Sport

Australian Open day eight: Nadal and Barty ease through to quarters

Rafael Nadal eased through his fourth-round matchup against 16th seed Fabio Fognini to claim a quarter-final spot for the 43rd time in a Grand Slam.

The number two seed took two and a quarter hours to win 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, allowing just one break of serve in three sets.

He will face fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who through thanks to a walkover as his opponent Matteo Berrettini withdrew with an abdominal injury.

Meanwhile, fourth seed Daniil Medvedev also won in straight sets with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 win over world 192 Mackenzie McDonald.

He will meet fellow Russian Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals after the seventh seed’s opponent Casper Ruud was forced to retire already two sets down.

In the women’s draw, fifth seed Elina Svitolina was upset by American Jessica Pegula 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

The world No. 61 adds to her victory over 12th seed Victoria Azarenka in the opening round to keep advancing.

Her compatriot Jennifer Brady is up next, after she saw off Donna Vekic 6-1 7-5 to set up an intriguing quarter-final tie.

Women’s No.1 Ashleigh Barty took just over an hour to defeat Shelby Rogers 6-3, 6-4 as she hopes to be the first Australian woman to win the home slam in 43 years.

She will face Czech Karolína Muchová next, who won a hard-fought fourth-round match with Elise Mertens 7-6 7-5.

Jamie Murray’s journey will continue in the men’s doubles where he and partner Bruno Soares took three sets to defeat Maximo Gonzalez and Simone Bolelli 6-7, 6-2, 7-6.

But his mixed doubles adventure with Bethanie Mattek-Sands is over as they lost 5-7, 7-5, 10-3 to Gabriela Dabrowski and Mate Pavic.

Fellow Brit Joe Salisbury and American Rajeev Ram stayed on track to retain their title with a 7-6, 7-6 victory over 10th seed John Peers and Michael Venus.

On the women’s side Britain’s Heather Watson and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez were knocked out by Sharon Fichman and Giuliana Olmos 6-3, 6-2.

You can check out the rest of SWL’s Australian Open coverage here.

Photo Credit: Tatiana through Wiki Commons

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