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Patna : Top seed Rafael Nadal, 33, Spain, World No 5 Dominic Thiem, 26, Austria, and 11th seed Gael Monfils, 33, France, entered the fourth round of Australian Open (AO) 2020 at Melbourne Park, Membourne, Victoria, Australia, on January 25, 2020.
World No 1 Rafael Nadal beat compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta, 28, the 27th seed, in straight sets 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 winning five break points besides 5 games in a row in the match at Rod Laver Arena. Nadal, the winner of 19 Grand Slam titles, fired Aces in the match to 6 by World No 30 Busta. Nadal’s winning percentage both on his first and second serve ( 87 % & 78 %) was much higher than that of Busta ( 71 % & 33 %). Nadal won 52 service points to 36 by Busta. Nadal now leads Busta 5-0 Head to Head.
World No 10 Gael Monfils beat Qualifier and World No 256 Ernests Gulbis, 31, Latvia, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 in 3rd round at Melbourne Arena. Both Nadal and Gulbis fired 9 Aces in the match. Both of them also committed 6 double faults each. But, Monfils won 5 break points in the match to 2 by Gulbis. He also won 4 games in a row in the match to 2 by his opponent. Monfils won 70 service points in the match to 58 by the Latvian, a former Top Ten player who had reached semi-finals of French Open in 2014.
Fifth seed Dominic Thiem beat 29th seed Taylor Fritz, 22, USA, in a tough four-set contest 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 at Margaret Court Arena to enter the fourth round. World No 34 Fritz though hammered 20 Aces in the match to 12 by Thiem. He committed 4 double faults to 5 by the Austrian. But, Thiem won 5 break points in the match to 1 by the American. Thiem also won 5 games in a row to 2 by Fritz. The Austrian won 93 service points in the match to 77 by the American.