MELBOURNE, Feb 14: Eight-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic beat Milos Raonic in four sets to advance to the quarterfinals and register his 300th win in a Grand Slam match.
Top-ranked Djokovic is just the second player to reach the 300-win milestone after Roger Federer.
Djokovic hurt a stomach muscle when he fell during his third-round victory over Taylor Fritz and he skipped practice on Saturday.
There were concerns he wouldn’t recover in time for his match against Raonic but the defending champion went onto Rod Laver Arena without showing any noticeable signs of trouble.
He was wearing tape above his right hip. The 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win extended Djokovic’s unbeaten streak to 12 straight against Raonic, the 2016 Wimbledon finalist.
Djokovic said he’s going to prepare as best as he can for his next match against Alexander Zverev, but only because it’s one of the big four tournaments in tennis.
Serena Williams has returned to the Australian Open quarterfinals by getting past No. 7 seed Aryna Sabalenka in three sets. The 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory put Williams one step closer to her record-tying 24th Grand Slam title overall and eighth championship at Melbourne Park.
Simona Halep has advanced to a quarterfinal match against Williams at the Australian Open after beating French Open champion Iga Swiatek 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
The No. 2-seeded Halep avenged a loss last year at Roland Garros, where Swiatek dropped just three games in their fourth-round match.
After accounting for the last remaining teenager in the draw, two-time major winner Halep will now meet one of the most experienced players on tour.
Williams is aiming for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title. Halep lost the final at Melbourne Park in 2018 and reached the semifinals here last year.
U.S. Open finalist Alexander Zverev has beaten No. 23-seeded Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3 to move into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
Grigor Dimitrov beat third-seeded Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the fourth time.
The No. 18-seeded Dimitrov was down a break in each of the first two sets but rallied to keep up the pressure on his tiring opponent.
Thiem won the U.S. Open and was the runner-up at the Australian Open last year, but he was coming off a tough third-round match when he had to rally from two sets down to beat local favorite Nick Kyrgios in five.
Dimitrov, who has a career-high ranking of No. 3, will next play 114-ranked Aslan Karatsev, who upset Felix Auger-Aliassime to become the first man since 1996 to reach the quarterfinals on his Grand Slam debut.
The 27-year-old Russian qualifier dropped the first two sets but lifted his level and cut down his error-rate to beat the 20th-seeded Auger-Aliassime 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.
Naomi Osaka fought off two match points and came back to eliminate Garbiñe Muguruza in a big-hitting fourth-round matchup of Grand Slam champions at the Australian Open. The third-seeded Osaka grabbed the last four games to win 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in Rod Laver Arena.
That result puts her back in the quarterfinals of a tournament she won in 2019 for one of her three major trophies.
Osaka now faces unseeded 35-year-old Hsie Su-wei of Taiwain with a semifinal berth at stake.
Unseeded Hsieh has reached her first career Grand Slam quarterfinal at age 35.
Hsieh’s 6-4, 6-2 victory over 2019 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova made her the oldest woman to make her major quarterfinal debut in the professional era. (AP)
