Clara Burel takes on Jessica Pegula, Arthur Fils eliminated, big scare for Swiatek… What to remember from the night’s matches

The Frenchwoman Clara Burel brought down the number 5 seed, the American Jessica Pegula, on Thursday in Melbourne. Iga Swiatek came close to elimination. Océane Dodin did not tremble. Carlos Alcaraz also qualified, unlike Arthur Fils.

Major achievement for Clara Burel. The 22-year-old Frenchwoman overthrew Jessica Pegula (n°5) on Thursday January 18 in the second round of the Australian Open (6-4, 6-2). She will meet her compatriot Océane Dodin in the next round, who lost to the Italian Martina Trevisan. The number one seed of the tournament almost suffered the same fate as Pegula but Iga Swiatek, with courage, ended up making up a double break behind in the deciding set, to snatch her qualification against the American Danielle Collins.

Alexander Zverev, among the men, also felt the wind but the sixth player in the world defeated Lukas Klein, 163rd player in the world. Fewer difficulties for Carlos Alcaraz even if the Spaniard did not appear to be imperial. However, it’s over for Arthur Fils, too inconsistent against the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor (n°28).

The French: the Burel sensation, the Fils disappointment

Huge performance for Clara Burel. HAS 22 years old, the 51st in the world had the luxury of eliminating Jessica Pegula, one of the big outsiders for the final victory in the women’s draw. And with style! In just 1 hour 10 minutes of the match, the Frenchwoman stifled the American, completely missing the point (9 winning points for 31 unforced errors). Burel, with this victory (the first of her career against a top 10 player after five defeats) and this qualification for the third round, equals her best performance in a Grand Slam.

For Océane Dodin, this will be a first at this stage of the competition. Opposed to the Italian Martina Trevisan, the Frenchwoman was able to force her way through. Even if she did not pass many first balls (47%), she was sufficiently efficient behind them (83% of points won) to win 6-4, 6-4. The Lille native, who took out the Chinese Zhu, 29th in the world, in the first round, will play for a place in the round of 16 against, precisely, Clara Burel.

We hoped a lot from Arthur Fils but the 19-year-old Frenchman still showed too much inconsistency to hope to overcome the Tallon Griekspoor obstacle. The Dutchman, 28th in the world, took advantage of the generosity of his opponent, author of 11 double faults and 34 unforced errors, to win in four sets (6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 6-4) and give the right to face in the third round the winner of the duel between Arthur Cazaux and Holger Rune.

The favorites: Swiatek has come a long way, Alcaraz not calm

Iga Swiatek erased a double break behind in the deciding set to overcome 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 the American Danielle Collins, 62nd in the world and finalist in Melbourne two years ago. Collins led 4 games to 1, service to follow, then got three balls from 5 games to 2 by leading 0-40 on Swiatek’s service, in vain. With her back to the wall, the Pole with four Grand Slam trophies held on and ended up winning after 3h14 of play.

The world number one, who remains on a streak of 18 consecutive victories, will face the young Czech Linda Noskova, 50th in the world at 19, for a place in the round of 16.

In the men’s draw, Carlos Alcaraz celebrated his 200th professional match with a victory. But it took time to emerge, against the Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(3). In windy conditions, the world number 2 blew hot and cold, sometimes appearing hesitant. But the Spanish ended up snatching their qualification and will face Juncheng Shang in the third round.

Alexander Zverev also had to fight to get rid of Lukas Klein. It took five sets, and a super tie-break, for the number 6 seed in the tournament to win painfully 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 7 -6(7). In the next round, the German will face the young American Alex Michelsen, 91st in the world at 19 years old. Like Zverev, world No. 11 Casper Ruud advanced to the second round at the last minute in a super tie-break, defeating Australian Max Purcell 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7).