The 1st seed surrendered 6:4, 6:4 to Rivakina, the American missed another opportunity and lost 7:5, 6:3 to Ostapenko who came back to impress. The Czech doesn’t stop, Tsitsipas survived a thriller, Korda and Khachanov impressed on the way to the quarterfinals
The round of 16 at the Australian Open kicked off early in the morning (between Saturday and Sunday) with the round of 16 matches, which opened with a surprising elimination of the ranked No. 1 Iga Shabiontek by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
Men Karen Khachanov – Sebastian Korda Yzy Lechka – Stefanos Tsitsipas/Andrei Rublev/Holger Rona – Alex De Minor/Novak Djokovic Ben Shelton/JJ Wolff – Tommy Paul/Roberto Bautista Agut Women Alina Rivakina -Jelena Ostapenko Jessica Pegula – Victoria Azarenka Karolina Pliskova / Shui Zhang – Caroline Garcia / Magda Lynette Arina Savalanka / Belinda Bencic – Donna Vekic / Linda Psarytova Czech Republic) – Felix Oja Eliasim (7, Canada) 6:4, 3:6, 6:7 (2), 6:7 (3) The promising Canadian so hoped to make the leap and take advantage of the relatively favorable draw in Australia to reach the first Grand Slam final in his career, but even though he arrived as a clear favorite for the match against the Czech ranked 71st in the world, he surrendered after 3:13 hours. The 21-year-old Lehceka, who surprised Borna Coric and Cameron Nouri, caused an even greater sensation, when he again excelled in two breakstie, forcing his opponent 45 uncommitted errors. Until this year, he had never won a match in a Grand Slam tournament, and here he is already in the quarterfinals, after the biggest victory of his life. Stefanos Tsitsipas (4, Greece) – Yannick Zinner (16, Italy) 4:6, 4:6, 6:3, 6:4, 3:6 The fourth seed continues his excellent form, with 11 consecutive victories on the way to the quarterfinals. After dropping the first two sets in the tournament, the Greek recovered in the decisive fifth set and rose to a 1:5 balance against the talented Zinner, who hoped to equal his record achievement in Grand Slams but will settle for compliments only, after an impressive comeback that was not completed.
Hubert Horkatz (11, Poland) – Sebastian Korda (31, USA) 3:6, 6:3, 6:2, 1:6, 7:6 (10:7) son of Peter Korda,Australian champion in 1998, managed to record his career-high achievement in the same tournament and qualified for the first time to the Grand Slam quarterfinals after a dramatic victory. Korda, who knocked out 2021 and 2022 finalist Danil Medvedev in the third round, started poorly but recovered to take the second and third sets. Horkach, who reached the highest ranking in Poland’s history, forced a fifth set, but in the tiebreaker of the fifth set Korda took six straight points and closed the story with a backhand winner after 3 hours and 28 minutes. Yoshihito Nishioka (33, Japan) – Karen Khachanov (20, Russia) 6:0, 6:0, 7:6 (4) What a performance by Khachanov. Rafael Nadal’s retirement paved the way for the 27-year-old Japanese, who wonThree matches smoothly and reached the second week of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career, but against Khachanov he surrendered unconditionally in 1 hour and 58 minutes. The Russian, who worked hard against Frances Tiafou, reached the quarterfinals in Melbourne for the first time in his career, after reaching the semifinals in the USA last year. , 6:4 The Pole arrived as the clear favorite for the first Grand Slam of the season, but finds herself on the outside. After winning last year at Roland Garros and the US Championship, the number one in the world wanted to conquer Australia as well, where her record achievement is the semi-finals last year, But she had a bad start to the game, which startedFor her with a warning at the very beginning about a delay. She broke early, managed to come back, but at 4:4 Rivakina broke again and won the first set. The Pole started the second set well with 0:3, but the Kazakh lost it again and succumbed to Rivakina again, as happened less than a month ago in the Emirates. Rivakina advanced to the quarterfinals in Melbourne for the first time in her career, after also reaching the last 8 in France 2021 and, of course, winning Wimbledon last year. In the quarterfinals she will meet Ostapenko. Jelena Ostapenko (17, Latvia) – Koko Goff (7, USA) 5:7, 3:6 Koko Goff hoped this would be her year: the 18-year-old American arrived in Melbourne after winning the Auckland tournament and looked in good shapeExcellent, with eight consecutive victories in which she did not lose a campaign. But “Serena’s heir” once again ended the day in tears of disappointment, after another painful defeat. It was an intriguing meeting between the 2017 Roland Garros champion and the 2022 Roland Garros finalist, and in the end Ostapenko, who was defined as a “one-time hit” after failing in Grand Slams since that sensational win more than four years ago, returns to the quarterfinals, and in a big way. It was Ostapenko’s first win over a top-10 seed at a Grand Slam in three years, and her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since Wimbledon 2018. The 25-year-old Latvian hit 30 winners and took 80 percent of the points on her first serve. Goff, on the other hand, used only 1 of 8its breaking possibilities. “When she plays so well, there’s not much to do,” said the tearful loser at the end. Ostapenko, on the other hand, admitted that her win at Roland Garros was a burden on her that bothered her: “Yes, to be honest, because suddenly everyone expects you to win every tournament, which is crazy, because you’re still human and you can’t be at your peak overnight.”
Jessica Pegula (3, USA) – Barbora Krejcikova (23, Czech Republic) 5:7, 2:6 The 28-year-old American continues to advance in the world rankings and has already reached third place, but has not yet achieved the breakthrough awaited in Grand Slams Today she managed to qualify for a third quarter-final in a row in Australia, continuing her great form with eightConsecutive victories without losing a game, which so far loses only 18 games in the tournament. Pegula, who qualified for the quarterfinals in four of the last five Grand Slams, hopes that this time she will qualify for the semifinals for the first time. On the other hand, Krychikova, who stunned when she won Roland Garros in 2021, was stopped in the quarterfinals in Melbourne for the second year in a row, after a match in which she lost serve five times. Victoria Azarenka (24, Belarus) – Lin Zhu (China) 6:4, 1:6, 4:6 A decade after her two consecutive wins at the Australian Championship, Azarenka is experiencing renewed vigor and wants to return to the quarter-finals in Melbourne after seven years. The 28-year-old Lin Zhu, ranked 87th in the world, overcame three rivals ranked higher than her,Including a big surprise against the Greek Maria Skari (6th in the world) in the third round which was the record achievement of her career. This time too she was on the way to a surprise, with a victory in the first set, the veteran Belarusian El recovered and survived a thriller of 2:40 hours.