Fritz to play Djokovic at Aussie Open; McDonald and Pegula keep going

Seven American men and women have advanced to the round of 32 at the Australian Open, where Californian Taylor Fritz will next get a shot at the world No. 1.

The No 27 seed came through one of two all-American second round matches in this year's event on Wednesday, overcoming best friend and fellow American Reilly Opelka in a four-hour five-setter, 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-2. Fritz withstood 43 aces against him, and rallied from 5-1 down in the fourth-set tiebreak to reach the third round in Melbourne for the third year running. 

Should he want to reach the fourt round of a major for the first time, he'll have to overcome the near-impossible task of beating Novak Djokovic in Melbourne, the eight-time AO champion who's lost just twice at the event dating back to 2015. 

In his second round match, Djokovic was pushed by Frances Tiafoe in a four-set match won by the world No. 1,  6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(2), 6-3, and he has also beaten Fritz in both of their previous meetings.

"It's just another chance to prove myself. I keep making third rounds and I keep having extremely tough opponents in the third round, but that's what happens when you're a 25 to 32 seed. You're guaranteed to play a top-eight player," Friz told reporters, looking ahead to the match. "This is my third year in a row in the third round here in the Australian Open, and my third round opponents have been Roger [Federer], Dominic [Thiem] and now Novak. It's just another chance to prove myself. I've got nothing to lose, and I'm going to go out and I'm going to have a lot of fun and I'm going to play extremely aggressive tennis and see what I can do."

Joining Fritz in the second round is Mackie McDonald, who recorded a four-set upset against No. 26 seed Borna Coric of Croatia, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, in Round 2. The former UCLA Bruin, entered in Melbourne on a protected ranking, could match his best-ever Grand Slam result should he beat South Africa's Lloyd Harris up next.

On the women's side, No. 10 seed Serena Williams cruise through a 6-3, 6-0 victory against Serbia's Nina Stojanovic on Wednesday, leading five American women through to Round 3. No. 22 seed Jennifer Brady follow suit with a 6-1, 6-2 win over compatriot Madison Brengle in the lone all-American women's match, and unseeded Ann Li, Jessica Pegula and Shelby Rogers will join Williams and Brady in the next round. 

Li and Pegula followed up their first-round wins over seeded players Zhang Shuai and Victoria Azarenka with two straight-set wins over veterans Alizé Cornet and Samantha Stosur, while Rogers dropped just five games against Serbian qualifier Olga Daniliovic.

However, Sofia Kenin's title defense came to an end on Thursday afternoon at the hands of noted upset artist Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, a former Top 15 player. With a 6-3, 6-2 victory, Kanepi recorded her 13th career win over a player ranked in the Top 10, eight of which have come at Grand Slam events. In addition, Coco Gauff's run came to an end under the lights inside Rod Laver Arena, 6-4, 6-3, in Thursday's night session.

"I felt like I couldn't find my rhythm. I was obviously way too nervous. I haven't felt my game for, like, I don't know how long, but I haven't really felt my game so well, even in my first round," Kenin said. "I felt like I obviously wasn't there. My head wasn't there. Obviously I'm not going to take any credit away from her. She played really well at those good points. I had chances. I just couldn't take it. I obviously know why because the nerves big-time got to me."

Also moving through in doubles were nine U.S. women and six men: Brady (with Ashleigh Barty), Hayley Carter (with Luisa Stefani), Nicole Melichar (with Demi Schuurs), Desirae Krawczyk (with Alexa Guarachi), the all-American team of Gauff and Caty McNally, Bethanie Mattek-Sands (with Gabriela Dabrowski), Pera (with Rosalie van der Hoek), Christina McHale (with Ons Jabeur), Tennys Sandgren (with Dominik Koepfer), defending champion Rajeev Ram (with Joe Salisbury), and two all-American teams of McDonald and Tommy Paul, and Tiafoe and Nick Monroe. 

Mixed doubles play also begins at the Australian Open on Friday. For complete draws and schedules from Melbourne, visit the official Australian Open website.