The women’s World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka crashed out after an epic that finished on the stroke of midnight, while a tetchy title favourite Daniil Medvedev was pushed to the limit before reaching the last eight of the Australian Open on Monday.
Men’s fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas survived a late-night fright to reach his third Australian Open quarterfinal after a pulsating day of marathon matches, frayed tempers and searing heat at Melbourne Park.
Tsitsipas was staring at defeat, trailing two sets to one before clawing back to beat the 20th seed Taylor Fritz 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 3hr 23min of classic punch and counter-punch tennis on Rod Laver Arena.
Earlier it took the petulant Russian men’s World No. 2 Medvedev 3hr 30min to subdue the unseeded American serve-volley specialist Maxime Cressy 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-7 (4/7), 7-5 and set up a quarterfinal against Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The men’s ninth seed Auger-Aliassime overcame the 2018 finalist Marin Cilic 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-2, 7-6(4) in 3hr 35min.
Sabalenka lost a thriller that went to a final-set 10-point tiebreak as veteran Kaia Kanepi ended the Belarusian’s hopes of a maiden Grand Slam title.
Second seed Sabalenka saved four match points before losing 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(7), sending down 15 double faults as her serving yips that have plagued her throughout the Australian summer came back to haunt.
French veteran Alize Cornet made the quarterfinals of a Slam for the first time in her long career after upsetting former World No. 1 Simona Halep of Romania 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in energy-sapping daytime heat.
