By JOHN PYE and DENNIS PASSA AP Sports Writers
MELBOURNE, Australia — Limping and desperately trying to stretch out cramps in his arms and legs, Jannik Sinner had just gone down a break in the third set when the extreme heat rules saved him.
Play was suspended for eight minutes while the roof was closed on Rod Laver Arena on Saturday afternoon (Friday night PT), and the two-time defending Australian Open champion returned a revitalized man.
After seemingly being on the verge of an unlikely exit – one of his coaches, Darren Cahill, was urging the 24-year-old Italian just to stick it out for a few more games – Sinner won five of the next six games to take the set against 85th-ranked American Eliot Spizzirri.
Another 10-minute “cooling break” between the third and fourth sets followed – an allowance under the extreme heat policy – and Sinner returned for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory that highlighted a dramatic contrast of intense light and shade.
“I struggled physically today. I got lucky with the heat rule,” Sinner said, agreeing that the cooler indoor conditions suited him much more than the energy-sapping heat of the first two sets. “I try to stay calm even in a moment like this. If he keeps playing the way he was playing, maybe I was dropping a little bit, maybe my tournament was over today. I don’t know.”
Reflecting on his situation at 3-1 down in the third set, after he had dropped as many service games in this match as he did in the entire 2025 tournament, the second-seeded Sinner said he was just trying to survive.
“It started with the legs. Got to the arms. I was cramping a bit all over,” he said. “This is an area I know I need to improve.”
Spizzirri, a 24-year-old American who was making his debut in the Australian Open main draw, had never won three consecutive matches on the elite tour. Yet he converted six of his 16 breakpoint chances against Sinner.
In the second set, Sinner was given a rare time violation by chair umpire Fergus Murphy as he was preparing to serve. In a show of sportsmanship, Spizzirri intervened, approaching the umpire and saying he hadn’t been ready to receive.
He had the crowd on his side, until Sinner’s movement became visibly wobbly.
Under the roof – with the glare gone, the temperature easing across the third and fourth sets and the radiated heat from the court plummeting – the momentum swung.
“I don’t know if he got saved by it,” Spizzirri said. “I smiled a little bit when the heat rule went into effect, just because it was kind of funny timing. But at the same time, the game at 2-1 in the third set was when it hit, I think it’s 5 (on the heat scale), which means that the heat rule is in effect. So whenever that game was over, whether I broke or whether he held, we were going to close the roof.”
He was magnanimous about it, adding: “That’s the rules of the game, and, you know, you got to live with it.”
Sinner will next play fellow Italian Luciano Darderi, who beat No. 15 Karen Khachanov, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. A third Italian man also advanced, with No. 5 Lorenzo Musetti beating Tomas Machac, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
Eighth-seeded American Ben Shelton beat Valentin Vacherot of Monaco, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (5), on Margaret Court Arena.
“Having the roof here closed today just amplified the noise,” Shelton told the crowd. “If this roof was open today, I don’t know if I’d be able to go the distance.”
Telling the crowd to stay cool, he added: “I’m not done yet. I hope you guys come back in two days’ time because I’ve still got a lot to prove here.”
The night session at Rod Laver Arena featured 10-time champion Novak Djokovic against Botic van de Zandschulp.
Play was suspended on outside courts for at least five hours from the mid-afternoon Saturday. The temperature was around 95 degrees when the tournament’s so-called heat scale hit a maximum of 5. The forecast was for a maximum temperature of 104 degrees.
PODCAST PALS WILL SQUARE OFF
Whatever happens in a fourth-round match between defending champion Madison Keys and fellow American Jessica Pegula, Keys has already nailed the promo for it.
“This is going to be the first match in Grand Slam history between two podcast co-hosts,” Keys said Saturday. “It’s a very niche headline.”
The close friends advanced to the fourth round with wins on Saturday. The ninth-seeded Keys beat Karolina Pliskova, 6-3, 6-3, in the opening match on Rod Laver Arena, and sixth-seeded Pegula defeated Oksana Selekhmeteva, 6-3, 6-2, at Margaret Court Arena.
In her on-court TV interview, Keys alluded to the podcast that she and Pegula, along with several other WTA players, do. It’s called “The Player’s Box” and it chronicles everyday life on tour.
“I think we have to do (one) before the match, so we’ll see how that goes,” Keys said, smiling, already thinking ahead to Monday’s match.
She confirmed that later in her news conference.
“We are filming tomorrow (Sunday),” Keys said. “We’re both going to try to think of something to kind of commemorate this moment.
“I mean, hopefully we have more times where we meet later in tournaments where we get to play each other. We can see how this one goes and then hopefully be able to capitalize on it and then see how we want to do it in the future, as well.”
When asked if there would be any “trash talk” during the filming, Keys said she wasn’t sure.
“I don’t know if either of us really trash talks very well,” Keys said. “I’m sure we’re going to, for sure, find some way to at least talk about it and hopefully make it entertaining.”
Pegula, who launched the podcast with Keys, Jennifer Brady, and Desirae Krawczyk during last year’s U.S. Open, said she noticed the possible head-to-head contest midway through the tournament.
“I honestly didn’t really realize it until last round that if we both win, we would play each other,” Pegula said. “I mean, we’re so used to it. Like, it doesn’t really change that much. But maybe it will help the numbers on the pod.”
So no trash talk?
“Maybe that’s what we should do,” Pegula said. “We’ll see what kind of segments we can come up (with). It could be like a trash talk segment before we play.”
Keys leads Pegula 2-1 in their career head-to-head meetings, including a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 win in the final of the Adelaide International in Australia last year.
OSAKA WITHDRAWS
Naomi Osaka withdrew before her scheduled third-round match against Australian qualifier Maddison Inglis on Saturday, ending a campaign noted for fashion and friction.
The two-time Australian Open champion announced it on social media without divulging her injury, posting on Instagram that she had to withdraw “to address something my body needs attention for after my last match.”
“I was so excited to keep going and this run meant the most to me, so having to stop here breaks my heart,” Osaka posted, “but I can’t risk doing any further damage so I can get back on the court.”
Osaka’s grand entrance to the tournament earlier this week went viral, when she walked onto the court for her first-round match wearing a wide-brim hat, a veil and holding a white parasol – a design she said her clothing sponsor, Nike, let her create.
In the second round, Osaka fended off Sorana Cirstea in a tense 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win at Margaret Court Arena that ended acrimoniously.
The pair barely exchanged a handshake over the net, with Cirstea glancing in Osaka’s direction briefly and then turning her head away.
As they walked toward the umpire’s chair, Osaka asked, “What was that for?”
Cirstea responded directly to the four-time Grand Slam champion, upset with Osaka’s efforts to pump herself up at stages during the match.
“Apparently a lot of ‘C’mons’ that she was angry about,” Osaka said, “but whatever. I think this was her last Australian Open so, OK, sorry she was mad about it.”
Osaka won the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021. She won two other Grand Slam titles at the U.S. Open, where she beat Serena Williams in the 2018 final and won again in 2020.
She was seeded 16th for this tournament and was set to play Inglis, ranked No. 168, in a night match on Rod Laver Arena.
Osaka was coming off a semifinal run at the U.S. Open last year, her best run at a major in five years.
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