Australian Open 2025 Day 5 Recap – Perfect Tennis

The round of sixty-four at the 2025 Australian Open is complete, and Thursday’s play saw Jannik Sinner overcome the loss of the first set to defeat Tristan Schoolkate 4-6 6-4 6-1 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.

In the night session, Learner Tien caused the upset of the day with a 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 1-6, 7-6(10-7) win over fifth seed Daniil Medvedev. The match was played well into the early hours, finishing at almost 3 a.m. The other two seeded players to lose were Frances Tiafoe (17) and Hubert Hurkacz (18). In his loss to Kecmanovic, Hurkacz appeared to be dealing with a foot injury (blister?)., but Tiafoe will rue his missed chances in the fourth set, failing to convert 10 break points against Fabian Marozsan.

Day Five 2025 Australian Open Round of 64 Results

Winner	Loser	Scoreline
Jannik Sinner (1)	Tristan Schoolkate (WC)	4-6 6-4 6-1 6-3
Marcos Giron	Tomas Martin Etcheverry	7-5 3-6 7-5 3-6 6-4
Miomir Kecmanovic	Hubert Hurkacz (18)	6-4 6-4 6-2
Holger Rune (13)	Matteo Berrettini	7-6(3) 2-6 6-3 7-6(6)
Alex Michelsen	James McCabe (WC)	7-5 6-3 7-6(4)
Karen Khachanov (19)	Gabriel Diallo	7-6(4) 4-6 6-3 6-3
Francisco Cerundolo (31)	Facundo Diaz Acosta	6-1 1-0 RET
Alex de Minaur	Tristan Boyer (Q)	6-2 6-4 6-3
Taylor Fritz (4)	Cristian Garin (Q)	6-2 6-1 6-0
Gael Monfils	Daniel Altmaier	7-5 6-3 7-6(3)
Ben Sheltron (21)	Pablo Carreno Busta	6-3 6-3 6-7(4) 6-4
Lorenzo Musetti (16)	Denis Shapovalov	7-6(3) 7-6(6) 6-2
Lorenzo Sonego	Joao Fonseca (Q)	6-7(6) 6-3 6-1 3-6 6-3
Fabian Marozsan	Frances Tiafoe (17)	6-7(3) 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-1
Corentin Moutet	Mitchell Krueger (Q)	4-6 6-4 7-6(3) 6-4
Learner Tien (Q)	Daniil Medvedev (5)	6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 1-6, 7-6(10-7)

Sinner Shakes Off Set Loss to Smother Schoolkate’s Challenge

It’s been a while since Jannik Sinner lost a set on tour, but he dropped one on Thursday before rallying back to defeat home wild card Tristan Schoolkate 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 

Schoolkate came in as a wildcard, and the world-ranked No. 173 in the ATP Rankings made a strong start, leveraging the crowd to his advantage. However, Sinner raised his game to secure a two-hour, 46-minute victory.

Sinner won 16 of the final 21 games from 2-3 in the second set, and after initially not getting a sniff on Schoolkate’s serve, he broke five times from there to seal the win.

Sinner will next face Marcos Giron in the fourth round, which I think we will see normal service resume with a straight sets win for <8 games lost.

It’s always tough to play against a player I don’t know very well. I felt like he was serving very well. He was playing much better in the beginning than I was. Obviously with the crowd, it was an amazing atmosphere. It’s a very special place, especially for Australians to play here with the home crowd, but I have to be very happy still with my performance. I never take things for granted, so I’m very happy to again be in the next round. Sinner on his win.

Tien Topples Medvedev

After Meddy’s first-round struggles, Learner Tien was a good bet to cause the upset, and he pulled it off, defeating the three-time finalist in a five-set battle to advance to the third round of the Australian Open.

The 19-year-old American qualifier came through 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 1-6, 7-6(10-7) in a marathon match lasting 4 hours, 49 minutes, finishing at 2:552:55 amal time.

Despite failing to convert a match point in the third set, Tien dug deep to win the final set tiebreak and secure the biggest win of his career.

The qualifier’s perseverance paid off in the final set, where he hit 13 winners and converted both break points he created. I thought he played a well-measured game, mixing it up nicely, but I was surprised his game style worked so well against Meddy.

Next up for Tien is Frenchman Corentin Moutet, who defeated American qualifier Mitchell Krueger 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-4 in his second-round match.

The question now for Medvedev is: Is this dip in form reversible or a permanent decline? It’s not just a couple of matches now; it’s been a similar story for around ten months.

Yes, he’s tactically sound and will run all day, which is why he saved a match point in the third-set tiebreak, but it’s gone from 1 or 2 players who can beat him on hard courts to 50+ players who will fancy their chances.

Other Matches of Note

Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur played the most one-sided matches of the day, and both cruised into the third round.

Fritz, the fourth seed, was dominant in a 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 win over Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin in just 1 hour, 22 minutes.

The eighth-seeded De Minaur triumphed 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 over American qualifier Tristan Boyer in under two hours.

Miomir Kecmanovic took down 18th seed Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. The Pole hit 14 aces, but a foot injury hampered his game.

After a five-set battle, Frances Tiafoe was dumped out by Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan 6-7(3), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Big Foe had 10 break points in the fourth set but didn’t take his chances and was completely outplayed in the fifth set.

In the battle of the one-handed backhands, Lorenzo Musetti came through Denis Shapovalov 7-6(3) 7-6(6) 6-2. The Canadian hit 15 double faults in three sets; at this level, you shouldn’t be hitting that many en route to the final, let alone in just three sets (unless you take the GMP approach)

Joao Fonseca was brought back down to earth by Lorenzo Sonego, the world-ranked number 55, who snapped the Brazilian’s winning streak with a 6-7 6-3 6-1 3-6 6-3 win. As usual, the media hype train got carried away after Fonseca’s win against Rublev, billing him as a title contender and a once-in-a-generation talent 😆. Yes, he’s great, but it’s still early.

Later, in a scrappy-ish match, Holger Rune defeated Matteo Berrettini 7-6(3) 2-6 6-3 7-6(6). Berrettini served for the opener and had two set points but was always playing catchup after losing the tiebreak. I hadn’t realised how average Berrettini’s record is on hard courts, having just won 55% of matches on the surface.

Australian Open Day 6 Round of 32 Matches

Who has impressed you in the two rounds so far? 👀