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Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner easily reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Stefanos Tsitsipas fails.
The round of 16 of the upper half of the table
- Novak Djokovic (SRB/ATP 1) s. Adrian Mannarino (FRA/ATP 19) 6:0, 6:0, 6:3
- Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE/ATP 7) and Taylor Fritz (USA/ATP 12) 6:7 (3:7), 7:5, 3:6, 3:6
- Jannik Sinner (ITA/ATP 4) s. Karen Chatschanow (RUS/ATP 15) 6:4, 7:5, 6:3
- Andrei Rublev (RUS/ATP 5) s. Alex de Minaur (AUS/ATP 10) 6:4, 6:7 (5:7), 6:7 (4:7), 6:3, 6:0
Novak Djokovic is in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the 14th time after a gala performance. The Serbian world number one swept Adrian Mannarino off the court in just 104 minutes. The Frenchman only won his first game in the 14th attempt. The numbers of the game speak for themselves: 85:42 points, 31:12 winners and 17:1 aces were in favor of the defending champion.
«The first two sets were the best I’ve played in a long time. All in all, it was a great performance,” said the ten-time Melbourne winner, and added: “I’m on a very good path in terms of health and sport.” Djokovic was struggling with a cold at the start of the tournament.
Now not against last year’s finalist, but against Fritz
In the quarterfinals, Djokovic will not have to deal with Stefanos Tsitsipas as expected according to the seeding list, but with Taylor Fritz. The American played great against last year’s Greek finalists in the John Cain Arena and after a good three hours was able to secure his place in the final round for the first time thanks to a 7:6, 7:5, 6:3, 6:3 win 8 cheer at the Australian Open.
The strong-serving Fritz also presented himself in impressive form from the baseline against Tsitsipas. In the end, 50 direct winning strokes (of which “only” 13 aces) were offset by only 19 unforced errors. On the other side, Tsitsipas’ score was 41:33.
If Fritz wants to reach a major semi-final for the first time in his career, he has to achieve a first, because the tall American is something of a favorite opponent of Djokovic. The Serb has won all of the 8 direct duels so far, including the Melbourne round of 16 in 2021, when Djokovic won in 5 sets.
Sinner continues to be confident
Jannik Sinner is still unstoppable in Melbourne. Even in his fourth appearance in Melbourne, the aspiring South Tyrolean remained without losing a set and passed the first real endurance test against Karen Chatschanow with flying colors. In the duel with the strong-serving Russian, the 22-year-old kept a cool head in the crucial moments. Sinner fended off 9 of his opponent’s 10 break chances and took Chatschanow’s serve five times. After around two and a half hours he scored his first match point.
Although the result speaks clearly in favor of Sinner, Chatschanow also contributed to a high-class match. The Russian repeatedly scored spectacularly and thrilled the audience with, among other things, a successful “Tweener” praise.
Sinner’s upcoming opponent left significantly more points late in Melbourne evening. Andrei Rublev fought against local hero Alex de Minaur for over four hours, but finally defeated the Australian 6:4, 6:7 (5:7), 6:7 (4:7) 6:3, 6:0 despite being behind in one set. This means that the last remaining local in Melbourne has been eliminated.