Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil are alive and well in the Australian Open men's tennis competition. Same with Eugenie Bouchard, raising hopes of tennis fans in Canada with a big weekend ahead.
Meanwhile, U.S. men continue to dribble out of the field. U.S. women are still in the picture ahead of quarterfinals in the year's first grand slam event, but their ranks too are thinning.
Raonic, No. 8 in men's seedings, was scheduled to play Germany's Benjamin Becker in Saturday matches. Time zone transition means Raonic would hit the court about 9 p.m. ET Friday for a third-round test. He comes into the Becker match having eliminated Donald Young of the United States.
MORE: Breakthrough opportunity | Australian Open images | Bouchard and Twirlgate
Pospisil didn't have the same favorable weather as Raonic, as his five-set victory of Italy's Paolo Lorenzi played out in heat and humidity while latest 3½ hours. That could be key to his preparation for Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Raonic has his powerful serve working as he pushes toward the quarterfinals.
“I served well and got better and better as the match went on,” Raonic said after whipping Young. “I was much more aggressive than I was in the first round. That was a step forward.”
Or is it a forward march?
“I’ve put in a lot of good work, I believe. I’m just very by the book in the things I want to do. I’m just trying to follow that through.”
Raonic is trying to make his deepest penetration in Melbourne. He remains on a collision course with the world's top-ranked player, Novak Djokovic.
Pospisil is also playing doubles, so fatigue could be a factor as he fights his opponent and the elements. He admitted as much after outlasting Lorenzi. He needed a trainer's attention for back and leg pain.
“I didn’t feel that great. It was a tough match,” he said. “It was surprisingly more humid than I thought it would be. My opponent was tough and conditions were tough. But I found a way to win somehow.
“I was not feeling as good as I should have been feeling, and was not hitting as big as I wanted.”
Bouchard, still hearing her name bantered about after an Australian TV interviewer asked her to do a twirl on court, won a difficult first set on Friday before a 6-0 blowout and victory over France's Caroline Garcia.
Next up: unseeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in the Round of 16.
Give her credit: Bouchard shrugged off the embarrassment surrounding "Twirlgate" and avoided talk of sexism.
"I'm not offended," said Bouchard, 20. "I'm fine with being asked to twirl if they ask the guys to flex."
Goofy or off-topic requests from media types are nothing out of the ordinary, if someone silly.
"They try to ask funny questions," Bouchard said.
"It's entertaining, I guess. I don't mind it. People can think what they want about it, but I just answer how I want and do what I want. I'm fine with it."