Qualifier Dayana Yastremska enters quarterfinals, Carlos Alcaraz leads men’s seeds through

MELBOURNE, January 22

Qualifier Dayana Yastremska and giant-killer Linda Noskova continued fairytale runs into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open today but it was all familiar faces on the men’s side as Carlos Alcaraz led a trio of top seeds through.

Alcaraz charged past Miomir Kecmanovic to reach the last-eight stage at Melbourne Park for the first time but, with two Grand Slams titles to his name, the 20-year-old second seed is already well-acquainted with the business end of Majors.

So is former US Open champion Medvedev, a 6-3 7-6(4) 5-7 6-1 winner over Nuno Borges, and sixth seed Zverev, who won his fourth-round contest against Cameron Norrie 7-5 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6(3) in a super-tiebreak.

Alcaraz looked in brilliant form in the 6-4 6-4 6-0 win over Kecmanovic that took him another step closer to his dream final against another Serb, 10-time champion Novak Djokovic.

“I did everything almost perfectly,” Alcaraz said. “I’m feeling better and better every day. I’m feeling better and better every match. I’ll try to take this as an advantage, the confidence that I have and the level that I’m playing.”

While the men’s seedings have held pretty much firm at Melbourne Park over the last nine days, there has been upset after upset in the top half of the women’s draw to leave a field almost entirely denuded of seeds.

Yastremska played her part by ousting Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the first round and added another former Grand Slam champion to the list of her victims with a 7-6(6) 6-4 victory over 18th seed Victoria Azarenka.

The world No. 93 had to fight for her victory over the two-time Melbourne Park champion as she came from behind in both sets and smashed 38 winners on Rod Laver Arena.

“I thought that I had lost this match 25 times,” the 23-year-old said.

Ukrainian hopes of a third woman in the quarterfinals to join Yastremska and Marta Kostyuk were dashed in only three games after 19th seed Elina Svitolina suffered a back spasm and was unable to continue.

Czech Noskova, who did the most damage to the top half of the draw by removing world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the third round, will face Yastremska in what is also her first Major quarterfinal. — Reuters

Fastest serve? Check out the juniors

Melbourne: Polish teenager Tomek Berkieta outshone the best tennis players in the world when he produced the fastest serve so far at this year’s Australian Open with a 233 kph (145 mph) rocket in the Junior Championships on Monday. The 17-year-old third seed, already a Davis Cup player for his country, summoned up the monster serve during his second round 7-6(1) 3-6 6-2 win over Brazilian Enzo Kohlmann de Freitas in the Boys Championship. Reuters

Day 9: highlights

ZVEREV OUsts NORRIE

Sixth seed Alexander Zverev shattered British hopes by beating Cameron Norrie 7-5 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6(3) after a four-hour battle on Margaret Court Arena. His win was disrupted during the third set when “Free Palestine” leaflets were thrown on court. “There’s obviously a lot going on in the world and a lot of quite bad things happen,” Zverev said.

ZHENG enjoys a bagel

China’s Zheng Qinwen beat Frenchwoman Oceane Dodin 6-0 6-3. The 12th seed will face Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya in the quarters, who won 6-4 6-2 over Jasmine Paolini.

Hungry HURKACZ

Ninth seed Hubert Hurkacz knocked out French wildcard Arthur Cazaux with a 7-6(6) 7-6(3) 6-4 win to advance to his first Australian Open quarterfinal. Cazaux had beaten world No. 8 Holger Rune in the second round.

Bopanna-Ebden duo enters quarterfinals

Melbourne: India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden entered the men’s doubles quarterfinals of the Australian Open with an impressive 7-6 7-6 victory over Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Croatia’s Nikola Mektic here today. The Indo-Australian pair will next meet the sixth-seeded Argentine duo of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

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