MELBOURNE, Australia — Defending champion Madison Keys and her fellow American Jessica Pegula started their third-round matches earlier than usual Saturday at the Australian Open with extremely hot temperatures expected at Melbourne Park.
Play began an hour earlier than initially scheduled on Day 7 because of the forecast of searing temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
The ninth-seeded Keys was playing Karolina Pliskova in the opening match on Rod Laver Arena, while sixth-seeded Pegula took on Oksana Selekhmeteva in the first match at Margaret Court Arena.
Americans also featured in several other early matches Saturday, with Eliot Spizzirri having the toughest assignment. The 24-year-old Spizzirri, who spent part of his off-day Friday playing table tennis at a communal table in Garden Court at Melbourne Park, will take on two-time defending champion and second-seeded Jannik Sinner in the second match of the day on Rod Laver Arena.
Spizzirri has competed at all four Grand Slam tournaments, but has only reached the main draw at the U.S. Open and Australian Open, where the third round here is his furthest run and career-best result.
Following Pegula at Margaret Court Arena will be an all-American contest between No. 4 Amanda Anisimova and Peyton Stearns. Then another American, eighth-seeded Ben Shelton, is set to play Valentin Vacherot.
The night session at Rod Laver Arena features 10-time champion Novak Djokovic as he continues his quest for a record 25th Grand Slam singles title. Djokovic plays Botic van de Zandschulp in the first of the evening matches.
The concluding match on the main court could have the capacity crowd guessing what fashion statement Naomi Osaka might make in her third-round encounter with Australian qualifier Maddison Inglis.
Osaka, who has two Australian Open titles among her four majors, walked onto the court wearing a wide-brim hat, a veil and holding a white parasol for her first-round match. For her second, Osaka didn’t bother with the couture hat, veil and parasol but was still wearing a jellyfish-inspired dress and matching warmup jacket.
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