The hopes of the nation now rest solely on the shoulders of Alex de Minaur after he punched his ticket into the fourth round on Friday night.

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Storm Hunter’s campaign came to a tough end after going down to ninth seed Barbora Kejcikova.

The final third round contests will take place around Melbourne Park on Saturday with number two seed Carlos Alcaraz and number one seed Iga Swiatek the biggest names in action.

Don’t miss a second of the action right here.

4.20pm – American star’s mid-match meal

Sloane Stephens had won the first set of her third round match against Anna Kalinskaya and was trailing 0-5 in the second when she received a mid-match meal.

Whether the American hadn’t eaten before play or just felt the need for a boost during the match, her coach seemingly organised for food and drinks to be delivered courtesy of a ballkid in a highly unusual moment in the match.

Two servings of sushi and two smoothies were soon visible among Stephens’ belongings.

Apparently the move didn’t go down well with the chair umpire.

“(Stephens is) being told to hurry up between points, just a bit of discussion, and amongst that just knocking off a little bit of sushi as well,” a Channel 9 commentator said.

“So she is multi-tasking out here.”

“It’s pretty impressive,” another commentator added. “We just saw her coach come and give one of the ballkids some, it looked like two packets of sushi, it looked like that’s what she was eating. Obviously needing some well-needed fuel.”

When the next camera shot was focused on the meal, the first commentator added: “It looked like salmon avocado I thought.”

It didn’t help, with former US Open champion Stephens eventually bowing out 6-7 6-1 6-4.

3.15pm – A rising Chinese star reaches week two

Zheng Qinwen, the 12th seed in Melbourne, snuck past compatriot Wang Yafan in a tight three-set clash on Rod Laver Arena.

The 21-year-old Zheng, who won three tournaments in 2023 and sits at a career-high No. 13 in the rankings, claimed the first set 6-4.

Wang, who knocked out crowd favourite Emma Raducanu in the last round, hit back strongly to take the second 6-2 before Zheng just prevailed in a third-set tiebreak 10-8.

Next up Zheng faces Frenchwoman Oceane Dodin, who eliminated compatriot Clara Burel earlier on Saturday, 6-2 6-4.

2pm – Nikolayevna advances after third round win

Russia’s Anna Nikolayevna has advanced to the Round of 16 with a 6-7 6-1 6-4 victory over American Sloane Stephens.

The 25-year-old came back from a set down after losing the opening set in a tiebreaker.

Stephens cut a frustrated figure at times and was also engaged in an argument with the chair umpire over the length of her breaks between games.

1.10pm – Ukrainian qualifier continues incredible run

Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska has continued her incredible and unlikely Aussie Open run, advancing to the fourth round with a 6-2 2-6 6-1 victory over American Emma Navarro.

Yastremska, ranked no. 93 in the world, fired down five aces in the match and hit 15 winners in the final set as she overpowered the 27th seed.

“In general it was a nice game,” Yastremska said.

“Of course I could play much more better.”

She moves into the last 16 at a major for the first time in her career since 2019 at Wimbledon.

12.20pm – Kalinskaya takes opener from Stephens

Russian player Anna Kalinskaya will be left kicking herself after blowing three chances in the opening set tiebreak against American Sloane Stephens.

Kalinskaya raced away in the tiebreak to lead 6-3 but wasn’t able to cash in as Stephens flipped the script and secured the tiebreak 10-8 after 70 minutes of playing time in the first set.

11:15am – Djokovic drops Federer truth bomb

Novak Djokovic has admitted his love of talking trash got under the skin of Swiss legend Roger Federer during his early days on tour.

Following his third round encounter, Djokovic said he continues to fight mental demons throughout contests.

“It’s not always a positive pep talk,” he said. “There’s a lot of trash talk happening inside of my head.

“I guess it’s part of the game, it’s part of who I am. I mean, I’m quite certain that everyone goes through their crisis moments, particularly in the matches where they don’t feel their best and they have doubts.” He added: “I’m trying to fight the demons that I have, as anybody else, on the court.”

But it was when he was asked about his brash ways when he first came on tour that he admitted his style rubbed Federer the wrong way.

“I know certainly Federer didn’t like the way I was behaving at the beginning. I think it didn’t sit with him well. I don’t know about the others,” Djokovic said.

“I guess I wasn’t the favourite type of guy to some of the top guys because I was not afraid to say that I want to be the best player in the world”.

The World No. 1 further added, “I never, ever lacked respect. Whenever I start a match, before the match or finish the match, I would always greet the opponent, always acknowledge. Respect is something that I was taught that needs to be present regardless of what is happening.”

10.45am – Legend roasted after asking ‘worst question ever’

Tennis icon Jim Courier has been forced to backtrack almost instantly over one question to Aussie star Alex de Minaur.

The 10th seed made light work of his third round opponent as he secured the 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Italian Flavio Cobolli.

It means de Minaur is the first local man in 20 years to make it into the second week of the Australian Open for three consecutive years.

But it was during his on court interview with Courier when things went south with the American retracting his “terrible question”.

“We don’t know who your opponent is going to be. They are just getting ready to go. Andrey Rublev or Sebastian Korda, both terrific players and both players you have beaten in the past. What do you think about that potential match-up? Do you have a preference?”

Before the Aussie could even respond, Courier withdrew his question while also calling himself out.

“That’s a terrible question, the worst question ever. Let me retract that!”

Courier then simply asked how he likes his chances of making it to the quarter-final.

“It’s all going to come down to the level I bring the following match,” De Minaur said.

“I’ve got to back myself up, I’ve got to believe, got to play positive tennis. I know the whole crowd is going to be behind me and am going to enjoy every second of it.”

Rublev proved far too strong for Korda and set up a tantalising showdown against the Aussie superstar in the fourth round.

Australian Open Day 7 schedule and results

Rod Laver Arena from 12pm (AEDT)

Qinwen Zhang (CHN) [12] vs Yafan Wang (CHN)

Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) [2] vs Juncheng Shang (CHN)

From 7pm

Iga Swiatek (POL) [1] vs Linda Noskova (CZE)

Alexander Zverev (GER) [6] vs Alex Michelsen (USA)

Margaret Court Arena from 12pm

Tommy Paul (USA) [14] vs Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB)

Jelena Ostapenko (AUT) [11] vs Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [18]

From 7pm

Daniil Medvedev (RUS) [3] vs Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) [27]

Elina Svitolina (UKR) [19] vs Viktorija Golubic (SUI)

John Cain Arena from 11am

Emma Navarro (USA) [27] vs Dayana Yastremska (UKR)

Hubert Hurkacz (POL) [9] vs Ugo Humbert (FRA) [21]

From 5pm

Casper Ruud (NOR) [11] vs Cameron Norrie (GBR) [19]