Australian Open LIVE: Sinner Through as Rival Quits, Volkanovski's Sydney Fight

World No.2 Jannik Sinner is through to the second round after his opponent quit as night three at the Australian Open continues. Follow all the news and updates from Night 3 live below! UFC 325: Volkanovski vs Lopes 2 | SUN 1 FEB 1PM AEDT | For the first time in his storied career, UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will defend his championship in his home city of Sydney, in a rematch with Brazil’s Diego Lopes. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Follow our live coverage of Night Three at the 2026 Australian Open! Can’t see the blog? Click here ‘FASHION ICON’: Naomi Osaka stuns tennis world with dramatic walk-on outfit unlike anything we’ve seen DUCKWORTH MAKES IT A PERFECT TEN FOR AUSSIES The Tuesday evening air at Melbourne Park was filled with a chant of ‘quack, quack, quack’ that would have made Gordon Bombay and his junior hockey team proud. Australian wildcard James Duckworth’s come from behind five set win against lucky loser Dino Prizmic on Court 6 was the reason for all the quacking. World No.88 Duckworth prevailed 7-6, 3-6, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 in four hours and 22 minutes. It was the seventh time in 16 career matches at the Australian Open that the 33-year-old has gone the distance. It was also his third fifth set triumph at his home slam. Duckworth’s experience in marathon contests certainly came to the fore against 20-year-old Prizmic. Duckworth looked dead in the water when he won just one game in the third set to fall behind in the match. The Croatian supporters cheering on their new hope even rubbed salt into the wounds by chanting ‘is there a fire drill?’ as many locals gave up hope and went chasing a seat at the all-Australian affair between Maddison Inglis and Kim Birrell, or Daria Kasatkina’s Australian Open debut for her new country, instead. But they quickly came swarming back as Duckworth rallied to showcase the fighting spirit that has been a staple of his career. There were nervy moments like when his serve was broken early in the fourth set and when he failed to serve out the match at 5-1 in the fifth set. Duckworth’s staying power ultimately put himself through to the second round for the sixth time since he first did so as a teenager in 2012, however. He also became the tenth Australian to win their first round match across the last three days, joining Dane Sweeny and Taylah Preston as winners on Tuesday. Duckworth now faces the daunting challenge of two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner he tries to get past the Round of 64 in Melbourne for the first time in his career. SINNER CRUISES THANKS TO RETIREMENT What looked like an easy night for Jannik Sinner only became easier when the world No.2’s first-round opponent Hugo Gaston retired hurt. Sinner led 6-2 6-1 when Gaston pulled up stumps on the first-round match. “I saw that he was not serving with a very, very high pace, especially in the second set,” Sinner explained. “But, you know, it’s not the way you want to win the match. But he’s such a talented player, he has incredible touch, moving very, very well. “So I knew starting from the beginning that I had to play very high level tennis, trying to be as aggressive as possible, which I’ve done so I’m very happy. I’m very happy to be back here.” It was also easy going for in-form No.10 seed Belinda Bencic who belted Alex de Minaur’s fiance Katie Boulter 6-0 7-5. AUSSIE GREAT COPS GLOBAL CRITICISM FOR DJOKOVIC COMMENT Australian tennis champion Wally Masur is copping the ire of Serbia after an apparent joke made during commentary on Novak Djokovic’s first-round match last night. Masur, who works for the world feed produced by the Australian Open, was covering Djokovic’s comfortable first-round win over Spain’s Pedro Martinez. With Martinez not looking likely to claim victory, Masur quipped at one point after Djokovic slid to hit a forehand: “I think that’s Pedro’s biggest chance – if Novak just tears an adductor on one of those slides. It might be just what he needs.” The line was spotted by social media users and then picked up by Serbian media outlets. “A shameful comment about Djokovic in a live feed. Is it possible that a commentator is saying this?” Nova TV said. Tabloid outlet Telegraf called the comment “catastrophic” while Mondo said it was “a famous tennis player’s live feed scandal”. Masur spoke jovially with Djokovic on court after the match, in an interview which saw the 10-time Australian Open champion rave about his own body. AUSTRALIAN OPEN NIGHT 3 ORDER OF PLAY Show courts and Aussies - all times AEDT Rod Laver Arena From 7pm Hugo Gaston (FRA) vs [2] Jannik Sinner (ITA) [16] Naomi Osaka (JPN) vs Antonia Ruzic (CRO) Margaret Court Arena Night session from 7pm Katie Boulter (GBR) vs [10] Belinda Bencic (SUI) Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN) vs [31] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) John Cain Arena Night session from 5pm Valentin Royer (FRA) vs [9] Taylor Fritz (USA) [Q] Maddison Inglis (AUS) vs Kim Birrell (AUS) ANZ Arena (Est. 7pm) Daria Kasatkina (AUS) vs [Q] Nikola Bartunkova (CZE) Court 6 Third match (est. 5:30pm)