Australian Open 2025 Recaps Day 3: Upsets abound and one is avoided

Day 3 was not the best of days for seeded players at the 2025 Australian Open. Seven seeded players went down, and there were others who had near misses. One of these was fifth-seed Daniil Medvedev.

The Russian lost his cool a few times, took his aggression out on a TV camera at the net, and played through massive inconsistency until righting himself in the final two sets. He defeated Kasidit Samrej 6-2 4-6 3-6 6-1 6-2. The experience of winning at a high level during majors likely helped Medvedev through because he seemed almost done by the end of the third set.

Speaking with the media after the match, Medvedev said, "I watched his matches, and I didn't see this level, so I was surprised. If he plays like this every match, his life will be good."

Upsets are everywhere on Day 3 of the 2025 Australian Open

Medvedev will next play 19-year-old Learner Tien in the second round.

Fellow Russian Andrey Rublev had a much worse time. Not only did the 9-seed get bounced out of the Australian Open in the first round, he did so in straight sets to Joao Fonseca. The Brazilian is only 18 years old, so no one expected him to have much of a chance against the veteran Russian, but Fonseca actually defeated Rublev at his own game: The Brazilian's power was too much.

Fonseca hit 51 winners and just 32 unforced errors. He will carry a lot of momentum into the second round after getting his first major upset win and after winning the ATP Next Gen Finals in December. He will next face Lorenzo Sonego who defeated 39-year-old Stan Wawrinka in four sets.

Another seeded player to lose was rising star Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard who fell to fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils in five glorious sets. Three of the sets went to a tie-break, and the final set was 6-4. One of the keys to the match was that Monfils did not face a break point during the match, though Perricard has one of the biggest serves on the ATP tour. Monfils just played smarter.

Monfils should be able to reach the third round. He next plays Daniel Altmaier, and Monfils should have the advantage.

The other seeded players to lose were 32-seed Falvio Cobolli, 26-seed Ekaterina Alexandrova (to Emma Raducanu), 25-seed Alexei Popyrin, 31-seed Maria Sakkari, and 10-seed Grigor Dimitrov. Dimitrov was forced to retire down a set with an injury.

More tennis news and analysis: