Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka celebrates after defeating Russia’s Mirra Andreeva throughout their fourth spherical match on the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, on January 19, 2025.
| Picture Credit score: AP
World primary Aryna Sabalenka swept into the Australian Open quarterfinals on Sunday (January 19, 2025) and was joined by Coco Gauff, whereas Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz arrange a blockbuster conflict.
Double defending champion Sabalenka blew away Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva 6-1, 6-2 in a ruthless show on the most well liked day of the event to date.
As temperatures hit 34 levels Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) in Melbourne, Gauff dropped a set for the primary time this season however fought again to beat Belinda Bencic 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.
Sabalenka and Gauff will meet within the semifinals ought to they win their respective matches within the final eight.
Coco Gauff of the U.S. in motion throughout her fourth spherical match towards Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic
| Picture Credit score:
Reuters
Belarus’s Sabalenka was out on a roasting centre courtroom for less than 62 minutes earlier than registering an 18th consecutive win at Melbourne Park.
“I’m tremendous pleased to get by way of this tough match in straight units,” mentioned Sabalenka, who faces Russian twenty seventh seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova subsequent.
Pavlyuchenkova beat ailing Croatian 18th seed Donna Vekic 7-6 (7/0), 6-0.
Sabalenka struggled together with her serve in colder situations in the course of the first week, however was untouchable because the mercury soared at the beginning of the second.
“The ball was flying like a rocket. I hope situations are going to be the identical until the tip of the event,” mentioned Sabalenka.
The world quantity three American Gauff subsequent faces Spain’s eleventh seed Paula Badosa, who swept previous Serbia’s Olga Danilovic 6-1, 7-6 (7/2).
“I assumed within the first set she performed nice tennis and it was powerful for me to be on the offensive,” Gauff mentioned after outlasting Bencic to increase her unbeaten streak to 13 matches going again to final 12 months’s WTA Tour Finals.
“I simply performed extra aggressively within the second set after which additionally the third set. However general, I’m proud of how I performed.”
Djokovic braced for ‘massive battle’ with Alcaraz
Novak Djokovic mentioned he was braced for “a giant battle” after organising a blockbuster Australian Open quarter-final with Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday.
The 37-year-old Serb, who’s gunning for a report twenty fifth Grand Slam title and eleventh Melbourne crown, beat twenty fourth seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) on Rod Laver Area.
It despatched him into the final eight at Melbourne Park for a fifteenth time, a report he now shares with Roger Federer and one forward of Rafael Nadal.
His reward is a showdown on Tuesday (January 21, 2025) with third seed Alcaraz, who’s already a four-time Slam winner aged 21 however has by no means gone past the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Alcaraz progressed after Jack Draper retired damage throughout their last-16 match when the Briton was dropping 7-5, 6-1.
Djokovic and Alcaraz have performed one another seven occasions with the Serb main 4-3, together with victory of their final conflict within the Paris Olympics ultimate.
Marathon man
Within the males’s draw, American twelfth seed Tommy Paul performs Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina as he bids to match or higher his semifinal look from 2023.
Whoever comes by way of that conflict will meet both German second seed Alexander Zverev, who’s but to drop a set, or French 14th seed Ugo Humbert. They face one another on John Cain Area.
Revealed – January 19, 2025 12:10 pm IST