Australian Open: Stefanos Tsitsipas flying, Andy Murray row continues – overnight roundup | Tennis | Sport

Andy Murray was still the talk of the tournament at the Australian Open on the morning after his late night. The Scot, who went to bed at 5.30am on Friday morning, will be back in action on Saturday night in the first match in the evening session on the same Margaret Court Arena at 7pm local time (8am UK time).

The tournament boss has defended the scheduling which saw Murray’s win over Thanasi Kokkinakis finally finish at 4.05am. In the same Margaret Court Arena, Jannik Sinner avoided a shock five-set exit while the top male seed left in the competition reached the third round while Stefanos Tsitsipas also continued his blistering start at the tournament.

And last year’s women’s finalist here lost to the Wimbledon champion but Emma Radacanu’s conqueror is safely through…

Murray row continues

Andy Murray was back on site at the Australian Open just hours after his latest ever finish as the tournament boss insisted he will not change the scheduling. The Scot finally beat Thanasi Kokkinakis at 4.05am local time after starting his second-round match at 10.20pm in the Margaret Court Arena.

The three-time Grand Slam winner branded playing so late as “disrespectful” and a “joke” during the match and later branded the timing as a “bit of a farce” and potentially dangerous for health.

But Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley said: “At this point there is no need to alter the schedule. We always look at it when we do the debrief like we do every year, we’ve had long matches before, at this point we’ve got to fit the matches in the 14 days so you don’t have many options.”

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Sinner stays alive

Murray fought back from two sets down for a record 11th time to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis. And No 15 seed Sinner, 21, achieved the feat for the first time to overcome Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 4-6 4-6 6-1 6-2 6-0 in three hours and 33 minutes in the first match back on the same Margaret Court Arena today.

The Italian, who lost to the Hungarian here last year, said: “For sure it was a tough match. Some tactically a little bit, for sure, going more in his backhand. But after I broke him and I went up with the score, I felt a little bit better.”

Collins crashes out

No 13 seed Danielle Collins lost the final here to Ash Barty last year. But the American’s run this time is over in the third round after she lost to Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-2 5-7 6-2 in the Kia Arena.

But French Open finalist Coco Gauff, who knocked out Emma Raducanu on Wednesday, is safely through after beating fellow American Bernarda Pera 6-3 6-2 in the Rod Laver Arena. The No 7 seed, who needed four match points, said: “Today was a tough match.

“Bernarda hit the ball really hard and I was just hanging in there. I am just happy to be through to the second week.” Speaking to Jelena Dokic in her courtside interview, Gauff was asked about her political activism – and TikTok.

The teenager said: “I think I am a human being before a tennis player. So I am always going to speak about human rights. I am going to use my platform to speak up.”

Less seriously, Gauff said her father will refuse to appear more on TikTok because he is not getting paid. A posting of her parents dancing has gone viral. But she said: “It went viral because of my dad (Corey). He was so bad at it. He asked me how much he would get paid but it doesn’t work like that.”