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Djokovic in cruise control at Australian Open

3 minute read

Novak Djokovic cruised into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, while Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff also reached the next round.

Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player.
Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player. Picture: AAP Image

Djokovic equalled Roger Federer's record by reaching a 58th grand slam quarter-final in style and it appeared the world number one might do so by becoming the first player to claim a 'triple bagel' victory at the tournament when he won the first 13 games against Adrian Mannarino.

The Frenchman looked hugely relieved when he finally got on the board in the second game of the third set but Djokovic, playing in his 73rd major tournament, eased to a 6-0 6-0 6-3 victory.

Having started the tournament battling illness and surviving two long matches, Djokovic is now looking in ominous form, although he still became riled by the crowd at times.

"The best sets I've played in a while," the Serbian said afterwards. "I really wanted to lose that game in the third set because the tension was building up so much in the stadium. I needed to get that out of the way and refocus on what I needed to do to finish the match.

"I served very well. In the moments when I needed to come up with the first serve, I did. All in all, great performance.

"The last couple of days has been really good so it's going in a positive direction health wise, tennis wise, so I'm really happy."

Next Djokovic faces 12th seed Taylor Fritz, who claimed a landmark victory over last year's runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Fritz went into the match with a 0-11 record against top-10 players at grand slams, but came away with a 7-6 (3) 5-7 6-3 6-3 triumph to reach the quarter-finals in Melbourne for the first time.

He will need to achieve another first if he is to go further having lost all eight previous meetings with Djokovic, including a painful five-set defeat in the third round three years ago when the Serbian suffered an abdominal injury mid-match.

Cheered on by Melbourne's large Greek population, Tsitsipas has enjoyed the best results of his career at the Australian Open but he failed to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 2020.

In the women's tournament Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff restored order at the Australian Open by easing into the quarter-finals.

While Iga Swiatek's shock loss to Linda Noskova on Saturday means no top-10 seeds made the fourth round in the top half of the draw, Sabalenka and Gauff are on a semi-final collision course in the bottom half.

Neither has yet dropped a set and they lost only eight games between them in the fourth round, Sabalenka beating Amanda Anisimova 6-3 6-2 and Gauff racing to a 6-1 6-2 victory over Magdalena Frech.

It was a particularly impressive win and performance from defending champion Sabalenka, who had lost four of her previous five matches against Anisimova.

The 22-year-old American has been resurgent here having missed most of last season for mental health reasons but could not match the precision power of her opponent.

Anisimova reacted to the defeat by dropping her racket on the court and leaving it there as she walked off Margaret Court Arena.

"I'm super happy with the level, happy to get this win," said Sabalenka. "She's a tough opponent and I'm super happy to see her back on tour. I'm pretty sure she'll be back at the top soon.

"I really want to stay here as long as I can until the very last day and, hopefully, we can get this one one more time."

In the last eight, Sabalenka will face ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova, who ended the run of 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva with a 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory.

Gauff is treading new ground having made it through to the last eight at Melbourne Park for the first time.

"I'm super happy to be in this position and be here," said the 19-year-old. "I think I had three fourth rounds. It's cool to get over that hump. Hopefully I can keep going for more."

Next she will take on Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk, who made the last eight at a slam for the first time with a 6-2 6-1 victory over qualifier Maria Timofeeva.

Kostyuk had her breakthrough run here six years ago as a 15-year-old, reaching the third round, and she said: "Definitely a lot has changed. I really feel like it was in a different lifetime. A lot of things have happened in the past six years. I've changed probably six times already.

"I always say that I think change is always good. That means I'm not staying in one spot. Whether you feel like you're changing in the worst way or in the better way, I think it's good to keep all the change happening.

"It was a hell of a journey so far already. It's been a lot of years and I'm very happy I still feel fresh."


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