MELBOURNE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — Defending ladies’s champion Arnya Sabalenka and 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic battled by on Friday to the final 16 on the Australian Open.
Men’s second seed Alexander Zverev, four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz and ladies’s third seed Coco Gauff have been additionally third spherical winners on day six.
Sabalenka is bidding for a 3rd consecutive Australian Open title, a feat that solely 5 ladies have achieved in historical past. But she confronted a problem in opposition to Denmark’s Clara Tauson earlier than prevailing 7-6 (5), 6-4 to succeed in the event’s second week.
It was Sabalenka’s seventeenth consecutive victory in Melbourne and he or she subsequent faces 14th seed Mirra Andreeva.
“I have to fight. Today’s match proved that,” Sabalenka stated. “Girls can go there and just play without any fear, without anything to lose. They can put you in really uncomfortable positions.”
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka retired harm with an belly damage in opposition to Belinda Bencic, ending her promising begin to a event she has received twice beforehand.
Osaka wanted remedy late within the first set having aggravated an damage that pressured her to withdraw from the ultimate in Auckland.
She battled on in discomfort and resorted to a lowered service movement earlier than stopping the match after shedding the primary set tiebreak.
Bencic will subsequent face former US Open champion Gauff, who rolled by thirtieth seed Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-2.
Gauff’s scorching begin to the season continued in a one-sided match lasting one hour and 16 minutes.
“I think it was harder because she knew what to expect, and I definitely think she played a little bit different today than at the United Cup,” stated Gauff, who has not dropped a set in her eight matches this season.
There was a late evening upset when world No. 55 Olga Danilovic beat seventh seed Jessica Pegula 7-6 (3), 6-1 in a single hour and half-hour. The Serb will subsequent play eleventh seed Paula Badosa.
In the lads’s draw, Djokovic sought medical consideration early within the second set, showing to fret by his stomach, however pushed by to defeat twenty sixth seed Tomas Machac 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.
Djokovic will subsequent face twenty fourth seed Jiri Lehecka as he continues his bid for a record-extending eleventh title in Melbourne.
“I think I played really well. I’m very happy with my game,” he stated. “I was slightly surprised with the result. I struggled physically (in the second set) but managed to turn things around.”
Alcaraz dropped his first set of the event, however reached the fourth spherical with relative ease 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 in opposition to world No. 33 Nuno Borges.
The 21-year-old Spaniard stays on observe to grow to be the youngest males’s participant to finish a profession Grand Slam slate of titles.
It was Alcaraz’s first look on the centre courtroom of Rod Laver Arena after enjoying his opening two matches at close by Margaret Court Arena.
“The last time I played here, I lost. I really wanted to play here and get another win on Rod Laver,” stated Alcaraz, who has by no means gone additional than the final eight in Melbourne.
Alcaraz is on a quarterfinal collision course with Djokovic, however earlier than then he faces fifteenth seed Jack Draper who beat Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic in a five-set match that lasted nearly 4 hours.
Zverev continued his red-hot kind with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 thrashing of Jacob Fearnley. The 27-year-old German is on a mission to finish his Grand Slam title drought having reached two finals in majors beforehand.
Zverev has not dropped a set to this point within the event and he shall be seeking to preserve that report intact in opposition to 14th seed Ugo Humbert within the fourth spherical.
The third spherical continues on Saturday with males’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, fourth seed Taylor Fritz and Australian Alex de Minaur in motion.
Five-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek headlines the ladies’s draw on day seven, whereas fourth seed Jasmine Paolini faces an intriguing match-up in opposition to twenty eighth seed Elina Svitolina.