Thanasi Kokkinakis has been left hanging with a second spherical conflict with five-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray in sight after rain pressured the in a single day postponement of his spherical one match.
The Australian was simply 5 factors away from attainable victory over wily Italian Fabio Fognini, main 6-1 6-2 4-2.
With Fognini serving, Kokkinakis was up 15-40 when rain stopped play for the sixth and remaining time on the roofless Kia Arena in a irritating evening for each gamers.
It was re-scheduled for a 1230pm begin on Wednesday again on the identical court docket.
With the match first delayed by extreme warmth at Melbourne Park after which rain 4 occasions throughout the warm-up, Fognini appeared to lose curiosity by the point the motion actually obtained began.
At world No. 57, ranked greater than 100 locations above the South Australian, Fognini hit 23 unforced errors in a lacklustre effort.
The 35-year-old went by way of the motions however appeared no match for a hungry Kokkinakis, who has continued his profession resurgence after an terrible run of accidents.
He reached the semi-finals in Adelaide final week, the place he was defending his title, however Kokkinakis mentioned the additional preparation time for the Open was a silver lining.
Murray earlier overcame one other Italian, upsetting thirteenth seed Matteo Berrettini in a five-set battle.
The veteran eradicated his highly-rated opponent 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (10-6) in a four-hour, 49-minute thriller.
It was the 35-year-old’s first win over a top-20 rival at a serious since he downed then-world No.9 Kei Nishikori on the 2017 French Open.
