Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Melbourne: Rafa Nadal returned to the Grand Slam big-time by weathering a furious Gael Monfils fightback to win 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and reach the Australian Open quarterfinals on Monday.
Former champion Nadal had not reached the last eight in a major since the 2015 French Open, so he celebrated wildly after closing out the two-hour 56-minute clash at a packed Rod Laver Arena.
It was not the most convincing of wins for the 30-year-old Spaniard, who became rattled when sixth seed Monfils rallied brilliantly in the third set and went up 4-2 in the fourth.
But Nadal summoned the resilience of his halcyon days to win four straight games and keep his pursuit of a 15th Grand Slam title alive.
Novak Djokovic may be absent after his shock second-round elimination but third seed Milos Raonic looms as a massive roadblock to Nadal's hopes of a first Grand Slam semi-final since winning his last French Open in 2014.
"For me, it means a lot because I really start the season playing quarterfinals in a Grand Slam again, especially on a hard court (and) after a couple of years without being in this round is great news," ninth seed Nadal told reporters, still bathed in sweat after his work on a muggy evening.
"Very happy with an important victory against a very good opponent.
"When you lost the third (set), you are down 4-2 in the fourth, you are not under control, no. That's the real thing."
Monfils came into the match with a 12-2 losing record against Nadal and the flamboyant Frenchman started as if weighed down by the history.
He was broken early in each of the first two sets and made his plight worse with some bizarre shots and mystifying decision-making.
He hammered a pair of blazing winners to save set points in the second set but threw it away with a dismal drop shot.
Nadal appeared on course to coast to a comfortable win but he came unstuck at 4-4 in the third set, double-faulting to hand Monfils a free point then pounding a forehand over the baseline.
Monfils clinched the set with a blazing forehand winner and strutted back to his chair with an index finger pointed at his temple.
Saving two break points and survived a marathon fourth game, an inspired Monfils pounding away at Nadal's serve like a heavyweight boxer.
Nadal fired back with interest and it took a low blow for him to be broken when an unlucky net cord gave him no chance.
The Spaniard leapt to his feet to break back in the eighth game, however, pulling Monfils wide across court before slamming a two-hand backhand into the vacant corner to level at 4-4.
The roar from the crowd almost lifted the stadium's closed roof and Nadal jumped high and pumped his fist in triumph.
The moment felt like a turning-point and so it proved.
Monfils promptly crumbled on serve, bowing out on the second match point with a huge backhand that flew just wide of the line.
Raonic in quarters
Third seed Milos Raonic came safely through a potentially tricky match against Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Monday to reach the quarterfinals for the third straight year.
The Canadian, the highest surviving seed after the early departures of Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, rarely hit his usual heights in the two hour, 52 minute contest on Hisense Arena.
The 26-year-old produced his best Tennis when it mattered, though, coming back from 5-1 down in the tiebreaker to win the first set and finally got some breathing space by saving break points and breaking the world number 13 to win the third set.
Teak tough Bautista Agut is nothing if not a fighter but required treatment on his left leg before Raonic raced away with the fourth set and sealed the victory with a crunching forehand winner down the line.
"I guess there's always that sort of match where you sort of fall off," Raonic told reporters.
"It's a long two weeks. So I guess unfortunately that was it for me today. So I'm happy I was able to solve that."
The match was a stop-start affair because of a few passing showers and it was only when Raonic insisted the roof be closed that the Canadian stamped his authority on the match.
Raonic had complained of a fever after his third-round victory and looked flat in the opening set before coming alive to win the tiebreaker and taking a service break to open the second.
"I still don't necessarily feel at full capacity," he added. "I have energy now. I can go about my days normally. Sort of on the tail end of the recovery."
Bautista Agut enjoyed good fortune when his running pass took a deflection off the net tape to allow him to break back and the Spaniard rattled off five of the next six games to even up the contest.
The third set was a cat-and-mouse affair until Raonic again ramped up his game to secure the break he needed to go 2-1 up and Bautista Agut was barely able to draw breath before he was 5-0 down in the fourth.
Raonic, who fired down 33 aces and 75 winners, will next meet 2009 champion Rafael Nadal or Gael Monfils as he continues his quest for a maiden Grand Slam title.
Even with Murray and Djokovic gone, though, he was looking no further ahead than his next match.
"I just know who I play next, I don't know who I was supposed to play and this kind of stuff," he said.
"I'm pretty intent on staying in that moment."
Dimitrov wins
Grigor Dimitrov reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in over two years on Monday by defeating an injury-hampered Denis Istomin 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-2, 6-1 to end the Uzbek wildcard's fairytale run.
Istomin, who sensationally knocked out six-times champion Novak Djokovic in the second round, laboured with a hip injury after taking the first set and 15th seed Dimitrov took full advantage on a scorching hot day at Margaret Court Arena.
The Bulgarian shook Istomin's hand warmly upon the win and might as well have.
After all, the 117th-ranked 30-year-old had paved a gold-bricked path by eliminating defending champion Novak Djokovic in the second round, giving Dimitrov his best hope of a Grand Slam semifinal since his dream run at Wimbledon in 2014.
Top seed Andy Murray, who thrashed Dimitrov in the fourth round at the U.S. Open, was also sent packing from the other half of the draw by Mischa Zverev on Sunday.
"Obviously there's been a lot of talk going around those two guys exiting the tournament," said the 25-year-old Dimitrov, who will next meet 11th seed David Goffin.
"For sure, it's different... But in the same time we saw everyone can beat everyone."
Long touted as a player to trouble the 'Big Four' of men's Tennis -- Djokovic, Murray, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer — Dimitrov earned the unwanted nickname 'Baby Fed' early in his career in a nod to the elegance of his groundstrokes.
His huge promise appeared set to be fulfilled after his breakout 2014 season, where he reached the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park before reaching the last four at Wimbledon.
But he has since suffered two lean seasons and been through a string of coaches before hiring Daniel Vallverdu, a former mentor to world number one Andy Murray and Czech Tomas Berdych, midway through 2016.
He has since enjoyed a mini-revival and upset top-10 players Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic to win the warmup Brisbane International.
His hopes of continuing his run in Melbourne appeared in jeopardy for a time on Monday as Istomin raced through the first set.
But it all came apart for the Uzbek when his hip played up, an injury he has been troubled with throughout his career since he was hurt in a serious car accident when he was a teenager.
After losing the second set tie-break, Istomin took a medical time-out but his movement worsened as the match progressed and Dimitrov knew well enough to keep his opponent running.
After surrendering in two hours and 24 minutes, Istomin exited the court to a huge ovation from the terraces for grinding out the loss, an underdog whose upset of Melbourne Park maestro Djokovic will resonate for years.
Goffin, who became Belgium's first quarterfinalist at the tournament, also piled into the Djokovic hole after a 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-2 win over Austrian eighth seed Dominic Thiem at Rod Laver Arena earlier in the day.
It was sweet revenge for Goffin, who lost to Thiem in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros last year and will now have a chance of reaching his maiden Grand Slam semi-final.
"It's just that I'm feeling more confident for the moment against top players," he said. "I knew that I was able to fight and to win some matches against big guys."
Pliskova in last eight
Karolina Pliskova reached the quarterfinals for the first time and is keen to prove right those tipping her for Grand Slam success.
The 24-year-old Czech was a surprise package when she stormed to the U.S. Open final in September but arrived at Melbourne Park ranked fifth in the world after winning a warm-up tournament in Brisbane.
Only one of the players seeded above her, six-times champion Serena Williams, survived into the second week after the early exits of world number one Angelique Kerber, Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep.
On Monday, Pliskova ended Australian interest in the singles draws with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Daria Gavrilova on Rod Laver Arena to set up a last-eight meeting with world number 79 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
"It was not my best but it's a win, so it counts," she said. "But for sure we all know I can play better. But it was enough. It was strange match, I would say, even from Dasha. I think she didn't also play really well today.
"Even I didn't feel my game that well, I still think it was sort of solid somehow."
The 2010 Australian Open girls champion could face Serena Williams in the semifinal but said she was aware people were talking about her as a potential Grand Slam winner.
"I'm feeling confident, much better than I did in the Grand Slams before the U.S. Open. Everything is going my way now," she said.
"Also with my form coming into this year, with winning the Brisbane, I was really playing well there."
Pliskova said the extra expectation did put more pressure on her.
"I just don't want to think about it that much," she said. "These things and this talking doesn't win me the matches."
"But I would like to prove that the people who are talking about me, they are not wrong," she added with a smile.
Konta's dream
Johanna Konta earned the chance to fulfill a childhood dream when she advanced to an quarterfinal contest against Serena Williams by dismantling Ekaterina Makarova 6-1 6-4 on Monday.
The 25-year-old ninth seed, Britain's last hope of a singles title after Andy Murray and Dan Evans were bundled out on Sunday, took 69 minutes to send her Russian opponent packing in temperatures approaching 35 degrees Celsius.
It secured her a first meeting with 22-times Grand Slam champion Williams, who won the first of her six Melbourne Park crowns when Konta was an 11-year-old growing up in the Sydney suburbs.
"She's one of the players still playing who I looked up to as a young girl wanting to be a professional Tennis player," said Konta.
"It's an incredible honour and I will cherish every moment out there."
It was with her run to the semifinal as world number 47 at Melbourne Park last year that Konta first gave notice that she had the game to take on the best in the world.
Extensive work with a sports psychologist had helped Konta rid her game of the mental collapses in big moments that marred the early years of her career and on Monday she explained how she was now able to cope.
"When you get to a position where you might see a glimmer of what you have dreamed of as a little girl or what you hoped for, what you've worked so hard for, it can feel kind of an all-or-nothing moment or, 'What if I never get this chance again?'" she told reporters.
"You have also got to have a good perspective on things, and you've got to keep, I guess, the simple things in mind of what's important to you.
"Are you healthy? Is your family healthy? Do you have people around you that you love? Do you have people around you that love you?
"I know it might sound really mundane and simple, but you've got to go back to things that have got substance, and then in the end just trust in the work that you do."
Konta has shown enormous mental fortitude in reaching the last eight without dropping a set after demolishing the hopes of Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, Japan's Naomi Osaka and Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens.
On Monday, Makarova was no match for Konta's serve or ground game in the first set as she changed angles and depth of returns that prevented the lefthander from getting any rhythm.
The Russian, who beat sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova in the third round, raced to a 4-1 lead in the second set but Konta rallied to win the next five games.
Konta sealed victory on her second match point when the Russian's forehand sailed over the baseline to move into the quarterfinals as a serious title contender.
Her next match will be the stiffest test yet of those credentials.
"I believe in my own ability," said Konta. "I believe in the good things that I bring to the court, and I believe in my ability to fight till the very end."
Super Sisters
It was back in 2003 that Serena Williams first stamped her name on Australian Open history, the then 21-year-old taking down sister Venus to bring home her first title on the blue courts of Melbourne Park.
Fourteen years on, the American is gunning for her 23rd Grand Slam title, and, at 35, is now among the oldest players left in the draw having fought off 16th seed Czech Barbora Strycova over two sets on Monday.
Venus, at 36 the oldest player in the women's draw, is also through to the last eight in her record 73rd Grand Slam and Serena pondered whether it was a youthful outlook that had kept the pair at the top of the game for so long.
"I think it's impressive. I think in general people our age aren't really playing at a top level, so it's definitely impressive," she said.
"Venus and I are mentally eight and nine, so that's why we're probably able to play a little better."
The world number two wore down the 30-year-old Czech in muggy, uncomfortable midday heat on Rod Laver Arena in a game that saw her notorious serve come in fits and starts.
Even while Serena conceded the display was "probably not my best day," and that she could "play better," the six-times Australian Open champion has yet to drop a set at the tournament.
Strycova said that, despite the advancing years, Serena was still the dominant force in women's Tennis.
"I feel like everything depends on Serena," she said.
"If she has a good day, you don't have a chance. Everything depends on her, what's her day, if she feels well, also if her body feels well. I feel she plays same as before. Yeah, it's tough."
Williams is now the top ranked player left in the draw, after compatriot Coco Vanderweghe made short work of world number one Angelique Kerber on Sunday.
A 23rd Grand Slam title would vault Williams back to the top of the rankings and next in line to test her mettle against the modern queen of Melbourne Park is Britain's Johanna Konta.
The ninth seed, who has never played Williams, was 11-years-old and living in the Sydney suburbs when Serena won her maiden Australian Open title.
"She's one of the players still playing who I looked up to as a young girl wanting to be a Tennis professional player," Konta said.
"It's an incredible honour and I will cherish every monent out there."
Mirjana wins
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni could barely contain her joy after continuing her remarkable run at the Australian Open to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 1999 Wimbledon championships on Monday.
The 34-year-old, who won the Australian Open doubles with Martina Hingis in 1998 at the age of 15, bounced up and down with fists clenched in triumph after dispatching American Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-2 in little over an hour.
Personal problems, including alleged abuse at the hands of her father, cut the heart out of her career but Lucic-Baroni has battled her way back from the very bottom of the game after returning to Tennis in 2008.
Still bubbling after matching her best Grand Slam performance 18 years on, Lucic-Baroni sent out a self-censored message to other people struggling to fulfill their dreams.
"Eff everything and eff everybody who says you can't do it, just show up and do it with your heart," she said.
"I'm a tough little cookie and I'll work really hard and do whatever it takes to get where I need to be, I can't tell you the satisfaction I feel right now.
"Really incredible, I've worked so hard ... I hope nobody's going to pinch me and wake me up because this is just incredible."
Lucic-Baroni won her first singles match at Melbourne Park in 1998 but had to wait 19 years for her second victory in the year's first Grand Slam last week.
The German-born righthander's Australian Open campaign, which also includes an ongoing title bid in women's doubles with Andrea Petkovic, has been achieved despite a nagging leg injury.
Lucic-Baroni had no doubt that she would be able to fulfill her quarter-final date with Czech fifth seed Karolina Pliskova or Australian Daria Gavrilova.
"No way, I'm not giving up. I pick up a couple battle wounds every time I play," she said.
"So next match, I may have a few more straps on, but I'll carry on."
Now ranked 79th in the world, Lucic-Baroni overpowered Brady on a steamy day on Margaret Court Arena, dominating from the baseline and blasting 35 winners past the qualifier.
While the 21-year-old American, making her singles debut in Melbourne, will have plenty of other opportunities, Lucic-Baroni credited the support of her family for helping her grasp a second chance.
"I'm really blessed," she added. "I've had a really rough patch early in life but I'm really blessed with the family I have."
