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MELBOURNE: Eight-time winner Novak Djokovic battled what he described as a tournament-ending injury to beat Milos Raonic and reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on Sunday.
Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams survived the scares, but US Open champion Dominic Thiem was a huge victim when he fell to Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
Simona Halep took revenge for her crushing French Open loss to Polish teenager Iga Swiatek to arrange a match with Williams, while Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei reached her first Slam quarter-final at the age of 35. Djokovic had raised the alarm for an abdominal injury after his five-set battle with Taylor Fritz, but showed few outward signs in his 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory.
However, the 17-time Grand Slam winner said he had spent “every hour” since Friday’s victory trying to recover.
The defending champion will face German sixth seed Alexander Zverev, who defeated Serbian Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 in his quest for his first Grand Slam title.
Earlier, Osaka of Japan overcame a thriller with fellow Major-winner Garbine Muguruza, and Williams went through a physical test against Aryna Sabalenka to maintain her bid for a record equal to the 24th Grand Slam title.
In an empty Rod Laver Arena, with fans banned on the second day of a five-day statewide coronavirus lockdown, Osaka was on the brink of elimination with 3-5, 15-40 on serve in the third set. .
But the three-time Major League Champion added four points in a row and then broke Muguruza’s serve twice to win 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Osaka now faces an all-Asian quarter-final with Hsieh, who beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first Slam quarter-final in 16 years of trying.
Williams, 39, was also facing Sabalenka for the first time and had to endure a blow from the Belarusian to reach the knockout stages 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
But a weary-looking Thiem, coming off a five-set win over Australian Nick Kyrgios, slumped in straight sets to Dimitrov, who took him 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 in just over two hours. .
Dimitrov’s win against Thiem, the third seed and runner-up last year, sets up a quarter-final with surprise package Aslan Karatsev, who is in the quarter-finals on his Grand Slam debut.
Karatsev defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime in five sets to become the first player in 25 years to reach the quarter-finals in his Grand Slam debut.
The 27-year-old, virtually a stranger before the tournament began, fought two sets down to defeat the Canadian 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.
Halep won just three games against Swiatek, 19, at last year’s Roland Garros, but turned the tables with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory.
Posted in Dawn, Feb 15, 2021
