For the third consecutive day, rain came down on Melbourne Park, and play was again confined to the three covered arenas to begin. But third-round action would continue at the Australian Open, as did the upset theme from this tournament.

Two seeded players kicked off the early session as ninth-seeded Karolina Pliskova met Ekaterina Makarova in Margaret Court Arena. Makarova is no stranger to success in Melbourne, having advanced to the semifinals in 2015. And she controlled the match from the beginning, rolling to a 6-2 6-3 victory.

In the first set, the two baseline power hitters traded jabs from their comfort zones with both protecting their serves. But it was the 21st seed who broke through first, taking a 4-2 advantage over the Czech. She would build on her lead, breaking again, and closed out the set easily.  Makarova established the role of aggressor and kept Pliskova on her heels during the set.

There was more of the same in the second set as the Russian was hitting on all cylinders, pressuring Pliskova throughout. She took the set with little resistance. Makarova was effective at the net, winning 11 of her 14 approaches. The left-hander’s 35 winners were too much for Pliskova.

Elsewhere, a lethargic Garbine Muguruza struggled from the outset in her match against Barbora Strycova. As the Spaniard appeared to be going through the motions at times, it was Strycova easily advancing to the round of 16, 6-3 6-2.

The 2015 Wimbledon finalist lacked her typical intensity in the opening set and dug herself a deficit that she could not dig out of. Poor serving and a number of unforced errors led to the flat start. Although she attempted to pump herself up at the beginning of set two, Muguruza could not hold her serve once again.  Meanwhile, Strycova kept up her momentum, seizing the opportunity from a player whose body language was not positive. The Spaniard became another seeded victim to lose prior to the second week, begging the question as to whether she was healthy.

Meanwhile, American John Isner and Spaniard Feliciano Lopez were the first men to battle on Saturday. And after an impressive performance by Isner, he advanced to the round of 16 after a 6-7 7-6 6-2 6-4 win against the 18th seed.

It was fairly predictable that it would be difficult for either man to gain a service break, given their strong serves.  And as expected, the first set went to a tiebreak without either player sniffing a break opportunity. It was an even tiebreak with little separation, but it was Lopez finding a minibreak at 9-8 that was enough to take the tiebreak and the set. The second set was much like the first as neither player could find success against their opponent’s serve once more. However, it was Isner with the slight edge in the tiebreak,and he capitalized to even the match.

The tide changed in the third set as the 10th seed found inroads into the Lopez serve, breaking him twice and allowing him to roll in the set. Meanwhile, his big serve began to heat up with Lopez finding no answers as the American found his groove. He would go on to demonstrate a serving clinic, firing 44 aces while placing 77 percent of his first serves into play. A healthy Isner appears poised to continue his run.