World No.3 Carlos Alcaraz reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Sunday, where he could meet Novak Djokovic (7th) who is playing his round of 16 in Melbourne and is trying to follow the example of Alexander Zverev (2nd), Aryna Sabalenka (1st) and Coco Gauff (3rd), already qualified.
. Alcaraz attends Djokovic
On the Rod Laver court, Alcaraz won the first two sets against Jack Draper (18th) before the Briton gave up.
At the very start of the season, Draper gave up playing in the United Cup due to a hip injury. In Melbourne, he won his first three matches in five sets.
Present in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the second year in a row, Alcaraz hopes to go “further” this year and win the only Grand Slam title he is missing.
Ten-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic (7th) faces Czech Jiri Lehecka (29th) in the Rod Laver Arena. At 9:00 p.m. (10:00 GMT), the Serb led two sets to zero and was well on his way to meeting Alcaraz in the quarter-finals.
World No.2 Alexander Zverev has already qualified, winning in four rounds over Frenchman Ugo Humbert.
In search of his first Grand Slam title at age 27, Zverev won 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 against the world number 14, beaten for the third time in his career in the round of 16 of a Major, and will face in the quarter-finals the American Tommy Paul (11th), easy winner of Alejandro Davidovich (66th).
Appearing to be hit in the right hip, after two five-set victories in the second and third rounds, the Spaniard sought treatment between the first and second sets. He finally lost 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.
. Sabalenka in demonstration, Gauff in three sets
Double title holder in Melbourne, Aryna Sabalenka, imperial against the young Russian Mirra Andreeva (15th), was on Sunday the first player to qualify for the quarter-finals.
The Belarusian, winner of the Brisbane tournament at the beginning of January, won 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour. and will face the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (32nd) to try to secure a place in the last four.
-Pavlyuchenkova, who leads 2-1 in her confrontations with the world No.1, recalled that her victories were dated back (2019 and 2021).
Sabalenka “has clearly become another player now, very powerful. I don't know what to expect”, admitted the oldest of the women's table (33 years old), “surprised” to be in the quarters after a preseason approached more ” comfortable” than in the past.
On Sunday, Sabalenka won his 18th match in a row in Melbourne, a performance not seen since 2014.
After the rapid success of the Belarusian, Coco Gauff needed three sets (5-7, 6-2, 6-1) and around 2h30 to overcome ex-N.4 Belinda Bencic, who fell to 294th rank after a break from the circuit to give birth to a daughter.
Olympic champion in 2021, Bencic “played really well in the first set, I had trouble being on the offensive,” said Gauff after her victory, the first in three sets since her victorious final in early November at the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia.
“I played more aggressively in the 2nd and 3rd sets,” continued the American, undefeated since November and opposed to the Spaniard Paula Badosa (12th) for a place in the last four.
The 2023 US Open winner's success against Bencic constitutes her 13th victory in a row.
Paula Badosa beat Serbian Olga Danilovic (55th) earlier in the afternoon with a score of 6-1, 7-6 (7/2). The Spaniard equals the best performance of her Grand Slam career, having reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in 2021 and the US Open in 2024.
A possible first semi-final would “mean a lot” for Badosa, who however warned that she still lacked experience in quarter-finals at major tournaments.
For Gauff, Badosa “is riding a good dynamic. She can serve well on both sides of the court, she moves really well and knows how to play aggressively. She's a tough opponent,” warned the American, who lost 3 of her previous 6 matches against the Spaniard.
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