round to come back from two sets to love down and win. He was joined by Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, and Murray. Head-to-head, de Minaur has won two prior meetings. The first time was at the 2022 Davis Cup round robin in Hamburg, Germany, with De Minaur winning 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. The second time was the first round of the 2022 Stockholm Open, with De Minaur winning 6-3, 6-1.

Popyrin meanwhile will play American Ben Shelton next. This will be their first meeting head-to-head.

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