Taylor Fritz, the highest-seeded American man at the Australian Open, needed only 82 minutes to defeat Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin on Thursday and advance to the third round in Melbourne.
Behind a strong first serve, Fritz, the 2024 US Open runner-up and No. 4 seed, cruised past Garin 6-2, 6-1, 6-0.
Fritz has dropped only eight games across two rounds and spent just over three hours on court. Excluding walkovers, that’s tied for the third-fewest games lost by any man en route to the third round of the Australian Open since 1988, when the event switched to hardcourt.
Also advancing on the men’s side was local hope and No. 8 Alex De Minaur, who dispatched American qualifier Tristan Boyer 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.
Earlier Thursday, Gael Monfils, 38, became the fourth-oldest man to reach the third round since 1988.
Monfils, on the heels of becoming the oldest player to win an ATP Tour title Saturday at the Auckland Classic, beat Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (3) to set up a meeting with Fritz for a spot in the round of 16.
Their only previous meeting came at the 2019 Australian Open (Fritz won their second-round match in four sets).
No. 16 Lorenzo Musetti reached the third round at Melbourne Park for the first time in his career by overcoming Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6), 6-2. Up next for Musetti is American 21st seed Ben Shelton, who took out former Spanish world No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4.
ESPN Research, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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