And with that, I’m off. Do come back tomorrow for more game-by-game fun, including Andy Murray’s quarter-final against Australian sensation Nick Kyrgios, which will start at 8am GMT or thereabouts. Bye!
Novak Djokovic has done some post-match chatting:
Obviously not playing Gilles before was tricky. I knew his game, I knew he’s got a good game, he deserves a lot of respect. I was fortunate to serve very well at important moments in the third set. It was very hard to read his serve, he’s got an exceptional sliced serve, comes to the net and has a lot of variety in his game.
He takes away the time from you. He comes to the net, he slices. He’s a great player overall. He’s got quality in his serve, in his shots from the baseline. I did find it uncomfortable at times but I fought my way through.
[On quarter-final opponent Milos Raonic] He’s one of the top three servers on the tour. He’s been playing the tennis of his life in the last 15 months. We’re good friends, we practice a lot, he’s one of the new generation future stars but he’s already established in the top 10. If you serve as well as he does it gives you a lot of advantage, I guess I’m going to have to return even better than I did tonight.
Muller played excellently – it’s hard to believe he’s reached 31 without spending more than a couple of weeks in the top 50, given his physical and technical gifts – but Djokovic is really quite good at this tennis business.
Djokovic wins in straight sets!
Novak Djokovic beats Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-5, 7-5
Djokovic roars his way through the decisive game, giving his opponent not the slightest sniff of the sweet fragrance of redemption. He smashes away a forehand, he slams down an unreturnable serve, he stretches Muller into a forehand he couldn’t control, and then Muller sends a forehand into the net.
Third set: Djokovic* 6-4, 7-5, 6-5 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Djokovic breaks again! Again Muller loses the first two points of a service game – Djokovic smashing a forehand winner off a second serve to make it 0-30 – and then moments later a similar return, only a backhand this time, forces an error and brings up two break points. At this stage Muller’s participation in this tournament hangs by a slender and fraying thread. He saves them both, though that pesky Djokovic certainly makes him work for it, but a down-the-line forehand pass brings another break point, and a crosscourt forehand pass wins it. Djokovic, who certainly knows how to time a break of serve, will now serve for the match.
Third set: Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 5-5 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
A game in which the points arrived in pairs. Where Muller started his last service game with a couple of errors, Djokovic starts his with a brace of aces. Which always helps. But Muller wins the next point (very nicely), and Djokovic double-faults to bring the score to 30-30. After which another ace and a Muller forehand sent wide ends the game.
Third set: Djokovic* 6-4, 7-5, 4-5 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Muller seems to really pick his moments to falter on his serve. He does, though, recover from a mini-wobble here. A couple of unforced errors give Djokovic a 0-30 advantage, and then after Muller battles back to 30-30 a weak sliced backhand into the net gives his opponent a break point. He saves it, though, after a lengthy rally, with a backhand sliced volley that drops on the sideline, forces Djokovic into an error and then recovers from a really quite vicious service return to take the game with another splendid volley. He has a very pleasing game, does Muller.
Third set: Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 4-4 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
Djokovic makes a rare foray into the net. Muller tries to go around him, fails, so tries to go over him. This just gives Djokovic an excuse to show off a spectacular on-the-stretch overhead winner. There’s also some very fine serving – two aces – and some less good serving – a double-fault – before the set is levelled at four games apiece.
Third set: Djokovic* 6-4, 7-5, 3-4 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Wooooaaahh! Muller sends a sliced serve way wide of court, and Djokovic anticipates and sends it back across court for a winner. It’s a beautiful, eyecatching shot but Muller in fact is playing his best tennis of the match now, finding great angles and great depth and actually, at times, sending Djokovic scurrying from one side of the court to the other, almost toying with him. He holds to 30, and is hitting some lovely groundstrokes. It’s not all about the serve with him, not by a very long way.
Third set: Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 3-3 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
Djokovic saves four break points! They’re Muller’s first of the match, set them up with a lovely double-punch of crosscourt forehand and a follow-up down the line. Djokovic saves one of them with a good first serve that had Muller stretching a little too far on his backhand side, and then Muller misses a forehand down the line by an inch or two. Djokovic isn’t generally in the business of offering opponents second chances, but he dabbles in it, hitting a backhand long to give his opponent a third break point. He wins that with a ludicrous inside-out crosscourt forehand that drops precisely but unarguably on the line – Muller challenges, out of desperation as much as anything, but the shot was just perfect. But then Djokovic lets him in again, with a double fault! And Muller misses that too, sending an attempted drop shot from the baseline into the net. And then Muller hits a backhand long, and then Djokovic wins a quite ridiculous point to take the game, returning a forehand that looked like a winner, and then running down a backhand crosscourt putaway that no human should really have got to.
Third set: Djokovic* 6-4, 7-5, 2-3 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Muller streaks to 40-0, smashing a couple of aces along the way, wobbles gently when Djokovic returns the ball at his onrushing feet and then hits a beautifully-angled backhand crosscourt on the run, and then smashes another ace.
Third set: Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 2-2 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
More easy-peasy holding for Djokovic, who doesn’t drop a point, Muller resorting to an optimistic and swiftly-disproved challenge in an effort to get something from the game.
Third set: Djokovic* 6-4, 7-5, 1-2 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Muller misses a couple of volleys that he should have tucked away, helping Djokovic to 30-40 and a break point. A better volley, though, leaves the No1 wrong-footed and stretching just to get his racked to the ball, and then a good forehand drop-volley followed by a strong first-serve wrap up the game for Muller.
Third set: Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 1-1 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
It’s interesting to note that Djokovic has by some way the faster serve here, for all his opponent’s height, and he smacks down two aces on his way to a very straightforward hold to 15.
Updated
Third set: Djokovic* 6-4, 7-5, 0-1 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Muller goes 30-0 up after pulling Djokovic one way with a lovely drop-shot, then clumping a back hand smash to the back of the court. He gets very unlucky with a Hawkeye call next up - the ball is a milimetre out – but still races into a 40-0 lead nonetheless. He completes the game with a minimum of fuss.
Updated
Djokovic takes a two-set lead!
Third set: Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 0-0 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
The game is held – at least partly because a Muller challenge showed the ball clipped the line by the smallest possible margin – to 15. Muller won his single point, when already 40-0 down, with a very impressive forehand across court, but it was all to no avail.
Second set: Djokovic* 6-4, 6-5 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Djokovic races to a 0-30 advantage before Muller turns on his service radar. A strong first serve gets him in the game, and a fine second serve into Djokovic’s body brings parity, but then at 30-30 he hits a pretty straightforward volley long and Djokovic has a break point. The world No1 swiftly takes charge of the following point, manoeuvres his opponent out of position, races forward to seize upon a weak shot, and then sends his backhand inexplicably long. No matter, the next point is one with a fine backhand crosscourt pass, setting up a second break point. That one’s saved with an ace, though. No matter, Muller sends a double-handed backhand into the net and Djokovic has a third, and when another backhand is sent down the line and wide, the break is complete. An error-strewn game from Muller, whose serving wasn’t up to scratch and whose groundstrokes were worse still, hands Djokovic the chance to serve for the set.
Second set: Djokovic 6-4, 5-5 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
Djokovic serves to stay in the second set, and emphatically succeeds. Mainly, it seems, because Muller was having a bit of a snooze – his returning was hapless, his groundstrokes less impressive still. Now he needs to wake up, smartish.
Second set: Djokovic* 6-4, 4-5 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Beautiful touch from Djokovic, to kill the first point with a drop shot as Muller waited, a couple of yards beyond the baseline. Then he wins the second with an excellent crosscourt return (the statistic about Muller not having lost a point when he’s landed his first serve in this set is emphatically ruined by those two points). But Muller fights back to 30-30 and then benefits from a massive, decisive net cord to reach game point, and then he wins that too.
Second set: Djokovic 6-4, 4-4 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
Djokovic serves the day’s first double fault, which is Muller’s highlight of a humdrum hold.
Second set: Djokovic* 6-4, 3-4 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Djokovic reaches 15-30 here, a faint glimmer of promise, and there’s another flicker at deuce. Muller crucially misses his first serve, and when he comes in behind his second Djokovic pulls out a superlative forehand crosscourt pass. Break point. Cue a big first serve and an easy volley winner, an even bigger, unreturnable serve, and an ace down the middle. Djokovic still hasn’t won a point off Muller’s first serve in this second set.
Second set: Djokovic 6-4, 3-3 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
In this set Muller hasn’t dropped a point when he’s landed his first serve. He’s won 7/7, Djokovic has won 77%, or 10 out of 13, on his own first serve. He holds here to 30, a slightly better return game from Muller, who at least extended the points a bit.
Second set: Djokovic* 6-4, 2-3 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Muller’s coach, incidentally, is one-time great young hope of English tennis Jamie Delgado, who has led him from the depths he was busily plumbing a year ago to reach this significantly more impressive point. The service games in this second set have been a procession of processions, Muller winning the latest to 15.
Second set: Djokovic 6-4, 2-2 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
Muller may be a serve-smashing giant, but Djokovic is very comfortably out-acing him here, currently leading 5-2 on that front having started this game with one. He goes on to hold to love, winning the only rally of any significance with a lob – Muller hoisted it back into play, but Djokovic’s smash is too strong for the Luxembourgois to get back.
Second set: Djokovic* 6-4, 1-2 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Muller holds to love, but only just – a Djokovic backhand down the line is called out, and the challenge shows that it landed perhaps a millimetre outside the line. Still, he’d only have held to 15.
Updated
Second set: Djokovic 6-4, 1-1 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
Djokovic applauds, actually physically applauds, when Muller casually slaps a backhand return across court for a clean winner. Quite rightly too, it was a beautiful shot. But he, too, is serving well, and holds to 30 easily enough.
Second set: Djokovic* 6-4, 0-1 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Muller storms into a 40-0 lead with three excellent first serves, one of them an ace, but when he gives Djokovic a sniff of a second serve it is greedily taken. It doesn’t help much, as another strong serve gives Muller an easy chance to seal the game, which he takes.
Djokovic takes set one!
Second set: Djokovic 6-4, 0-0 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
Djokovic grazed the knuckles of his right hand in attempting a rapid change of direction, forcing a medical time out before the 10th game of the match. He’s patched up but hardly distracted, holding his serve to love and being in absolute control of every moment of every point.
First set: Djokovic* 5-4 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
The fireworks I mentioned earlier passed without incident, but now the game is briefly paused while a flock of incredibly squawky birds flies past. Muller is coming to the net quickly and frequently and showing fine touch when he gets there – he’s got a fine serve, but he’s far from one-dimensional. He ends the game with an ace, but sets that point up with a couple of fine volleyed winners. Djokovic now serves for the first set.
First set: Djokovic 5-3 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
The rally of the match so far sees Muller plant a volley on the line, Djokovic brilliantly improvise a backhand pass, Muller equally brilliantly reach it, sending the ball across the middle of the net at an unlikely angle, and Djokovic, at full sprint, send it into the top of the post. Lovely touch there from both men. It didn’t help Muller though, in the long run, as he loses the game to 30.
First set: Djokovic* 4-3 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Having impressed with a drop shot Djokovic pulls out a phenomenal lob, hit at the end of a sprint and a stretch on the forehand side, clearing the giant on the other side of the net and dropping precisely on the line. And with that, Djokovic starts nailing his returns and Muller is unable to live with him when the rallies start to lengthen. Soon it’s 0-40, and though the first break point is missed when a crosscourt pass lands wide, an error is forced in the second and the world No1 is a break up!
First set: Djokovic 3-3 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
Such a different match, this, to the one that preceded it. Six games in, and none of them have lasted more than five points – and most of those points there have been have been very brief. Djokovic holds to 15, and seals it with an ace.
First set: Djokovic* 2-3 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
Muller holds to love, Djokovic twice hitting shots that land barely an inch long or wide. Against a serve like that, you’ve got to make the most of what opportunities you’re given. Our very own Kevin Mitchell was written this here report on the Bryan brothers’ shock doubles defeat to Britain’s Dominic Inglot (and Florin Mergea, who isn’t British).
First set: Djokovic 2-2 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
Shot of the day thus far is the super drop shot that wins Djokovic the first point of the game. He, too, holds to 15.
First set: Djokovic* 1-2 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
For now, Muller’s serving very much as you’d expect a 6ft 4in left-hander in the second week of a grand slam to serve. Plenty of slice, lots of movement, pace, bounce. Pretty hard to deal with, in short, and he holds to 15.
First set: Djokovic 1-1 Muller* (*denotes player to serve next)
Looking at Muller’s ranking history, he broke into the top 100 in 2009, dropped way down again, hitting world No459 in 2010, broke back into the top 100 in 2011 and spending two full years there before dropping back down again, to No374 in December 2013. Anyway, he’ll hit a career high next week. Djokovic, meanwhile, wins his first service game, to 15, with an ace.
First set: Djokovic* 0-1 Muller (*denotes player to serve next)
These players have never previously met, which while probably still being statistically unlikely illustrates how little Muller’s done at key tournaments. Still, he makes a decent start here, holding to 30 and hitting his first ace of the day.
Right, no time to rest – Djokovic is up next, against the Luxembourgois Gilles Muller, a 31-year-old 6ft 4in left-hander currently enjoying an all-time-high ranking of 42.
Venus Williams has given her on-court interview
“My inspiration? My sister Serena, she’s the ultimate champion. And my fans who have stayed behind me through thick and thin. The first set wasn’t easy, it was 6-3 but it was about an hour and in the second set she played even better. That’s what I had to expect from someone at her level. In the third I think I just went into a trance, and I just wanted to win.
Updated
Venus Williams wins 6-3, 2-6, 6-1
Third set: Radwanska 3-6, 6-2, 1-6 V Williams
Venus has played some good tennis in this match. We’ll leave the second set out of it, charitably, but outside that there’s been some excellent stuff and if there have been times in her career when she’s been difficult to love, it’s hard not to warm to a spectacular career resurrection conjured by a 34-year-old with Sjogren’s syndrome. Like the match, she starts this game well, pummelling a forehand winner down the line, and she ends it well, with a second-serve ace also down the line, and the minor wobble in the middle is easily forgotten. For the first time in five years, Venus Williams is a grand slam quarter-finalist.
Updated
Third set: Radwanska 3-6, 6-2, 1-5 V Williams* (*denotes server of next game)
Williams wins the first point when, with Radwanska at the net, a net cord leaves her helpless. But Williams controls the next couple of points, both won when Radwanska hits forced errors, and that makes it 0-40. The Pole promptly hits a backhand across court and an inch or so wide, and Williams has a double break!
Third set: Radwanska* 3-6, 6-2, 1-4 V Williams (*denotes server of next game)
At 15-15 Venus improvises a great forehand pass, from a ball that spins viciously into her body, and a good first serve brings two game points. At which point, a wobble – a pretty easy shoulder-high volley is sent wide, and then a backhand from the baseline goes the same way, and then, at deuce, a forehand down the line, with Radwanska beaten, lands a foot long. She saves the break point when she thwacks away a looping, weak return – wisely going nowhere near the baseline – and then Radwanska inexplicably fails to return a weak second serve. Williams doesn’t take that game point, but she quickly sets up another (though she has to win the point three times, with Radwanska repeatedly chasing down apparent winners), and another (Radwanska hitting long as Venus approached the net), and then she finally takes the game with a second serve into Radwanska’s body, returned into the net.
Third set: Radwanska 3-6, 6-2, 1-3 V Williams* (*denotes server of next game)
The game starts with a lovely rally, eventually won by Williams with a brilliant crosscourt backhand of such impeccable depth that Radwanska simply cannot return it. She then wins another point with a forehand crosscourt volley, and a third with a delicious forehand down the line, which all combines to give her three break points. Radwanska promptly spanks a backhand into the net, and she’s broken to love!
Third set: Radwanska* 3-6, 6-2, 1-2 V Williams (*denotes server of next game)
For perhaps the first time today, we have two people playing well simultaneously. Williams streaks to a 30-0 advantage, and then to 40-15, before Radwanska destroys a second serve to get nerves a-flutter. Williams settles them with an unreturnable first serve, Radwanska rekindles them by challenging the line judge’s decision that it had landed in, and Hawkeye settles them again by showing that it had.
Updated
Third set: Radwanska 3-6, 6-2, 1-1* V Williams (*denotes server of next game)
Williams breaks right back! There are more second serves than recently, and Williams comes to the net a couple of times with good results. Maybe there’s still a match in this. An interesting point, made by the Eurosport commentators: it’s Australia Day, and at 9.30pm local time – in about 20 minutes, in other words – there’s going to be a big fireworks display in Melbourne which could force play to stop. As the Lord Mayor of Melbourne says:
On Australia Day we come together to celebrate our nation in many different ways. At Docklands, we will observe the occasion with a day of family friendly fun, live music, great food, street performers and markets, all culminating in a spectacular fireworks display. Melbourne’s harbour is a wonderful place to feel the sea breeze, relax, have fun and enjoy the café culture. The joy of Australia Day is palpable at Docklands as people come together to share it with their mates and families. I love Australia Day; the traditions, the spirit and the fun. I wish you a great Australia Day experience at Melbourne’s thriving waterfront precinct.
Third set: Radwanska* 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 V Williams (*denotes server of next game)
Venus needs to show that she’s capable of raising her game back to first-set levels, and doing it fast. And it starts well, with a strong first serve putting her on her way to point one, and an ace bringing point two. But then she horribly fluffs an easy overhead to let Radwanska into the game, and then the Pole smashes a second serve back down the line, and then Venus slightly overhits a forehand under little pressure. A game that should have gone to 40-0 with that overhead is suddenly at 30-40. Venus misses the first serve, and then when her second is returned to her right, she scoops her forehand well wide and is broken.
Radwanska wins the second set!
Second set: Radwanska 3-6, 6-2 V Williams* (*denotes server of next game)
Radwanska, having missed only one first serve in this set, suddenly misses three on the spin. Williams wins the first point, she hits an unforced error in the second, and the third leads to a double fault. Still, no matter, Radwanska wins everything else, and the set. This is going to a decider, and momentum is very strongly in her favour.
Second set: Radwanska* 3-6, 5-2 V Williams (*denotes server of next game)
In this second set Venus’s second-serve win percentage has been a meagre 18%, compared with a spectacular 90% in set one. It’s been quite the turnaround. Anyway, she didn’t need a second serve as she held that game to 15, but this set is surely gone.
Second set: Radwanska 3-6, 5-1 V Williams* (*denotes server of next game)
Radwanska hits a spectacularly good drop shot, a lovely backhand crosscourt pass, and an ace on her way to holding to 15. That was really emphatic.
Second set: Radwanska* 3-6, 4-1 V Williams (*denotes server of next game)
Another break! She’s transformed into a totally different player in the space of a few minutes. Radwanska is suddenly in control of of herself, looking relaxed and hitting winners, including a lovely topspun lob. Williams doesn’t respond to this very well, hitting a forehand from midcourt into the top of the net at deuce, presumably because she was distracted by her opponent at the other end. And she’s punished for the mistake, battered out of the one break point of the game by a succession of forehands deep into the corner from Radwanska, some of them volleys. If you’d only seen set one you’d be convinced that Radwanska was physically incapable of volleying. Remarkable.
Second set: Radwanska 3-6, 3-1 V Williams* (*denotes server of next game)
Radwanska holds to 15, the easiest service game she’s had since very early in set one, and her first-serve percentage is suddenly spectacular – she’s only failed to land one this set, in which she’s running at 92%. It doesn’t matter how useless she is at defending her second serve if she doesn’t ever need to.
Second set: Radwanska* 3-6, 2-1 V Williams (*denotes server of next game)
Radwanska breaks for the first time! A much better game the Pole, and though she’s reliant on grinding Williams down rather than hitting brilliant winners of her own, on this occasion it does the trick. From 15-15 two long rallies are both won by Radwanska with Williams, under pressure, hit narrowly long, and then her first break point is also taken when Venus sends a high volley long.
Second set: Radwanska 3-6, 1-1 V Williams* (*denotes server of next game)
Venus streaks to a 0-30 lead, sending a looping backhand past Radwanska, who’s stranded in mid-court, and onto the line. Moments later, having won a point of her own in the meantime, the Pole hits a backhand into the net and Williams has two break points. She can’t convert either, Radwanska hitting her third ace of the day (one metric at which the players are perfectly matched) at the ideal moment to save the second and going on to hold.
Updated
Second set: Radwanska* 3-6, 0-1 V Williams (*denotes server of next game)
Radwanska gets her first break point, courtesy of Williams’ first double-fault, and her second by wearing Williams down until she netted a backhand, and a third. They’re all saved, the second with a particularly brutal forehand, but it was a strange game with no consistency from anyone, eventually won by the server.
Talking of serving, Williams’ first-serve percentage in that first set was pretty dismal – just 47%, to Rasdnwanska’s 67% – but she still won the set convincingly, thanks in fairly large part to her ability to win points on her second serve (nine out of 10 of them, to be precise) while Radwanska, when she didn’t land her first serve, was hopeless, winning just 29% of the time. Venus also hit precisely twice as many clean winners as did her opponent, 20 of them in all.
Elsewhere, Milos Raonic has beaten Feliciano Lopez in five sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.
Venus Williams breaks again to take the first set!
First set: Radwanska 3-6 V Williams* (*denotes server of next game)
Radwanska’s being pretty unimpressive here, and she hasn’t been punished quite as harshly as she probably should have been. Having had to wait until Radwanska’s previous service game for her first break point, Venus has been racking them up: six in game seven, and another four here. She should have won both of the first two, Radwanska saved the third with a fine forehand that landed on the line, and after Williams saved a game point herself with an excellent inside-out forehand across court, break point No4 is finally snaffled.
In other news, here’s a report on Stanislas Wawrinka’s victory over Guillermo Garcia-López.
First set: Radwanska* 3-5 V Williams (*denotes server of next game)
A total contrast to the previous game, won at a canter with no long points at all. So far, after four service games apiece, Venus has only had to serve 19 times, compared with Radwanska’s 50.
First set: Radwanska 3-4 V Williams* (*denotes server of next game)
A long, long game that slowly developed a sense of critical importance as Venus kept creating opportunities to break, without taking any. Until, eventually, she did take one. There were too many mistakes, really, with Venus hitting a couple of forehands very considerably long and then, at her first break point and with Radwanska coming to the net when she probably shouldn’t have, a backhand pass at least a yard and a half long, and at her second break point in near-identical circumstances, a forehand pass into the bottom of the net.
Sure, she also hits a handful of pretty impressive winners. In short, Radwanska does little more in this game than hang in there, winning the points Venus eventually gives her, and losing the ones she doesn’t. Venus gets a third break point (thanks to a couple of laughable volleys from her opponent), but Radwanska saves it with an excellent first serve, and a fourth (when Radwanska hits a forehand into the net), which she surrenders in identical style, and a fifth (with a gorgeous, flat crosscourt forehand), and a sixth (another laughable volley, followed by an excellent pass), which she finally takes.
First set: Radwanska* 3-3 V Williams (*denotes server of next game)
I’ve got the Australian Open statistical widget open, which confusingly is telling me how each points has been lost before I watch the point being played on television. Anyway, what it told me in that game was that Radwanska hit a couple of forced errors before Williams hit a couple of outright winners, and at 40-0 Radwanska was brought to the net when a Williams groundstroke clipped the top of the net, and then couldn’t return the resulting lob.
First set: Radwanska 3-2 V Williams* (*denotes server of next game)
For the first time, a game is held to love. Radwanska seems entirely in control of the rallies, and Venus powers a forehand return long to surrender the game.
First set: Radwanska* 2-2 V Williams (*denotes server of next game)
Radwanska finds the top of the net on a couple of occasions as Venus holds to 15. So far the players have a roughly identical win percentage on their first serve (80% for Venus, 82% for Radwanska) but on second serve Venus is still winning 80% while Radwanska’s only winning one in four.
Updated
First set: Radwanska 2-1 V Williams* (*denotes server of next game)
Radwanska wins the first couple of points with a strong serve and a decent drop shot, but then hits her third serve right into the hitting zone on Venus’s forehand side and has barely moved by the time the ball whistles back past her. Venus wins the next point with a lovely crosscourt forehand but is then on the receiving end of a couple of good forehands herself, and the game’s gone.
First set: Radwanska* 1-1 V Williams (*denotes server of next game)
Radwanska wins the first point, but is then visibly disgruntled when the umpire overrules a call of out when Venus lands a crosscourt forehand on the line. Radwanska reviews it, and when the replay shows that the umpire was spot on she still hits her with a particularly evil glare. Venus swiftly reels off all remaining points to hold to 15.
First set: Radwanska 1-0 V Williams* (*denotes server of next game)
Not an enormously convincing start from either player, the pair trading unforced errors until Radwanska pulls out a strong first serve down the middle to win the game at the second attempt.
Radwanska chose to serve, it turns out. And she is about to do so.
Coin toss latest: The coin lands with the tails side facing up. The umpire asks Venus whether she’d like to serve, and Venus politely tells her that she had actually called heads.
Venus Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska have just stepped onto the Rod Laver Arena.
And perhaps the cheeriest British-player-related news: Dominic Inglot and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea have, with the help of some turtles, knocked the top seeds, Bob and Mike Bryan, out of the men’s doubles in round three, winning 6-4, 6-3. There are highlights on the Australian Open website here.
Great preparation for the match with the teenage mutant ninja turtles. @AustralianOpen @NickCavaday @fmergea pic.twitter.com/9mSiT1sS6v
— Dom (@dominglot) January 26, 2015
There’s a little BBC video about Swan here, if you’d like to know more (you may need to be British-based to see it, mind).
Cheerier British-player-related news: Katie Swan, a 15-year-old from Bristol who is seeded 14 in the girls’ singles, won twice on Court 22 this morning, beating America’s Jessica Ho in the second round of the singles before ganging up with Mala Lumsden, another Brit, to storm into the second round of the girls’ doubles, where they are seeded eighth.
Good day for the juniors as @Katieswan99 won her singles match & teamed up with @maialumsden for a win in the doubles pic.twitter.com/XYFgrzAAmP
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) January 26, 2015
Updated
In British-player-related news, Jamie Murray is out of the men’s doubles after he and Australia’s John Peers lost to Ivan Dodig of Croatia and the Brazilian Marcelo Melo 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.
And then there’s this, on Dominika Cibulkova’s victory over Victoria Azarenka, who won here in 2012 and 2013 but is currently ranked No44.
For the second straight year, diminutive Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova is making a run deep into the Australian Open.
The No11 seed charged into the last eight on Monday with a 6-2 3-6 6-3 victory over two-time champion Victoria Azarenka.
After battling injuries and personal issues in 2014, the Belarusian entered the first grand slam of the year without a seeding, although she shaped as the most dangerous floater in the draw.
But it was Cibulkova who triumphed on Monday, winning in two hours and 10 minutes to set up a quarter-final against either world No.1 Serena Williams or Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.
Cibulkova’s best-ever performance at a grand slam came last year at Melbourne Park when she advanced all the way to the final before losing to China’s Li Na.
“I just walk on the court here and all the great memories came through my mind,” said the 25-year-old Cibulkova on Monday. “I just have to believe in myself and that’s what I’m doing right now.”
And here’s what happened to the defending men’s champion:
Defending champion Stan Wawrinka is through to the Australian Open quarter-finals after a hard-fought win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
The fourth-seeded Swiss overcame the world No.37 from Spain 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 4-6 7-6 (10-8), setting up a last-eight clash against either Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori or David Ferrer, the No.9 seed from Spain.
It was Wawrinka’s 11th straight win at Melbourne Park, including last year’s four-set win over Rafael Nadal to take the title.
Wawrinka edged Garcia-Lopez in the first set and looked in control in the second and on track for a straight-sets win. But the wily Spaniard, who bumped Wawrinka out of the French Open in the first round last year, started to find his rhythm and took the third.
Wawrinka was 5-0 down in the fourth-set tiebreak and then 6-2, having to save four set points. But after reeling off five straight points and then missing his first match point with a volley error, Wawrinka converted at his second attempt to move through after a tick over three hours.
“I just tried to fight and I had some great passing on my backhand side,” Wawrinka said after clubbing 70 winners on Margaret Court Arena. “It’s always great to play here, especially after what happened last year.”
So before Venus Williams comes out, we’ve got time for an update on some of the overnight matches. Here’s AAP on Serena:
World No.1 Serena Williams has come back from a set down for the second straight match at the Australian Open, beating Spaniard Garbine Muguruza to advance to the quarter-finals.
Williams started slowly but finished strongly against the 24th-seeded Muguruza to win 2-6 6-3 6-2 in a seesawing fourth-round match lasting two hours on Monday.
Her reward is a last-eight showdown against 2014 Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova, who also needed three sets before seeing off the challenge from Victoria Azarenka 6-2 3-6 6-3.
Williams is chasing a sixth Australian Open title and a first since 2010. She and Muguruza had split their previous two encounters – both of which were one-sided, in sharp contrast to Monday’s marathon encounter.
“She did everything she needed to in the first set,” said Williams of Muguruza. “I decided to do my best, stay focused and relax. She hits the ball really, really big and really hard.”
Hello world!
So, without further ado, the day’s order of play. All times are GMT. Some of the matches have of course finished already – Kei Nishikori just beat David Ferrer 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, with Serena Williams also winning on the Rod Laver Arena overnight:
Rod Laver Arena
11-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) v Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 1-Serena Williams (U.S.) v 24-Garbine Muguruza (Spain) Not before 0300 9-David Ferrer (Spain) v 5-Kei Nishikori (Japan) From 0800 18-Venus Williams (U.S.) v 6-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) v Gilles Muller (Luxembourg)
Hisense Arena
(12) Eric Butorac (USA) & Samuel Groth (Aus) v (6) Jean-Julien Rojer (Ned) & Horia Tecau (Rom), (14) Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) & Jie Zheng (Chn) v (4) Martina Hingis (Sui) & Flavia Pennetta (Ita), (1) Bob Bryan (USA) & Mike Bryan (USA) v (14) Dominic Inglot (Gbr) & Florin Mergea (Rom), (12) Feliciano Lopez (Spa) v (8) Milos Raonic (Can)
Margaret Court Arena
(4) Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) v Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spa), Madison Keys (USA) v Madison Brengle (USA)
Show Court 2
(16) Jamie Murray (Gbr) & John Peers (Aus) v Ivan Dodig (Cro) & Marcelo Melo (Bra), (1) Sara Errani (Ita) & Roberta Vinci (Ita) v (16) Julia Goerges (Ger) & Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger), Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe) & Pablo Cuevas (Uru) v Kai-Chen Chang (Tpe) & Ze Zhang (Chn), (7) Martina Hingis (Sui) & Leander Paes (Ind) v Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spa) & Pablo Andujar (Spa)
Show Court 3
(1) Sania Mirza (Ind) & Bruno Soares (Bra) v Abigail Spears (USA) & Santiago Gonzalez (Mex), Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) & Lucie Safarova (Cze) v (7) Caroline Garcia (Fra) & Katarina Srebotnik (Slo), Simone Bolelli (Ita) & Fabio Fognini (Ita) v Oliver Marach (Aut) & Michael Venus (Nzl), Lisa Raymond (USA) & Robert Lindstedt (Swe) v (5) Cara Black (Zim) & Juan Sebastian Cabal (Col)
Court 6
11:00: Viktoria Kuzmova (Svk) v (7) Naiktha Bains (Aus), Jake Delaney (Aus) v (15) Chan-yeong Oh (Kor), Marc Polmans (Aus) v Denis Shapovalov (Can), Jaimee Fourlis (Aus) & Maddison Inglis (Aus) v (2) Miriam Kolodziejova (Cze) & Marketa Vondrousova (Cze), Monika Kilnarova (Cze) & Viktoria Kuzmova (Svk) v Raquel Pedraza (USA) & Wushuang Zheng (Chn)
Court 7
Anastasia Gasanova (Rus) v Violet Apisah (Aus), Christian Sigsgaard (Den) v (14) Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre), Chihiro Maramastu (Jpn) & Pranjala Yadlapalli (Ind) v (4) Sara Tomic (Aus) & Shilin Xu (Chn), Aleksandre Bakshi (Geo) & Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre) v Domagoj Biljesko (Cro) & Benjamin Hannestad (Den)
Court 8
11:00: Chihiro Muramatsu (Jpn) v Olivia Tjandramulia (Aus), (11) Tim Van Rijthoven (Ned) v William Blumberg (USA), Yosuke Watanuki (Jpn) v Sumit Nagal (Ind), Vasisht Cheruku (Ind) & Brandon Laubser (Rsa) v (2) William Blumberg (USA) & Orlando Luz (Bra), (7) Destanee Aiava (Aus) & Kimberly Birrell (Aus) v Shuyue Ma (Chn) & Yue Yuan (Chn)
Court 19
(1) Shilin Xu (Chn) v Pranjala Yadlapalli (Ind), Manca Pislak (Slo) v (12) Wushuang Zheng (Chn), (1) Roman Safiullin (Rus) v Mate Valkusz (Hun), Vera Lapko (Blr) & Tereza Mihalikova (Svk) v Manca Pislak (Slo) & Nina Potocnik (Slo), Mate Valkusz (Hun) & Louis Wessels (Ger) v Alex De Minaur (Aus) & Blake Ellis (Aus), William Matheson (Nzl) & Chan-yeong Oh (Kor) v (6) Sora Fukuda (Jpn) & Mikael Ymer (Swe)
Court 20
11:00: (11) Raveena Kingsley (USA) v Vera Lapko (Blr), Djurabeck Karimov (Uzb) v Soon Woo Kwon (Kor), (4) Yunseong Chung (Kor) v Alexander Bublik (Rus), Olga Fridman (Ukr) & Elina Nepily (Rus) v Aleksa Cveticanin (Aus) & Kaylah McPhee (Aus), Daniel Hobart (Aus) & Daniel Nolan (Aus) v Yuya Ito (Jpn) & Yusuke Takahashi (Jpn), Viktor Durasovic (Nor) & Sumit Nagal (Ind) v Renta Tokuda (Jpn) & Jumpei Yamasaki (Jpn)
Court 22
11:00: Jessica Ho (USA) v (14) Katie Swan (Gbr), Greet Minnen (Bel) v Olivia Hauger (USA), Jade Lewis (Nzl) & Kimika Sakata (Jpn) v (6) Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov (Spa) & Katherine Sebov (Can), (8) Maia Lumsden (Gbr) & Katie Swan (Gbr) v Tami Grende (Ina) & Margot Yerolymos (Fra), Soon Woo Kwon (Kor) & Duck Hee Lee (Kor) v Rigele Te (Chn) & Yibing Wu (Chn), (8) Hubert Hurkacz (Pol) & Alex Molcan (Svk) v Sameer Kumar (USA) & Denis Shapovalov (Can)
Simon will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Kevin Mitchell’s report from Andy Murray’s victory on Sunday:
As Burns Night turned into Australia Day in Melbourne, the Scot of an independent air in more ways than one, Andy Murray, joined the super-cool teenager from Canberra, Nick Kyrgios, in the quarter-finals of a tournament already rich in surprises.
After Kyrgios inspired an outbreak of home joy by coming from two sets down to beat the Italian Andreas Seppi 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 8-6 in a little over three-and-a-half hours on a chilly Sunday night in the Hisense Arena, Murray took centre stage in Rod Laver Arena to reach the last eight for the fifth year in a row by holding off a determined if uneven challenge by Grigor Dimitrov.
Murray won 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5 but should have had it wrapped up a lot earlier than midnight. Some of his shot selection was odd, to say the least, the drop shot getting him into trouble time and again.
The Bulgarian, who ruined Murray’s 2014 Wimbledon in the quarter-finals, stretched him to the limit, charging in behind his serve and some rasping ground strokes 57 times for 37 of his 133 points. But there are few players on the Tour who soak up punishment as well as Murray, and, in racking up 150 points for the match, he thwarted his younger opponent’s best efforts with his almost impenetrable defence.
It was a performance of several highs and many distracted moments, and Murray beat himself up for blowing 12 of 19 break points, raging at birds chasing midges inside the open-top arena and swearing with gusto after he dropped the second set when it was there for the taking.
