Defending champ Jannik Sinner advances to 4th round of Australian Open

Defending champion Jannik Sinner beat 46th-ranked Marcos Giron of the U.S. 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 at the Australian Open on Saturday night, reaching the fourth round at Melbourne Park for the fourth time.

Sinner stretched his unbeaten run to 17 matches, dating to last season. He had an eventful 2024, claiming his first two Grand Slam titles, reaching No. 1 in the ATP rankings for the first time — and going through a doping case that is still not quite resolved, because the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed his exoneration.

The 23-year-old Italian's next opponent in Australia will be No. 13 Holger Rune, who beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

In other men's results, Gael Monfils joined Roger Federer as the only men to reach the Australian Open's fourth round at age 38 or older since the tournament field expanded to 128 players in 1988, coming back to beat No. 4 seed Taylor Fritz 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (1), 6-4.

After punctuating his victory with a 134 mph (215 kph) ace — his 24th of the afternoon, doubling Fritz's total — Monfils did a celebratory dance at the baseline while thousands of fans at Margaret Court Arena roared, many waving red-white-and-blue French flags.

Swiatek cruises past Raducanu

The only women's match featuring Grand Slam singles champions in the third round at the Australian Open turned out to be an overpowering win by Iga Swiatek over Emma Raducanu on Saturday.

Swiatek won the final 11 games of the match to beat 2021 U.S. Open champion Raducanu 6-1, 6-0 and become the first player through to the fourth round.

The No. 2-ranked Swiatek, who agreed to accept a one-month suspension in a doping case late last year, has won the French Open four times and the U.S. Open in 2022. She is nearly halfway to a possible Australian title — her best result here has been a semifinal appearance in 2022, losing to eventual runner-up Danielle Collins.

In women's doubles, Canada's Leylah Fernandez and Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok reached the third round with a 4-2, 6-2, 6-3 win over Italy's Camilla Rosatello and Romania's Jaqueline Cristian.

Fernandez and Kichenok, seeded 16th, will next face the top-seeded duo of American Taylor Townsend and the Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova.