A day that the Australian Open probably feared came on Friday, when an outbreak of COVID-19 in Melbourne triggered a blockade in the state of Victoria that will take effect on Saturday.
The blockade did not create the Open nightmare scenario of a fully closed tournament thanks to the decision to designate tennis players as essential workers. The game will continue, but starting on Saturday, spectators will be prevented from participating in the tournament for the next five days.
Up to 30,000 fans were admitted to Melbourne Park each day at this year’s Australian Open, with requirements for social distance and mask requirements for a closed roof. Nearly empty stadiums and bleachers were a common sight so far in the tournament thanks to the slow ticket sales, and now they will be completely empty at least on Wednesday.
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley told reporters that all fans will be reimbursed, including fans who decide to skip Friday’s matches. He also said that players will play in a bubble shape, moving only between their place of residence and the tournament site. He does not believe that players will have trouble getting a flight home.
The COVID-19 outbreak that caused the blockade is reportedly located at the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport, consisting of 13 cases of the highly infectious British strain of the virus.
Compared to the United States, Australia has been highly effective in containing COVID-19 so far. As of Thursday, the country had reported only 28,879 cases of COVID-19 and 909 deaths in total through the pandemic (both figures are far less than what the US sees in a day), and it has now been five months. since registering more than 50 cases in one day.
Serena Williams takes advantage of the opponent’s collapse
Serena Williams rarely needs help in the first rounds of Grand Slam tournaments, but she received more than a few gifts when she beat Russia’s Anastasia Potapova 7-7 (7-5), 6-2 in the third round.
Williams found himself in danger early on, when Potopova broke it to go up 5-3 with a chance to serve for the first set. Williams made 16 mistakes not forced up to that point and it just didn’t look 100 percent. It was reminiscent of his elimination in the third round at the Australian Open last year.
And then Potopova entered a new asphyxiation frontier. The Russian committed two double fouls to open her main service game, recovered to reach the set point, made two faults again, won again to get another set point, then made a double fault, not forced error, double fault to deliver Williams one of the most undeserved breaks you’ll see in a Grand Slam.
Williams found life after that and forced a tiebreak, then rolled a Potapova still fighting in the second set. At one point, Potopova left the court while indicating an abdominal problem, but returned minutes later.
The best moment of the match may have happened in this rally, which was met with sighs from the crowd:
After the victory, his 90th in an event that he won seven times, Williams was in a good mood to talk about his three-year-old daughter, Olympia, and made a great speech:
Williams’ survival sets up a fourth round showdown against seventh place, Aryna Sabalenka, one of the many players in the tournament who idolized Williams while growing up.
Naomi Osaka rolls in straight sets, saves thankless butterfly
While Williams struggled at times, Naomi Osaka looked like the Australian Open favorite that she is while dispatching the number 27 seed Ons Jabeur 6-3 and 6-2 on Friday.
It was a vintage Osaka from the three-time Grand Slam champion, dominating his serve while delighting in Jabeur’s second serve. She was much kinder to a butterfly that landed on her during the second set, but she had to be very careful when the insect decided to fly in her face instead of leaving the court:
With the victory, Osaka has already passed where it was eliminated in the same tournament last year. She must face Garbine Muguruza, number 14 in the fourth round.
Coco Gauff, Caty McNally defeated seed No. 6 in pairs
Teenage sensation Coco Gauff has already been eliminated from the women’s tie by 5th place, Elina Svitolina, but remained alive in the doubles on Friday, with a big win alongside the also American Caty McNally.
Together, the teenagers shocked Gabriela Dabrowski and Bethanie Mattek-Sands with a 6-1, 6-2 victory. Gauff and McNally dominated the game, making only four unforced mistakes against 20 winners.
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