Taylor Fritz has pledged his Australian Open prize money to Los Angeles fire relief efforts after moving into the third round, barely breaking into a sweat.
The fourth seed blitzed Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin in an hour and 22 minutes, winning 6-2 6-1 6-0, and has dropped only eight games in his opening two rounds.
"It always feels great to come out and play a match like that," Fritz said.
"I played well in the first round, too, so I'm high in confidence going into the third round. This is awesome."
The Californian announced on court after the win he would donate his $132,000 first-round prize money to LA wildfire relief fundraising.
"It's just insane what happened ... it's really the least I could do," Fritz said of his donation.
"Southern California is my home and LA was my home for a very long time, so I'm just doing what I can possibly do to help and encourage everyone else that can donate to do so because a lot of people really need it."
Fritz reached his first grand slam final at last year's US Open where he lost to Jannik Sinner, also falling to the reigning Australian champion in the title match at the ATP Finals in November.
Looking to surpass his 2024 Open quarter-final showing, Fritz will next take on 38-year-old Frenchman Gael Monfils, who downed German Daniel Altmaier 7-5 6-3 7-6 (7-3).
The 2025 Auckland champion, Monfils extended his winning streak to seven matches.
In his 19th Open appearance, Monfils has become the fourth oldest male player to reach the third round, which will be his 12th appearance.
World No.1 and defending champion Sinner overcame a scare from unheralded Australian wildcard Tristan Schoolkate, dropping the opening set before prevailing in four on Thursday night.
Sinner composed himself after the first set to win 4-6 6-4 6-1 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.
The trio were joined in the third round by 16th seed Lorenzo Musetti, the Italian winning a tight battle with Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (8-6) 6-2.
American 21st seed Ben Shelton, who reached the Open quarter-finals in 2023, ousted veteran Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3 6-3 6-7 (7-4) 6-4.
Miomir Kecmanovic's love affair with the Open continued, with the unseeded Serbian storming into the third round.
Kecmanovic kicked off his Open run in 2022 when he was supposed to play then-world No.1 and nine-time champion Novak Djokovic in the first round at Melbourne Park, only for his countryman to be famously deported on the eve of the tournament.
Djokovic's place in the main draw was taken by Italian qualifying lucky loser Salvatore Caruso, who Kecmanovic downed, describing it as a "second chance".
He kept his Open charge running to reach the fourth round, and did so again last year.
This time, the world No.51 swept past Polish 18th seed Hubert Hurkacz 6-4 6-4 6-2.
Kecmanovic, a former junior world No.1, will meet Danish 13th seed Holger Rune.
Rune fought out a 7-6 ( 7-3) 2-6 6-3 7-6 (8-6) win over talented Italian Matteo Berrettini.
But American 17th seed Frances Tiafoe suffered a five-set heartbreak to Hungarian Fabian Marozsan.
Marozsan prevailed 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-1 and will play Lorenzo Sonego.
The Italian ended Brazilian wunderkind Joao Fonseca's tournament with a hard-fought 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 6-1 3-6 6-3 victory on 1573 Arena.
Meanwhile, 31st seed Francisco Cerundolo advanced when Argentine compatriot Facundo Diaz Acosta withdrew while trailing 6-3 1-0.
Cerundolo will face hot-footed Australian No.1 Alex de Minaur, who thrashed grand slam debutant Tristan Boyer 6-2 6-4 6-3.
