Coming up tomorrow, in the remaining fourth-round matches, the action starts on Rod Laver with the battle of the friends and podcast hosts, Jessica Pegula v Madison Keys, and then it’s Taylor Fritz v Lorenzo Musetti. On Margaret Court, Elena Rybakina plays Elise Mertens and Jannik Sinner meets his fellow Italian Luciano Darderi. In the Rod Laver evening session it’ll be the biggest night of the Australian qualifier Madison Inglis’s life as she takes on Iga Swiatek, before Ben Shelton v Casper Ruud. Novak Djokovic gets a walkover after his opponent Jakub Mensik withdraw today because of injury. Do join us again for live coverage, reports and reaction, but that’s it from me on day eight. Thanks for your company as always. Bye!
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Tumaini’s report on Alcaraz’s victory and the evolution of his serve is an interesting read:
Carlos Alcaraz spent the final 52 minutes of his fourth-round match at the Australian Open chasing down his prey, determined to convert his two-set lead into a straightforward win against Tommy Paul.
As he worked hard to secure the decisive break in set three, Alcaraz put together a flawless serving performance. He won 86% of his first serve points in the set, landing 76% of his first serves. He did not even come close to facing a break point, losing just five service points in total. Alcaraz, the world No 1, closed out his 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5 win over the 19th seed Paul with an unreturned serve.
These were good signs for the world No 1 in the aftermath of another off-season that, beyond the seismic news of his decision to part ways with his longtime coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, saw him make another significant change to his service motion.
Alcaraz’s serve has understandably been a significant point of interest since his emergence on the professional circuit. The 22-year-old has commanded such a complete game since his youth, but his serve, the point-starter and the most important shot in men’s tennis, always lagged behind the rest of his shots.
Click here for the rest:
And a recap of today’s results if you need to catch up:
Alcaraz (1) beat Paul (19) 7-6, 6-4, 7-5
Zverev (3) beat Cerundolo (18) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
Tien (25) beat Medvedev (11) 6-4, 6-0, 6-3
De Minaur (6) beat Bublik (10) 6-4, 6-1, 6-1
Sabalenka (1) beat Mboko (17) 6-1, 7-6
Jovic (29) beat Putintseva 6-0, 6-1
Gauff (3) beat Muchova (19) 6-1, 3-6, 6-3
Svitolina (12) beat Andreeva (8) 6-2, 6-4
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And the men’s:
Alcaraz (1) v De Minaur (6)
Zverev (3) v Tien (25)
Musetti (5) or Fritz (9) v Djokovic (4)
Shelton (8) or Ruud (12) v Darderi (22) or Sinner (2)
The women’s quarter-final draw:
Sabalenka (1) v Jovic (29)
Gauff (3) v Svitolina (12)
Pegula (6) or Keys (9) v Wang or Anisimova (4)
Rybakina (5) or Mertens (21) v Inglis or Swiatek (2)
It’s a 14th slam quarter-final for Svitolina, and she’s won only two of those, and is yet to reach a slam final. Can she go further than she’s ever done before at the age of 31? Well if she hits with similar purpose and clarity against Gauff she’s got a strong chance against a player she’s beaten at the Australian Open before, though Gauff does lead the head-to-head 2-1. But Gauff could be followed by Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals, so it would most likely take the best showing of Svitolina’s career to take out the world No 1 and two-time champion. It’s almost a copy and paste of the task facing De Minaur against Alcaraz.
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“It’s unbelievable,” says a smiling Svitolina. “I’m very pleased for the performance. I had to really put up the fight. It was extremely nerve-racking and I’m very happy with how I handled myself.” She’s then asked about saying after her last match how her husband Gael Monfils has made her more “chill”. “Well I was not chill tonight so he wouldn’t be happy but I think he might be happy with the win. It’s great to have him by my side.”
She’s such a popular player wherever she goes and it’s great to see her back in the last eight, where she’ll face Coco Gauff. For Andreeva, it’s the third successive year she’s lost in the last 16, but the 18-year-old’s time will surely come.
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Svitolina beats Andreeva 6-2, 6-4
Svitolina is applying the pressure when she punishes Andreeva’s mis-hit for 0-15. Andreeva mixes up the pace on the next point and it’s enough to unnerve Svitolina for 15-all. 30-15. The point of the match possibly … it goes on and on. And on … Svitolina’s shot clips the tape … Andreeva tries the drop shot … but nets! 30-all. And Andreeva double faults to bring up match point! A gutsy, gutsy first serve and it’s deuce. Svitolina, hitting as hard as I’ve ever seen her, prevails in another lengthy exchange. A second MP. And she finishes with a forehand winner! The 31-year-old has got the better of the 18-year-old prodigy and is into the quarter-finals for the fourth time! There are a few misguided boos as Andreeva walks off court without a handshake, but that’s Andreeva just respecting the Ukrainian’s policy of not shaking hands with Russian players.
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Second set: Svitolina 6-2, 5-4 Andreeva* (*next server)
Both are playing near their best now, and a fizzing forehand pass down the line from Andreeva means it’s 15-all on Svitolina’s serve. But that’s as good as it gets for the Russian in this game, as Svitolina doesn’t concede another point. Andreeva must hold serve to stay in this match.
Second set: Svitolina* 6-2, 4-4 Andreeva (*next server)
Andreeva, despite potentially being two games from defeat, has enough clarity of mind to mix things up a bit, and she moves Svitolina side to side before coming forward and showing lovely touch at the net. 40-15. But a backhand error from the 18-year-old – followed by a forehand one for symmetry’s sake – and it’s deuce. Andreeva composes herself for advantage, and prevails in one of the points of the match after a 15-shot exchange!
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Second set: Svitolina 6-2, 4-3 Andreeva* (*next server)
Andreeva steadies herself by holding for 3-3. She then sends a moon ball into the night skies before charging in behind it to bash away a winner. It’s 15-all on Svitolina’s serve. And then 30-all. This could well be the crucial moment in the match: can Svitolina move towards the finish line or will Andreeva find a way to take this to a decider? At 40-30 Andreeva unleashes with a backhand down the line but it bashes the net post. Svitolina is edging closer.
Svitolina breaks back and holds: Svitolina 6-2, 3-2 Andreeva* (*next server)
Andreeva, perhaps thinking about that missed chance for the double break, slips 15-40 down herself. Svitolina tamely nets on the first break point … but Andreeva goes WAY long on the second and they’re back on serve. The 18-year-old just can’t shake Svitolina off, who mentally looks so strong and holds to 30 courtesy of an ace on game point.
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Second set: Svitolina 6-2, 1-2 Andreeva* (*next server)
0-15. 0-30. Svitolina has lost the first 10 points of this second set. It’s been a jarring shift in momentum for the Ukrainian, but she does as least get on the board for 15-30 when Andreeva hoiks her attempted pass wide. The pair then engage in a draining rally, both look spent … but Andreeva still has the speed of thought to pin Andreeva deep before leaving her stranded with a deft drop shot. Here are two break points at 15-40 for a 3-0 lead … but Svitolina kickstarts her comeback with an ace and survives from there.
Andreeva breaks and holds: Svitolina* 6-2, 0-2 Andreeva (*next server)
Andreeva is back. Her coach, the former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez, has some words for her charge too. They seem to do the trick, because Andreeva accelerates to 0-40 on Svitolina’s serve. After some rat-a-tat at the net Andreeva breaks to love … and then holds by the same score! Game on.
Svitolina wins the first set 6-2
Svitolina, with the comfort of having consolidated the break, is hitting with more aggression and purpose, and seizes on two weak second serves from Andreeva to land two big backhand blows. It gives her three set points at 0-40. She goes big on the return again but nets. And does the same on the second SP. But Svitolina secures the set at the third time of asking and Andreeva is running off court with her note book. Svitolina, meanwhile, gets some courtside advice from her British coach Andrew Bettles, who’s sitting alongside her husband Gael Monfils. He looks very content, as he should. Svitolina has been the stronger player mentally so far and is a set from her fourth Australian Open quarter-final.
Svitolina breaks and holds: Svitolina 5-2 Andreeva* (*next server)
But no sooner does Andreeva break back than she is broken again, after an errant backhand at 30-40. Andreeva – dressed in Nike’s Australian Open dayglo get-up, this one neon yellow and green - will be kicking herself, and she’s in danger of losing the first set when Svitolina stops the flurry of breaks, despite going break point down, by edging through from deuce. These games are tortuous stuff.
Andreeva breaks back: Svitolina 3-2 Andreeva* (*next server)
Svitolina makes up for her modest firepower with terrific foot speed, fitness and fight, qualities that Andreeva possesses too, but I think Andreeva is the slightly smarter player; she’s got such a high tennis IQ, superb variety and can come up with a plan A, B, C and D if she needs to. She puts the pieces of the puzzle together here to break back from deuce, as Andreeva runs to the net to draw the Svitolina error, before Svitolina blinks on the backhand side once more.
Svitolina breaks: Svitolina* 3-1 Andreeva (*next server)
From 30-all, Svitolina ups the ante on her serve, waiting 13 shots before eventually pulling the trigger and going on to hold. But Svitolina, like De Minaur who was on this court before her, is a player who doesn’t boast the biggest firepower, which is why she generally beats the players she should and loses to those she’s expected to. The women’s game has thrown up some unexpected slam champions, some of whom arguably aren’t as good as her, but it would take some effort to step up to that circle, especially with Sabalenka and Swiatek now consistently challenging for the major titles. At 15-40 in the next game, Andreeva is facing her first break points. Andreeva fends off the first with an ace … but then overcooks her forehand. Svitolina strikes first.
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First set: Svitolina* 1-1 Andreeva (*next server)
There was no handshake between the two players before the match, I should mention, because of the Ukrainian Svitolina’s ongoing decision not to shake hands with Russian opponents until the war is over. Andreeva, like Svitolina, is slow to get her serve going, and is taken to deuce, but Svitolina swats wide and Andreeva is on the board.
First set: Svitolina 1-0 Andreeva* (*next server)
Svitolina is such a perennially popular figure wherever she goes, while there’s so much excitement about what Andreeva could go on to achieve in the game, so it’ll be interesting to see where the crowd’s loyalties lie in this one. Svitolina, with her husband Gael Monfils watching on, starts badly, falling 0-40 down, before regrouping for deuce and then advantage. Andreeva nets and Svitolina squeezes through for the opening hold.
Here come Mirra Andreeva and Elina Svitolina, with their match the only outstanding piece of business on day eight. The 18-year-old eighth seed and 31-year-old 12th seed may be at opposite ends of their careers, but they’re both in fine form, with Andreeva winning the Adelaide warm-up event and Svitolina taking the title in Auckland. They’ve played only once before, with Andreeva prevailing in two tight sets at Indian Wells last year.
De Minaur is 0-5 against Alcaraz, so he’ll have to play the match of his life if he’s to win a grand slam quarter-final for the first time after six previous defeats at that stage, including at the Australian Open last year against Jannik Sinner. Perhaps we should rename it the Round of De Minaur. But he looks as comfortable and confident as he ever has in Melbourne, so he’s in the best shape possible to take on the challenge of the world No 1 on Tuesday. And we know that De Minaur, being De Minaur, will give it absolutely everything he’s got.
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What a performance that was from De Minaur, against a tricky opponent who’d beaten the Australian in their past two matches … but up next he has the questionable honour of facing Carlos Alcaraz. “I knew what I was in for today,” says De Minaur. “Bublik is a hell of a player. It was all about neutralising his firepower and getting him on the move. I’m super happy. I was definitely thinking about my last two matches against him. I had to be locked in from the first point to the last. I’m super pleased with my level and I’m excited for the next one. I’m going to have to come out here guns blazing.”
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De Minaur defeats Bublik 6-4, 6-1, 6-1
With the security of that double break, De Minaur holds twice more, and it’s 5-1, with Bublik serving to stay in the match. A clutch point at 30-all … and De Minaur gets himself a match point! A backhand slice from Bulik … he comes forward … and settles the point! Deuce. Advantage De Minaur, a second MP, after an entertaining game of cat and mouse. De Minaur can’t get his return back and it’s deuce once more. But here’s a third MP and De Minaur is running and scrapping and doing everything that’s made him the player he is and Bublik eventually errs! De Minaur is into the last eight for the second successive year for the loss of only six games.
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We’re just hearing that Novak Djokovic’s fourth-round opponent Jakub Mencic has withdrawn from their match, which was due to be played tomorrow, because of an abdominal tear. It means Djokovic gets a free pass into the quarter-finals – something his 38-year-old body will no doubt be grateful for as he continues the search for that elusive slam title No 25.
De Minaur breaks: De Minaur* 6-4, 6-1, 3-0 Bublik (*next server)
De Minaur is usually a backboard from the baseline but he’s a backboard from the net as he charges forward to Bublik’s 235th drop shot and volleys away Bublik’s tweener! Bublik decides this is a game for the highlights reel and nails an eye-catching winner down the line. One of the points of the tournament then plays out as Bublik dispatches another drop shot, De Minaur races forward to volley, volley and smash … but Bublik shows superb touch at net to settle matters and take the game to deuce! Can this give him something to build on? No, because he quickly concedes the next two points.
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De Minaur breaks and holds: De Minaur 6-4, 6-1, 2-0 Bublik* (*next server)
The stats are pretty messy for Bublik. He’s hit 29 unforced errors to De Minaur’s 10 and hasn’t been able to create any break points. And the scoreline gets even messier as De Minaur breaks to love before another hold without any jeopardy.
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De Minaur wins the second set 6-1
At 4-1, Bublik reverts to type, surrendering the double break with a double fault and going all sweary at the changeover. He’s unhappy with himself, his team, the balls and the court, which plays slower in the evening session, something he’s not as used to as De Minaur. It leaves the Australian serving for the set, and he closes it out to 30 when Bublik biffs his return into the net. It’s a long way back from here, while for De Minaur he’s a set away from his second successive Australian Open quarter-final.
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Up next for Tien: Alexander Zverev. “It’s so special,” says a beaming Tien. “I’m just super happy. It’s going to be super tough [against Zverev]. I was able to get him the first time we played and the second time we played he beat me pretty bad [at last year’s French Open]. It’s going to be a challenge but I’m really looking forward to it.”
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Tien takes out Medvedev 6-4, 6-0, 6-3
Tien halts Medvedev’s mini-revival, holding serve to edge to 5-3. And Medvedev promptly crashes to 0-40! Tien can’t take the first match point ... Medvedev smashes on the second … and Tien doesn’t only get the ball back but whacks it away for a winner! The 20-year-old Tien is into a grand slam quarter-final for the first time. He’s the youngest player to reach the last eight since 2015 and the youngest American to get this far at a slam since 2002. Anything Iva Jovic can do … it’s been some day for US prodigies.
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Second set: De Minaur* 6-4, 3-1 Bublik (*next server)
De Minaur, showing tremendous foot speed, as he always does, has a point for the double break at 30-40. It’s saved with an ace by Bublik. And the Kazakhstani goes on to hold. But he’s won only seven points on De Minaur’s serve this evening, and he’s got to improve the stat if he’s to cause De Minaur any significant problems.
Medvedev breaks and holds: Medvedev 4-6, 0-6, 3-4 Tien* (*next server)
Medvedev has a game on the board! Make that two, when he breaks to 30, and then three, as he holds to love. Is Tien tightening? This could yet get interesting.
De Minaur breaks: De Minaur* 6-4, 2-0 Bublik (*next server)
Medvedev has capitulated since losing that first set – and it’ll be interesting to see how Bublik responds having been denied in the opener. In the past he had a tendency to self combust in matches, amid a flurry of smashed rackets and screaming, but he’s been much more mentally strong since coming from two sets down to defeat De Minaur in five sets at the French Open last year. That win really kickstarted a transformation … but there are too many errors from Bublik right now, and another hands De Minaur the break to 30.
Tien breaks then holds … again: Medvedev* 4-6, 0-6, 0-4 Tien (*next server)
Tien takes his 10th game on the spin for 3-0 and his 11th for 4-0, with Medvedev’s mind seemingly already halfway home in Monte Carlo.
De Minaur wins the first set 6-4
Back to Rod Laver, where Bublik and De Minaur are still on serve, with De Minaur leading 5-4. And the Demon gives himself a sniff at 15-30 … which becomes 15-40 when he goes back behind Bublik with a forehand winner! Smart play. And it gives him two set points, which are also the first break points of this match. Bublik bashes down his fastest serve of the night on the first … and coughs up a double on the second! The 15,000-strong crowd cheer the double fault as loudly as they would a winner, because their man is a set ahead.
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Tien breaks then holds: Medvedev 4-6, 0-6, 0-2 Tien* (*next server)
Medvedev lost his serve at the start of the first and second sets, and it’s the same sorry story here, when he double faults at 30-40 to give Tien another head start. Will Tien tighten with the finish line in sight? The 20-year-old hasn’t reached a slam quarter-final before. That may be Medvedev’s best hope at this stage, but Tien is unwavering as he backs up the break by holding to 15.
Tien takes second set to lead Medvedev 6-4, 6-0
A hold apiece from Bublik and De Minaur, followed by a hold to 30 for Bublik. Not that I’m fully focusing, because I’m scratching my head trying to figure out how Medvedev has slumped 5-0 down in the second set against Tien, who now has two set points at 40-15. Medvedev did seem to be a man transformed in Melbourne, with his new team, new tactics and new title in the Brisbane warm-up event, but he’s on the wrong end of a second-set bagel as Tien tonks a backhand winner down the line! Which is reminding me how hungry I am having not yet had any breakfast.
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Zverev beats Cerundolo 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
A routine victory for the third seed. He races to 40-0 … before netting a forehand on the first match point and succeeding with a drop shot backed up by a lob on the second! Zverev awaits the winner of Medvedev v Tien, with Tien trouncing the 11th seed in the second set, leading 6-4, 4-0. “I’m trying to do what the two best players are doing, to add to my game,” says Zverev, three times a grand slam runner-up, never a champion, when asked of his hopes of finally breaking the Sinner-Alcaraz slam supremacy.
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First set: De Minaur 2-1 Bublik* (*next server)
If you haven’t seen Bublik play before, expect underarm serves, tweeners, countless drop shots and outlandish winners. He’s one of tennis’s unorthodox entertainers. A bit of a Nick Kyrgios, but with a new-found will to win. Bublik pulls off a drop shot/lob combo for 0-15 on De Minaur’s serve, but De Minaur moves to 30-15 and then 40-30, and he secures the game with an ace.
First set: De Minaur* 1-1 Bublik (*next server)
De Minaur is playing in the fourth round for the fifth consecutive year - a feat that not even Hewitt, Mark Philippoussis and Pat Rafter achieved at their home slam – but he’s never been past the quarter-finals. Which largely sums up his career: he’s so consistent in beating the players he’s expected to, but is underpowered against the very best. De Minaur does send a bullet of a backhand winner down the line to get to deuce on Bublik’s serve, though. But two errors then give the Kazakhstani the game.
First set: De Minaur 1-0 Bublik* (*next server)
De Minaur warmed up for this match by hitting with Cruz Hewitt, the 17-year-old son of his mentor Lleyton. Bublik claims the first victory as he wins the coin toss and elects to receive – but De Minaur opens confidently with an ace on the first point and a hold to 15.
Tien has a set point on the Margaret Court Arena at 5-4, 40-30. The young left-hander has had some medical treatment in this opening set but he looks untroubled and a fizzing forehand down the line secures him the opener! He leads the 2021, 2022 and 2024 finalist 6-4.
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De Minaur makes his entrance on Rod Laver. Unsurprisingly the home hope is shown a lot of love.
As we wait for De Minaur and Bublik to arrive, Zverev is zooming towards victory. Last year’s runner-up leads Argentina’s Cerundolo 6-2, 6-4, 2-3, while Medvedev is serving to stay in the first set, 5-3 down to the 20-year-old American Learner Tien.
Meanwhile our man in Melbourne, Tumaini Carayol, has this report on Alcaraz’s win:
Carlos Alcaraz continued to build momentum in his pursuit of the career grand slam as he navigated a slow start and pushed through his first test at the Australian Open to reach the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5 win over the 19th seed Tommy Paul.
Alcaraz, the world No 1, has now reached the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park for three consecutive years and this is his first time doing so without dropping a set.Having already won each of the three other grand slam tournaments twice, he will be attempting to break new ground by reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open for the first time in his career.
Things were far from easy for Alcaraz, who has played many tough matches with Paul over the past four years, losing to the American twice in their seven meetings.Alcaraz trailed by a break early in the first set and still could not separate himself from an impressive Paul, who served well, put pressure on the American by taking the ball early and frustrated the Spaniard with his excellent defensive skills.
You can read the rest here:
Sabalenka is on some streak in Melbourne, winning 49 of her past 54 sets, the kind of stat that puts her alongside the likes of Graf, Seles, Hingis and Serena in the Australian Open history books. How the world No 1 deals with the precocious talents of the 18-year-old Jovic in the last eight will be fascinating. It’ll be Jovic’s first grand slam quarter-final. The Californian has Serbian heritage, and Novak Djokovic believes she “has all the tools” to become “a future champion and a future No 1”.
Already today, in mercifully less extreme heat for the players, there have been wins for the two No 1s, with Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka again rolling on in straight sets. Sabalenka ended the breakthrough run of the 19-year-old Victoria Mboko, 6-1, 7-6, and will now face in the quarter-finals another stupendously talented teen in Iva Jovic, who backed up her win over Jasmine Paolini by routing Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, 6-0, 6-1. And the former teen phenom Coco Gauff (how is she still only 21?! It feels as if she’s been around for 10 years) came through in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, against the classy Czech Karolina Muchova.
Preamble
G’day and welcome to the Australian Open – night session day eight! The brilliance of the first week at a grand slam is the head-spinning amount of action on offer all at once; the beauty of the second week is the focus sharpens considerably on individual matches, so this night session brings us two contests to get immersed in: Alex de Minaur v Alexander Bublik followed by Mirra Andreeva v Elina Svitolina … though Daniil Medvedev v Learner Tien has spilled over from the day session and Alexander Zverev is two sets up, 6-2, 6-4, against Francisco Cerundolo.
De Minaur, who’s in the familiar territory of being the last remaining Australian in the men’s singles, is coming up against a changed man in Bublik. De Minaur’s record against the underarm-serving Kazakhstani maverick - who once said he hated tennis “with all my heart” - read 3-0 until Bublik had a dramatic mind shift last year at the age of 27 (after a road trip to Vegas - you couldn’t make it up) and decided he no longer wanted to waste his talent.
Bublik is now in the form of his life, up to world No 10, with two wins over De Minaur and five titles during the past eight months, including in Hong Kong two weeks ago. And he hasn’t dropped a set on his way to reaching the fourth round for the first time – a stage De Minaur is playing in for the fifth straight year.
“I enjoy winning more than in previous years,” Bublik said a few days ago. “I matured and I’m treating it more like work. I came here to do things, to win matches, to do everything in my power. I have no joy of taking the third set, losing in five, yelling, breaking racquets. I don’t feel the need to do that. So I’m trying to fight.”
Fighting is something De Minaur has done his entire career, making up for his modest firepower with his relentless speed and scrapping – a description that’s also very apt for Svitolina, another full-of-heart player who hasn’t been able to make that jump to slam champion. It’s a step many believe is destined for the 18-year-old prodigy that is Andreeva, but don’t count Svitolina out today; she’s started the season just as strongly as Andreeva and, at 31, will know this is an opportunity she must do all she can to grasp.
De Minaur and Bublik will be on court at: about 7pm Melbourne time/8am GMT.
