Melbourne (Australia) (EFE) against the French Ugo Humbert, the English Daniel Evans (25) and the French Benjamin Bonzi, respectively.
Rune, current champion of Paris Bercy, left the audience at the John Cain Arena in suspense after spraining his right ankle at one point by accident, which luckily for the competition did not prevent the Nordic from clearly beating the Frenchman Humbert by 6-4, 6-2 and 7-6(5).
“I feel better than I expected. He was a bit worried. My ankle is fine but my wrist hurt a little. The doctor has checked it and told me that it is fine, so there is nothing to worry about, ”he explained after a crash, which lasted for two hours and nine minutes.
His next rival will be the Russian Andrey Rublev (5), who clearly beat the English Evans by a resounding 6-4, 6-2 and 6-3.
His repertoire of forehands knocked out the veteran British tennis player after his number of winners (60) tripled that of Evans (20).
The victory established a tight 4-3 face-to-face between the Muscovite and the Birmingham player.
The funny anecdote of the meeting occurred when Rublev asked one of the ball boys for a banana and his rival, who was listening to the conversation, gave his opponent a piece of this fruit.
“He had two (bananas) and he threw one at me, so I caught it. He helped me by giving me some energy,” she commented with a laugh.
Regarding his next clash against Rune, the only time they met was in the recent Paris Bercy tournament and the Dane won 6-4, 7-5, precisely in the round of 16.
For its part, the local De Miñaur equaled its best result in its favorite slam after reaching the round of 16 for the second consecutive year by beating Bonzi, 7-6(0), 6-2 and 6-1.
The solidity of De Minaur, who beat Rafael Nadal in the recent United Cup, shone after committing just twelve unforced errors between the second and third sets.
His next rival will be the Serbian Novak Djokovic (4) or the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
Also overcoming their third-round clashes were Americans Jeffrey John Wolf, who outclassed his compatriot Michael Mmoh, and fellow American Tommy Paul, who ended the hopes of his compatriot Jenson Brooksby.
Paul will face the winner of the match between the Spanish Roberto Bautista (24) and the British Andy Murray in the round of 16; while his compatriot Wolf will come across the winner of the clash between the also American Ben Shelton and the local Alexei Popyrin.
Párrizas can’t find the rhythm against Vekic and says goodbye to Australia
The Croatian Donna Vekic finished off the last Spanish with options in the draw, Nuria Párrizas from Granada, after winning a double 6-2 that barely exceeded an hour in the third round of the Australian Open.
Párrizas joined the eliminations of her compatriots Cristina Bucsa, who also fell in the third round, and Garbiñe Muguruza, who stumbled in her debut.
The Croatian, who reached the round of 16 in all the majors, will continue with options to climb even further on the WTA list after she lost in her debut against the American Alison Riske in the last edition.
Her next rival will be the Czech Linda Fruhvirtová, who beat her compatriot Marketa Vondrousova, 7-5, 2-6 and 6-3.
