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Norrie wins the third set 7-6 (2) to go 2-1 up on Lestienne
He’s done it! Norrie was staring down the barrel in the third but his greater accuracy and reliability in the latter stages of that set give him a 2-1 lead as he wins the tie-break 7-2.
Norrie is now more consistent than Constant, the Frenchman finally yielding in a lengthy rally to slip 2-5 down. Another unforced error gives Norrie a 6-2 lead and four set points!
Norrie bangs down an ace as the first three points of the tie-break go with serve. Lestienne then finds the net when reaching slightly for a backhand and the Frenchman is in a spot of bother here at 1-3 down. Lestienne pings a winner but Norrie serves another ace to lead 4-2 as they swap ends.
Lestienne whacks the hoarding behind him as he gets frustrated in Norrie’s service game. The Brit holds to 15 and we have ourselves a third-set tie-break.
Lestienne waltzes back to his chair after holding to love in game 11 of the fifth. That was most welcome at this stage of an intriguing third set. Over to you again Norrie.
And on we go thanks to a Norrie hold. Norrie smashes after a Lestienne drop shot doesn’t come off two strokes earlier and, from there, he bangs down some heavy serves to complete the fightback from 2-5 to 5-5.
Norrie breaks to stay in the set! The duo trade winners to reach 30-30 before Norrie plunders one down the line to give himself a break point. And then another forehand crosscourt winner and, lo and behold, a rejuvenated Norrie has broken back. Where did that come from?! 4-5 in the third and Norrie about to serve.
Norrie christens the new balls with a double fault and Lestienne saunters 30-0 ahead. Norrie responds by taking the next three points before diverting a forehand volley into the net. Deuce turns to ‘Game Norrie’ thanks to two beefy serves but Lestienne will now be serving for the set at 5-3.
Elsewhere, men’s 29th seed Seb Korda has completed a straights set win over Yosuke Watanuki.
Lestienne makes it nine of the last 11 games as he holds to love with a swinging serve which Norrie pulls to square leg: a decent shot at the nearby MCG but not much good here. It’s 5-2 to Lestienne in the third.
Norrie pulls one back thanks to strong serving in the sixth. That cuts Lestienne’s third-set lead to 2-4 as we approach the two-hour mark.
Constant Lestienne looks like one of those natural eye-hand types who’s probably good at every sport he tries: rugby (scrum-half I reckon), golf, boules. He saunters through his next service game to cruise 4-1 up in the third. With Lestienne in this sort of nonchalant mood, it’s going to be difficult for Norrie to turn this set, and indeed the match, around.
Thanks Tom. Has the pendulum swung back in Norrie’s favour? Maybe not when you watch Lestienne launch a forehand pass that can only be described as “traction engine” in power to reach 30-30. More brutal hitting from the Frenchman takes him to break point and he seals it as Norrie goes long again. One set all but Lestienne leads 3-1 in the third.
Norrie breaks back. Better from Norrie, who gets himself a break point and converts it, and Lestienne makes a couple of errors for the first time in a while and we’re suddenly back on serve. 2-1. Talking of breaks, David’s back from his so I’ll hand you back. Bye.
Lestienne breaks Norrie yet again. Lestienne sends a superb skimming low forehand winner to the corner of the court to put early pressure on Norrie’s serve but Norrie brings it back to 30-all. but a dismal overhit forehand grants Lesteinne a break point, which he converts after a gruelling back-of-court rally. He’s now won six games in a row and leads 2-0 in the third set.
The well-refreshed “En-ger-land” chants of an hour or so are nowhere to be heard now, as Lestienne takes only a couple of minutes to win the first game of the third set on his serve. Big service game coming up for the currently ragged-looking No 11 seed Norrie.
Lestienne wins the second set against Norrie 6-3
Constant Lestienne cruises through the ninth game of the set to level the match, winning it to love in the blink of an eye. Cameron Norrie has to find another level here, against a 30-year-old opponent who’s never gone this far in a grand slam before.
Can Lestienne build on a break the way he failed to earlier in the set? He can but he’s made to work hard for it, taken to two deuces, but he prevails for 5-3. A key hold.
Victoria Azarenka doesn’t appear to be hanging about, romping through the first set 6-1 against the Argentinian Nadia Podoroska. While Lorenzo Sonego is now two sets to one up on Hubert Hurkacz, winning the third 6-2. And Shapovolov has completed a 6-3, 7-6, 7-5 win over Daniel.
The pendulum swings again as Lestienne races to 0-40 on Norrie’s serve. The Briton saves the first two but returns Lestienne’s forehand passing shot into the net and the Frenchman has the break at 4-3. This one could be going deep into the wee small hours. It’s 20 to midnight in Melbourne.
Norrie seems to have put that little blip behind him, breezing through his service game then winning the first two points on Lestienne’s serve. A couple of unforced errors ensue though before Norrie earns a break point, which Lestienne saves with a brilliantly disguised drop shot. He then goes on to hold after Norrie misjudges a return. A possible opportunity missed – 3-3, second set, and Norrie leads by one set to love.
Another scan around the courts: Hurkacz is in a bit bother in the third set against Sonego, the Italian breaking him early. Sonego leads 3-1 and it’s one set all. Denis Shapovolov is two sets up and 4-4 in the third set against Taro Daniel, and the women’s No 29 seed, Qinwen Zheng of China, is staring down the barrel against the American Bernarda Pera, 4-6 and 3-5 down.
Norrie breaks back immediately for 2-2. Norrie pings a crunching forehand down the line before Lestienne responds with a couple of strong first serves and a tremendous passing shot of an encroaching Norrie that take him to 40-15. Norrie responds with a stunning backhand winner on the run from way behind the baseline and a forceful forehand to take it to deuce. He then dictates from the net to earn a break point. A wayward return squanders it before another pinpoint volley at the net earns another, which is converted this time with another angled low drop shot. An excellent response from Norrie. 2-2
Lestienne breaks. Norrie is pegged back to deuce again, twice this time, on his service game, a couple of awry overhits costing him and Lestienne pushing his opponent skilfully around the back of the court. The Frenchman then earns a break point when Norrie sends a forehand wide. He converts it straight away after an absorbing back-of-court exchange ends with Norrie sending a running forehand wide. That was a wayward service game from the British player and Lestienne deserved reward for the way he’s worked his way back in to the match. He leads 2-1 in the second set, with Norrie a set up.
Lestienne holds serve for 1-1, though Norrie wins a couple of impressive points, dominating the Frenchman’s second serve with a brutal back-of-court and then showing a deft drop-shot and volley at the net. And I share Dave’s discombobulation at the distant camera angle.
Constant Lestienne made Cam Norrie work pretty hard to win his first service game of the second set, taking him to deuce, but the Briton prevailed. He’s a set and a game up.
Tsitsipas beats Hijikata 6-3, 6-0, 6-2
Thanks David. And I’ll kick off with the unsurprising confirmation of Stefanos Tsitsipas’s cruise into the third round, a victory that never looked in doubt. Elsewhere, Lorenzo Sonego has won the second set tiebreak against the No 10 seed, Hubert Hurkacz, to level that match at one set all. And Sebastian Korda of the US is two sets up against Japan’s Yosuke Watanuki.
Before the start of the second set, security guards tell some of the boozed-up Brits to do one. They’d just started a tiresome warble of “tennis is coming home” so probably best for everyone. Lestienne looks pleased about their removal. Talking of which, I’m going to remove myself and hand you to Tom Davies for more live coverage.
Norrie wins the first set against Lestienne
Cam Norrie wins the first set 6-3 after a second straight break. Some of Lestienne’s shots are, shall we say, incredibly casual. It’s almost as if he’s playing an exhibition or having a lark in the park. Anyway, Norrie has his game face on and wins that set in 41 minutes.
The camera angle on Court 13 is that elongated view I always associate with Court 2 at Wimbledon. I’m never quite sure if it makes things look more impressive or actually less so. Regardless, Norrie is 5-3 up and now has a set point.
Play resumes and Norrie wins a lengthy rally – secured with a lob which caused Lestienne to hesitate and then react too late – to secure a first break: 4-3 to the Englishman. Cries of “Eng-er-lund” in the crowd from some Brits who may have consumed a few by now. After all, it’s coming up to 11pm at Melbourne Park.
Norrie has two break points in the seventh and wants to carry on. But will the rain stop him? More cleaning of the court as the umpire comes over to check on conditions.
Time for some more British action and let’s join Cam Norrie’s match against Constant Lestienne. It’s 3-3 in the opening set, the match going with serve so far.
Just a break in play as the ball boys and girls wipe the court clean. Initially, we thought it could be sweat; actually it could be rain. Hmmm.
Women’s singles: Danielle Collins, the 13th seed from the United States, is currently 3-2 down to Czech Karolina Muchova in the opening set.
There could be a surprise there and we’ve just seen Muchova’s compatriot, Petra Kvitova, crash out. The 15th seed lost in straight sets (5-7, 4-6) to Anhelina Kalinina. Two-time Wimbledon champ Kvitova lost in the final of the 2019 Australian Open but this is the third straight year that she hasn’t progressed beyond the second round.
It’s a record crowd of 31,000 for the night session at the Aussie Open apparently. It beats the previous high of 28,000. Both Andrew and Roy Castle will enjoy that stat.
This is relentless stuff from Tsitsipas. He’s powered through the second set against Hijikata without dropping a game. That’s 6-3, 6-0 so far although at least the Aussie local has ended the rot by winning his first game in eight by holding serve at the start of the third.
If you’re just dipping in to the Australian Open, a reminder from a couple of days ago Nick Kyrgios was forced to withdraw from his home Slam due to injury.
“[This is] one of the most important tournaments of my career. Hasn’t been easy at all,” Kyrgios said of the decision.
“I’m obviously extremely disappointed.”
Kyrgios has a parameniscal cyst growing in his left meniscus, which is the result of a small tear in his lateral meniscus… whatever that means.
Men’s singles: Hubert Hurkacz, the 25-year-old Pole seeded 10th, is 6-3 and 2-1 up on Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego as that match approaches the hour mark.
That famous sporting family, the Kordas, have this trophy in their ever-growing cabinet after dad Petr won this tournament in 1998. Petr triumphed 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in the final against Marcelo Rios and, appropriately enough, son Sebastian has won the first set 6-2 in his second-round clash against Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki.
Third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas won the first set against Rinky Hijikata 6-2 and has an early break in the second. He’s just held serve to go 2-0 up. Plenty of support for local man Hijikata, who is giving it a go, but you sense he’ll have some fun moments but eventually get outclassed.
Medvedev beats Millman in straight sets!
No worries for Daniil Medvedev as he comes through his second-round match against Aussie veteran John Millman in straight sets. Former world No 1 Medvedev was pushed in the first set but won the next two with the loss of just four games to close out a 7-6, 6-2, 6-2 win at the Margaret Court Arena in 2hrs 19mins.
Looking at the stats, Medvedev served 10 aces and hit 33 winners.
Here’s the very charming and likable Coco Gauff on her TikTok video. Mom and Dad in the crowd chuckling away.
If you missed it, Emma Raducanu’s Australian Open hopes were ended by Coco Gauff earlier today. Tumaini Carayol was at Melbourne Park to witness a much-anticipated match that got better as it went on.
A couple of emails. Regarding naming issues, Tom Young notes: “Brian Close Court could also have been witty option.”
Meanwhile, Peter Hanson writes from Australia: “I can’t believe Channel 9 would send the Gauff v Raducanu match to its streaming service mid match.” Deborah Remfry has a similar complaint.
British No 1 Cameron Norrie, seeded 11th this week, is in action at the Kia Arena later today. He’ll take on Frenchman Constant Lestienne following the completion of the women’s second-round clash between Olivia Gadecki and Marta Kostyuk.
Norrie, memorably, reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon last summer but his Australian Open record is weak: three first-round exits in four appearances and a run to the third round in 2021.
At the Margaret Court Arena, men’s seventh seed Danii Medvedev is two sets to nil up on local man John Millman. He took the opener 7-5, cruised through the next 6-2 and is 2-1 up in the third.
Medvedev has dropped from world No 1 to his current ranking of eighth but he’s been the beaten finalist in the last two years here so will fancy his chances of going deep and adding to his 2021 US Open title.
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