It was an emotional evening for Stan Wawrinka at Australian Open 2026 on Saturday as the 40-year-old said goodbye to a tournament that has been close to his heart for the past two decades.
After Wawrinka’s earlier heroics en route to the third round, the AO 2014 champion finally ran out of steam during a 7-6(5) 2-6 6-4 6-4 defeat to American ninth seed Taylor Fritz.
The result brings the curtain down on Wawrinka’s 20th and final appearance at a venue where he won the first of his three Grand Slam trophies.
“The atmosphere was again unbelievable,” said Wawrinka, owner of perhaps the greatest one-handed backhand ever seen and who plays his final year on tour during 2026.
After watching a tribute video on the John Cain Arena big screen, Stan the Man signed off with a beer on court.
“All these years, guys I saw you enjoying the tennis, I saw you being around, I saw you supporting us, I saw you drinking … and now I can enjoy,” he laughed before sprinting to the fridge to pull out a couple of cold ones to drink with Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley.
Elsewhere, both second seeds – Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek – had a tough time reaching the last 16.
Sinner in particular will be counting his lucky stars after struggling with cramp when he was 3-1 down in the third set to young American Eliot Spizzirri.
The Rod Laver Arena roof was closed at that stage of the match due to the AO Heat Stress Scale reaching 5.0, and after Sinner returned to court following that brief delay he eventually navigated his way out of trouble and onto his 17th successive Melbourne Park victory 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4.
Swiatek had to shake off the loss of the second set against Anna Kalinskaya before winning 6-1 1-6 6-1 to keep her bid for a maiden Australian Open title on track.
Novak Djokovic made more history when he came through a tough three-set win over Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3 6-4 7-6(4) late on Saturday.
The 10-time AO champion is the first player ever to win 400 Grand Slam singles matches, and moved to 102 at the Australian Open to equal Roger Federer’s tally. The Serb plays Czechia’s Jakub Mensik on Monday after the youngster beat American Ethan Quinn.
For the first time ever in Melbourne there are three Italian men into the last 16, after fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti and 22nd seed Luciano Darderi joined Sinner in the fourth round.
Musetti outlasted Czech Tomas Machac in five sets, while Darderi made the second week of a major for the first time by beating 15th seed Karen Khachanov in four.
The Americans too have plenty to get excited about, with another five players through to the fourth round across both draws.
After Coco Gauff, Iva Jovic, Tommy Paul and Learner Tien had all won third-round matches a day earlier, they were joined in week two by Fritz, Ben Shelton, women’s defending champion Madison Keys, Amanda Anisimova and Jessica Pegula.
Shelton’s victory over Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot included one of the most remarkable returns of serve we’ll see all tournament. Last season’s Shanghai Masters champion Vacherot produced a boomerang forehand before Shelton went on to win 6-4 6-4 7-6(5).
Elena Rybakina is a player to keep an eye on over the next week. The former Wimbledon champion has dropped only 19 games on her way to Monday’s meeting with Belgium’s Elise Mertens. The fifth seed powered past Tereza Valentova 6-2 6-3.
Chinese 24-year-old and recent Auckland runner-up Wang Xinyu reached her first Australian Open fourth round by beating Czech 13th seed Linda Noskova 7-5 6-4.
Aussie qualifier Maddison Inglis went into the last 16 without hitting a ball when her opponent, two-time AO champion Naomi Osaka, withdrew with injury before their night match. It’s been a fairytale two weeks for Inglis, who saved two match points during her first-round qualifying match.
In the last contest on court, Casper Ruud banked another win just after midnight as he awaits news from wife Maria, who is back home about to give birth to their first daughter in the coming days.
The three-time Grand Slam finalist stopped Marin Cilic reaching 600 career wins with a four-set victory to book a meeting with Shelton.