Australian Open 2022 day six: Andújar v De Minaur, Swiatek through – live!

No sign of nerves from Alex De Minaur as he holds serve to move two games away. The crowd on Rod Laver Arena are backing their man, but it’s been good-natured with plenty of appreciation for Andujar too. The “siuuus” are still there, but thankfully much less frequent.

Andrey Rublev v Marin Cilic is under way, with the Croatian former finalist a dangerous opponent for the No 5 seed. It’s Cilic who has made the stronger start, breaking in the fourth game to lead 3-1.

De Minaur goes on the attack in the next Andujar service game, and earns two break points after outlasting his opponent in a baseline battle. Andujar feels the pressure at last, double faulting to surrender his serve. Alex De Minaur is three games from the fourth round!

Pablo Andujar isn’t going away quietly, still making his opponent work for every hold of serve. De Minaur wrongfoots him with a backhand that skids down the line, then belts an ace down the middle. It’s 2-2 in the third, with De Minaur leading by two sets to love.

The order of play for day seven is out, and it’s a belter. Here are the singles matches to look out for:

Rod Laver Arena

Day session (11am local/12am GMT)
Madison Keys v Paula Badosa (8)
(4) Barbora Krejcikova v Victoria Azarenka (24)
Adrian Mannarino v Rafael Nadal (6)

Night session (7pm local/8am GMT)
(1) Ash Barty v Amanda Anisimova
(19) Pablo Carreño Busta v Matteo Berrettini (7)

Margaret Court Arena

From 1pm local/2am GMT
(21) Jessica Pegula v Maria Sakkari (5)
(3) Alexander Zverev v Denis Shapovalov (14)

John Cain Arena

From 6.30pm local/7.30am GMT
Miomir Kecmanovic v Gaël Monfils (17)

Jannik Sinner beats Taro Daniel 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1! It was a real battle for the first three sets before the Italian pulled away. He’ll play the winner of De Minaur v Andujar next – whatever happens, both players will be making their fourth-round debuts at Melbourne Park.

Alex De Minaur wins the second set, leads 2-0! The early break proves enough as the Australian serves out the second set despite some bendy-limbed resistance from Andujar. De Minaur finds a big second serve at 40-30, and his opponent nets a forehand.

Iga Swiatek: “That was really intense – she plays top spin, and has the same grip to mine. At the end, the rallies were pretty long, it was just about getting the ball over the net!” She’s asked if she will watch Cirstea v Pavlyuchenkova to see her next opponent will be. “I try to stay focused and not look at the draw, so I didn’t even know!” she says. “My coach will probably watch it.”

Iga Swiatek has the chance to serve out, and wobbles to 30-all before forcing an error from her opponent through brute force. Match point, and she hangs in the next rally before Kasatkina nets a forehand. Job done!

It’s all going to plan for Alex De Minaur as he chases a first-ever place in the last 16 here. He’s broken Pablo Andujar and leads 4-2 in the second, and by a set to love.

And perhaps I wrote off Daria Kasatkina at the right time after all – a couple of loose points allow Swiatek to break again, and the No 7 seed powers to a love hold. She’s now 5-2 up in the second, one game from victory.

Jannik Sinner appears to have regained control of his tussle with Taro Daniel – after taking the third set 6-3, the Italian breaks early in the fourth and leads 2-0. I can’t see it just now, because Eurosport 2 has switched to live skiing. Oh Eurosport. Never change!

Perhaps I wrote Daria Kasatkina off too soon – the Russian has broken back and levelled the second set at 2-2. She has break points in the fifth game too, but Swiatek digs out an ace and prevails in a bruising rally to stay on serve.

De Minaur wins the first set 6-4! The home hopeful makes a rocky start, slipping 0-30 down – but he fights back and earns a set point when Andujar sends an ambitious slice wide. He seals the set as his opponent nets, following some trademark baseline defence from the Aussie.

Already a set up on Daria Kasatkina, Iga Swiatek is now a break up in the second, and already just four games from victory.

De Minaur has hit 10 winners to Andujar’s one, and is putting pressure on the Spaniard as he serves to stay in the set. Andujar, who’s making his first ever third-round appearance in Melbourne, digs in to hold, and trails 5-4.

Over on the Kia Arena, Taro Daniel and Jannik Sinner are locked at one set all, and 3-3 in the third. The winners of these two matches meet in the fourth round.

Iga Swiatek wins the first set! She breaks Kasatkina again, firing a winner down the line to clinch it 6-2. She’s halfway to booking a fourth-round meeting with either Cirstea or Pavlyuchenkova.

Alex De Minaur has broken Andujar for a second time – and this time backs up the break, coming in to the net to close out with a volley. His friend and mentor, Lleyton Hewitt, nods approvingly in the stands. De Minaur leads 5-3 in the first set.

After easing into the fourth round earlier, Daniil Medvedev looked to build bridges with the home crowd after hitting out at “low IQ” fans shouting during his previous win over Nick Kyrgios.

“I was hoping you were going to be a bit easier on me guys,” the No 2 seed said after his win over Botic van de Zandschulp. “I’ll put it this way, it’s a little easier to play a guy from the Netherlands than a guy from Australia in Melbourne.”

“I think every good relationship has it’s ups and down but it’s good,” the Russian told the Margaret Court Arena crowd. “It’s entertaining, it’s real. It’s not like ‘hi guys, okay, whatever, I’ll see you next time’, there is some relationship going on.”

“Hopefully I can come many more years here. As I say, I don’t think it’ll only be good ones but I hope it’ll be more good times than bad ones, otherwise it won’t work.”

Over on the Margaret Court Arena, Iga Swiatek has an early break against Russia’s Daria Kasatkina, who has missed break chances of her own. The No 7 seed leads 4-1.

Taro Daniel has taken the second set off Sinner, 6-1, while it’s already developed into a baseline slugfest between Andújar and De Minaur, with the first set still on serve.

Six players have made it through to the women’s last 16 so far on Saturday. They include Simona Halep, who was too strong for Danka Kovinic, unable to repeat her heroics against Emma Raducanu in the second round.

No 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka came back from a set down to win for the third match in a row, getting the better of former French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova. Danielle Collins also fought back to win an epic battle with rising star Clara Tauson.

Kaia Kanepi also dropped the first set but recovered to end the run of Aussie wildcard Maddison Inglis, and Alize Cornet got the better of Tamara Zidansek in a near three-hour encounter. Elise Mertens, the No 19 seed, took just over an hour to see off China’s Zhang Shuai.

Alex De Minaur is up and running on Rod Laver, breaking Andújar in the first game – but the Spaniard quickly earns a chance to break straight back, and outmuscles his opponent in an early rally to level.

Elsewhere Taro Daniel, the conqueror of Andy Murray, lost the first set to rising star Jannik Sinner, but leads 4-0 in the second.

So, what’s been happening overnight? In the men’s draw, Daniil Medvedev eased past Botic van de Zandschulp in straight sets and Stefanos Tsitsipas got through in four sets against Benoît Paire.

Taylor Fritz edged out Roberto Bautista Agut in a five-set battle, fighting back from 2-1 down. He’s joined by compatriot Maxime Cressy in the last 16, the world No 70 ending the run of Aussie wildcard Chris O’Connell in four sets.

British hopes in the singles draws are over, with Dan Evans well beaten by Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime, who wrapped up a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 win moments ago. It was a decent scrap in the first set, before the No 9 seed pulled away in style. He’ll face Rublev or Cilic in the next round.

Hello. Home fans have been waiting since 1978 for an Australian singles champion in either of the showpiece events at their home slam, and while all the expectation is on Ash Barty, the women’s world No 1, they still have a dark horse left in the men’s draw.

Alex De Minaur kicks off the evening session on Rod Laver Arena against wily Spanish veteran Pablo Andújar. After that, women’s No 10 seed and three-time Melbourne quarter-finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova takes on a tricky unseeded opponent in Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.

Elsewhere, former French Open champ Iga Swiatek will look to show her title credentials against Daria Kasatkina, before what could be a classic, heavy-hitting encounter between Andrey Rublev and Marin Cilic. Stay tuned.