Australian Open 2022 day six: Andújar v De Minaur, Swiatek v Kasatkina – live! | Sport

Over on the Margaret Court Arena, Iga Swiatek has an early break against Russia’s Daria Kasatkina, who has missed break chances of her own. The No 7 seed leads 4-1.

Taro Daniel has taken the second set off Sinner, 6-1, while it’s already developed into a baseline slugfest between Andújar and De Minaur, with the first set still on serve.

Six players have made it through to the women’s last 16 so far on Saturday. They include Simona Halep, who was too strong for Danka Kovinic, unable to repeat her heroics against Emma Raducanu in the second round.

No 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka came back from a set down to win for the third match in a row, getting the better of former French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova. Danielle Collins also fought back to win an epic battle with rising star Clara Tauson.

Kaia Kanepi also dropped the first set but recovered to end the run of Aussie wildcard Maddison Inglis, and Alize Cornet got the better of Tamara Zidansek in a near three-hour encounter. Elise Mertens, the No 19 seed, took just over an hour to see off China’s Zhang Shuai.

Alex De Minaur is up and running on Rod Laver, breaking Andújar in the first game – but the Spaniard quickly earns a chance to break straight back, and outmuscles his opponent in an early rally to level.

Elsewhere Taro Daniel, the conqueror of Andy Murray, lost the first set to rising star Jannik Sinner, but leads 4-0 in the second.

So, what’s been happening overnight? In the men’s draw, Daniil Medvedev eased past Botic van de Zandschulp in straight sets and Stefanos Tsitsipas got through in four sets against Benoît Paire.

Taylor Fritz edged out Roberto Bautista Agut in a five-set battle, fighting back from 2-1 down. He’s joined by compatriot Maxime Cressy in the last 16, the world No 70 ending the run of Aussie wildcard Chris O’Connell in four sets.

British hopes in the singles draws are over, with Dan Evans well beaten by Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime, who wrapped up a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 win moments ago. It was a decent scrap in the first set, before the No 9 seed pulled away in style. He’ll face Rublev or Cilic in the next round.

Hello. Home fans have been waiting since 1978 for an Australian singles champion in either of the showpiece events at their home slam, and while all the expectation is on Ash Barty, the women’s world No 1, they still have a dark horse left in the men’s draw.

Alex De Minaur kicks off the evening session on Rod Laver Arena against wily Spanish veteran Pablo Andújar. After that, women’s No 10 seed and three-time Melbourne quarter-finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova takes on a tricky unseeded opponent in Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.

Elsewhere, former French Open champ Iga Swiatek will look to show her title credentials against Daria Kasatkina, before what could be a classic, heavy-hitting encounter between Andrey Rublev and Marin Cilic. Stay tuned.