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1. Many happy returns for Grand Slam specialist Martic
That’s how you celebrate your 27th birthday: by going further than ever before at a Grand Slam. Petra Martic is into the second week of a major for the first time after surviving a spirited battle with Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum on Rod Laver Arena to set up a fourth-round showdown with Elise Mertens for a place in the quarterfinals – and given her Grand Slam prowess in the past year, who would bet against her?

You see, Martic is emerging as something of a Grand Slam specialist. The Croatian is currently contesting her fourth major since a career-threatening back injury kept her out of the game for 10 months, and it’s fair to say things have gone well on the sport’s grandest stages. Martic has a 9-3 win-loss record at the majors since her return – 15-3 if you include her qualifying runs at Roland Garros and Wimbledon – and she has reached the fourth round on three occasions, only missing out on a main-draw win at the US Open.

Elsewhere, however, it is a very different story. Primarily operating on the lower-tier ITF circuit, Martic is 2-3 at tour-level away from the slams. Is it clever scheduling, helping to manage her recovery? Does it make her an unknown entity when she arrives at the majors? Or is it simply the luck of the draw? Whatever the case, it all makes for a very happy birthday for the world No.81 – and so say all of us:


Crowd sings happy birthday to Petra Martic
Video 15 hours ago

2. It’s more than a game…
It’s not often you see a set decided in the second game – nor, for that matter, to play a game with more than enough points to settle six. Yet so it proved for Kyle Edmund, who found himself trailing Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili by two sets to one in the early exchanges of the fourth, holding before switching ends and waiting to receive.

Then this happened

#AusOpen
@AustralianOpen
Well, this is something:

The fourth set of #Edmund vs #Basilashvili lasted 36 minutes.
The second game of that set, in which there was 36 points and 15 deuces, lasted 20 minutes by itself.
AusOpen

6:39 AM - Jan 19, 2018
2 2 Replies 34 34 Retweets 123 123 likes
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Not only did the Briton claim the break after the mammoth 20-minute game (technically 19mins 59secs, but who’s counting?) but with the temperatures around Melbourne Park edging towards 40°C, the serving effort seemed to leave Basilashvili spent for the rest of the set as Edmund racked up a bagel, and later the victory.

“Probably the longest game of my career, to be honest,” Edmund said afterwards. “I mean, sets get played as quick as that. That game actually worked out to be a very key game, because that game was a set from him.”

Throw in a medical time-out after just three games for a back problem, the three hours, 24 minutes spent out in the sweltering Victorian sun, and the nerveless 7-5 finish in the final set, and you have to admit: that was some display from GB’s last representative in the singles draws. And don’t just take our word for it…


Andy Murray
@andy_murray
Physical test passed.. Mental strength passed..I reckon that's biggest win of @kyle8edmund career! Well done kedders @AustralianOpen

5:05 AM - Jan 19, 2018
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3. If Gael Monfils is the answer, what is the question?
A little bit of serving history was made on Hisense Arena as Ivo Karlovic — who else? — became the first player to hit 50 or more aces in back-to-back matches in his second-round win over Yuchi Sugita and third-round defeat by Andreas Seppi.

Already the oldest man to reach the AO third round in 40 years, the Croatian — one month shy of his 39th birthday — was bidding to become the oldest to reach the second week at a major since Jimmy Connors at the 1991 US Open. Alas it was not to be, Seppi succeeding where Sugita failed and breaking serve after the fifth set entered extra innings.

Still, how about them serve stats? Karlovic’s predilection for pummelling aces puts him head and shoulders above his peers — a situation which, at 211cm, he is all too familiar with. He has now hit 12,428 untouchable deliveries in his career, over 2,000 more than Roger Federer in second place, and was already the only man to hit 40+ aces in three consecutive Grand Slam matches during his Wimbledon run in 2015.

In fact, Karlovic has hit at least one ace in every single match of his ATP career — except one. The blank came at the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2008, but can you name the opponent?


Andreas Seppi def. Ivo Karlovic match highlights (3R)
Video 7 hours ago

4. What does a tennis lesson cost these days?
It was a bittersweet day for Ukrainian tennis fans. Kateryna Bondarenko’s run may have ended at the hands of No.19 seed Magdalena Rybarikova 7-5 3-6 6-1 on MCA, but earlier on Rod Laver Arena the present star of the nation’s tennis elite met the future.

Marta Kostyuk, the 15-year-old sensation who returned as the reigning AO junior champion and leaves having reached the third round on her Grand Slam debut, fell 6-2 6-2 to compatriot and No.4 seed Elina Svitolina. It was a professional performance from the 23-year-old, who treated it like any other match – there’s a Grand Slam title on the line, after all – as the heat, the sun, the five matches prior and the pressure of performing on such a grand stage finally took its toll on the teen.


Who is Marta Kostyuk
Video 18 Jan 18

Was she disappointed? Sure – what athlete isn’t after a defeat. But Kostyuk had a positive spin on the match that perhaps only a youngster might grasp: “How much you have to pay Svitolina to have one-hour lesson?” she asked the assembled press. “I got it for free.”

That’s certainly one way of looking at it – though Svitolina, tongue firmly in cheek, had another: “It was expensive, because we play for prize money.”


Marta Kostyuk
@marta_kostyuk
Thank you @elinasvitolina for a tennis lesson and for not charging me for it. It was a privilege…

11:03 AM - Jan 19, 2018
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5. Kyrgios shows focus in front of Fresh Prince
It’s not often you claim a match win with three tiebreaks (unless your name is Ivo Karlovic, but enough about him). Nick Kyrgios had done so just once before in his career, ousting Radek Stepanek on his Grand Slam main draw debut at Roland Garros in 2013, 7-6(4) 7-6(8) 7-6(11).

Tonight the Australian No.1 not only had to be at his blistering best against his childhood idol Jo Wilfried Tsonga – he had to, in his own words after winning the Brisbane International in the build-up to AO 2018, keep an even keel. With a raucous Rod Laver Arena crowd living and dying with every point, that’s no mean feat; fortunately, the 24-year-old had the perfect talisman sat in the front row.


Nick Kyrgios declares love for Will Smith in post-match
Video 6 hours ago

Will Smith, the erstwhile Fresh Prince of Bel Air and star of such movies as I Am Legend, Independence Day and Ali, was on hand to witness Kyrgios’s 7-6(5) 4-6 7-6(6) 7-6(5) third-round win, and the No.17 seed had a special shout-out for the American after the match.

“I've got Focus on my phone, I watch it every time I've got a flight,” Kyrgios said, referring to Smith’s 2015 crime comedy-drama – though he did add: “That's because of Margot Robbie though, not you.”

Because she’s a fellow Australian, right? Smith laughed, as did the crowd – the perfect end to a perfect night for the home hope.

Angelique Kerber and Maria Sharapova share much in common: both 30 years old, former Australian Open champions and each having reigned as world No.1. Those shared traits point to the common qualities that have made each of them such stars – huge natural talent, enduring athleticism and a fierce determination to fully capitalise on both.

All of which combine to make their third-round encounter on Saturday one of the most intriguing matches yet of AO2018.

MORE: Day 6 schedule of play

Typically, you’d expect players of their calibre to meet in a later round. But Kerber has, until recently, dipped by her own high standards, and Sharapova has been absent from the tour. They arrived at this Grand Slam ranked world No.16 and No.48 respectively but with a shared purpose – and capability – to rescale former heights.

Kerber’s ability to return to the form that took her to the AO2016 title and world No.1 ranking is clear in her 11 straight match wins to kick off 2018. She was unbeaten in singles at the Hopman Cup, the champion in Sydney and, in Melbourne, has surrendered only nine games in two rounds against Anna-Lena Friedsam and Donna Vekic.

MORE: Full women’s draw

After starting the season with a semifinal run in Shenzhen, Sharapova has also proceeded in Melbourne without the loss of a set. She marched past Tatjana Maria in the first round and survived an important test from Anastasija Sevastova in the second.

But each knows their Australian Open challenge now elevates. “It’s another tough match here,” said Kerber. “We both played in the past a lot of good matches. I know that I have to play my best tennis again. I think it will be a good match.”

The two former champions have in fact contested seven matches, with the Russian holding a 4-3 lead. Kerber is the winner of their past two encounters – on grass at Wimbledon and clay in Stuttgart – but they haven’t competed since 2015.

“I'm just looking more about me, like how I will prepare, just playing my game from the first point, just of course trying to do my best,” the German said. ‘I'm looking forward to playing against her. This is the matches I'm looking forward to have, especially at the beginning of the year.”

Sharapova, who returned from her 15-month suspension last year unranked, similarly embraces the opportunity to test her form against the game’s best.

“I look forward to these matches. I want to be playing against opponents that have former Grand Slam champions,” she said of Kerber. “She's had success here. She's had success playing out here in these conditions on these courts. I want to see where I am on that level.”

Similar tests exist for former champions in the men’s draw. Novak Djokovic, returned from his six-month injury break with wins over Donald Young and Gael Monfils in Melbourne, faces a tricky encounter in the No.21 seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

MORE: Full men’s draw

While Novak has won all four encounters against the lefty Spaniard – the most recent in the fourth round of Roland Garros last year – he also admits that physically he’s “not 100 per cent, but (still) building.”

Roger Federer is also taking nothing for granted as the defence of his AO2017 title continues against No.29 seed Richard Gasquet. The Swiss leads the pair’s head-to-head record 16-2 and anticipates a quality match.

“I love playing the guy,” said Federer. “He’s got great variation, it starts with his serve, then starts with his backhand (and he) can move to the net. A little old school. We’ve had some good matches over the years.”

Fans can expect an entertaining encounter as the two of the game’s most graceful competitors bring their artistry to the court. Much like Kerber and Sharapova’s high-stakes encounter, it’s also one that will showcase how the best players typically bring out each other’s best.