France's top two tennis players Ugo Humbert and Arthur Fils will go head-to-head on Friday for a place in the last-16 at the season's first Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Humbert, seeded 14th, overcame Hady Habib from Lebanon 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday evening to set up the third round meeting with Fils who had earlier beaten compatriot Quentin Halys in four sets in a rain-affected match.
It will be their fifth meeting on the senior ATP tour in 18 months. Humbert, 26, won their first encounter in the opening round at the Cincinnati Open in August 2023.
And he claimed the next two ties in 2024 on the grass at 's-Hertogenbosch in June and at the Canadian Open in August.
But in the final at the Tokyo Open in September, Fils saved a match point on his way to securing the crown.
Change
On Sunday, 26-year-old Habib made history when he beat Bu Yunchaokete from China to become the first player from Lebanon to reach the second round at one of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
The world number 219 overcame his 67th ranked opponent 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 to spark joyous scenes in the stands of Court 13 at Melbourne Park.
Four days later, the mood among his fan club was more subdued. Humbert, participating in his seventh Australian Open, took Habib's opening service game to lead 2-0 and held his own throughout the rest of the set to claim the opener.
It was a similar scenario in the second and Humbert broke mid way through the third set to settle affairs after one hour and 41 minutes.
Fils, 20, saw off Halys in four sets to progress to the third round in Melbourne for the first time. The 20th seed won 6-2, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5.
After dispatching the 24th seed Sebastian Baez in the first round in five sets, France's Arthur Cazaux slumped to defeat against the unseeded Briton Jacob Fearnley.
Cazaux took the opener 6-3 but the Briton rallied to win the following three for a victory that took the 23-year-old to the third round of a Grand Slam event for the first time.
Benjamin Bonzi overcame Francesco Passaro in four sets to reach the last 32. On Friday the 28-year-old will play the 24th seed Jiri Lehecka who advanced after the Frenchman Hugo Gaston pulled out of their tie during the second set due to an injured stomach muscle.
Big guns
Elsewhere in the men's draw, third seed Carlos Alcaraz breezed past Yoshihito Nishioka from Japan. The 20-year-old Spaniard ripped through the opening set 6-0 in 18 minutes. And he led 3-0 in the second before Nishioka got on the board.
That set was wrapped up 6-1 in 25 minutes and Alcaraz, who is trying to win the Australian Open for the first time, took the third 6-4 to complete the rout in 81 minutes.
Should Alcaraz claim the crown on 26 January, he will become only the sixth man since tennis was opened up to professional players in 1968 to lift the trophy at the Grand Slam tournament venues in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.
Following the retirement of Rafael Nadal last November, Novak Djokovic roams the circuit as the only active player in that pantheon.
On Wednesday, the 37-year-old Serb, a 10-time champion at the Australian Open, continued his quest for a record-extending 11th title and a 25th Grand Slam singles crown with a four-set win over the Jaime Faria from Portugal.
In the women's draw, there was a shock as last year's runner-up Qinwen Zheng went down to the unseeded German Laura Siegemund in straight sets.
But defending champion and top seed Aryna Sabalenka advanced in straight sets along with third seed Coco Gauff. The American dispatched the British qualifier Jodie Burrage 6-3, 7-5.
