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'Magic': Aussie wild card's 'miraculous' shot of the tournament

Riley Morgan
·Sports Reporter

Wildcard Bolt gave No.5 seed Dominic Thiem an almighty scare in a five set second round thriller and he may have produced the shot of the tournament in the process.

Many thought Novak Djokovic had already produced the shot of the tournament in his second round match after a “physics defying” winner.

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But Bolt’s around the net shot might just have pipped him.

At nearly two hours into the match, Thiem dropped the ball short with an extreme angle pushing Bolt outside of the tramlines.

Aussie wild card Alex Bolt hits a shot around the net at the Australian Open.
Aussie wild card Alex Bolt may have hit shot of the tournament. (Images: Eurosport)

But the Aussie somehow was not only able to dig out the ball, but hit it around the net for a clean winner.

Fans were astounded at the angle produced from the running shot.

Thiem prevails in thriller

The left-handed Bolt led by two sets to one before Thiem steadied to win 6-2, 5-7, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-2 in a match lasting three hours and 22 minutes.

Thiem was beaten at the same stage of last year's Open by Popyrin.

The two-time French Open finalist from Austria will play either American Taylor Fritz or South African Kevin Anderson in the third round on Saturday.

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Alexei Popyrin has locked in a third-round Australian Open clash with fourth seed Daniil Medvedev after an impressive straight-sets win on Thursday.

Popyrin beat Jaume Munar 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 to move into the last 32, equalling his performance at Melbourne Park from 2019.

The impressive 20-year-old from Sydney needed just two hours and four minutes to get the job done against the Spaniard, hitting 51 winners in the process.

"I haven't been broken yet this tournament so that's a good thing for me," said Popyrin who advanced to a mouth-watering third-round clash with Medvedev, who downed him in four sets last year at Wimbledon.

"I think I'm a better player now than I was at Wimbledon," said Popyrin.

Alexei Popyrin of Australia plays a backhand during his Men's Singles second round match against Jaume Munar of Spain on day four of the 2020 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 23, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Alexei Popyrin of Australia plays a backhand during his Men's Singles second round match against Jaume Munar of Spain on day four of the 2020 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 23, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The news wasn't as good for fellow Australian Alex Bolt.

Earlier on Thursday, Australian trio Ajla Tomaljanovic, Priscilla Hon and Arina Rodionova both bowed out in the second round of the women's singles.

Tomaljanovic went down 6-3 3-6 6-3 to two-time major winner Garbine Muguruza from Spain and Hon was outclassed 6-3 6-2 by another former world No.1, Angelique Kerber from Germany.

Rodionova lost 6-3 7-5 to Dutch No.9 seed Kiki Bertens.

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