Tennis News

Djokovic Nets Major Milestone, Now For Zverev At Australian Open

Eight-time champion Novak Djokovic worked hard on Sunday night for a place in the Australian Open quarter-finals for the 12th time.

The World No. 1 became only the second man (after Roger Federer) to record 300 match wins at the four Grand Slam championships (300-45) with a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Canadian No. 14 seed Milos Raonic in two hours and 56 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

Most Grand Slam Singles Match Wins (Open Era, as of 14 February 2021)

Djokovic showed few signs of the abdominal muscle injury that he picked up in his third-round victory over No. 27 seed Taylor Fritz on Friday, striking 41 winners — including 10 aces — past Raonic. Djokovic improves to a perfect 12-0 ATP Head2Head record against the Canadian, who struck 26 aces and had strapping applied to his right ankle in the second set.

“I had no preparation for this match,” said Djokovic. “I used every hour I had to recover since the Taylor match. My physio and those of the ATP and Australian Open gave me their best support to get on the court. I have definitely been fitter in the past and I will continue to take each day one at a time.”

The 33-year-old Djokovic, who is six matches unbeaten in 2021, will now challenge sixth-seeded German Alexander Zverev, who beat No. 23 seed Dusan Lajovic of Serbia earlier in the day at Melbourne Park. Djokovic leads Zverev 5-2 in their ATP Head2Head series, including a 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-5 victory at the recent ATP Cup.

“Sascha is one of the top men’s players in the past five years,” said Djokovic. “He has won the [Nitto] ATP Finals title and is an established Top 10 player. He has the weapons, a big serve and moves well for his height. We played an exhausting match at the ATP Cup recently and I won’t expect anything less when we meet in the quarter-finals.”

Raonic quickly tested out Djokovic with powerful serves, curious to see the full extent of the Serbian’s movement. But the Canadian was the first to come under pressure at 3-3, when Djokovic hit a forehand into the net on his first break point. Djokovic won the first three points of the tie-break and clinched the 56-minute opener when Raonic struck a forehand slice into the net off a deep forehand.

Djokovic continued to do a good job of keeping Raonic in baseline rallies, but could not convert one break point in the second game of the second set. Raonic came through a medical time out for a right ankle injury after the third game and broke Djokovic’s serve for the first time at 2-2 with a forehand crosscourt winner. Raonic won four straight points at the end of the second set, which lasted 49 minutes.

Top seed Djokovic broke in the fourth and sixth game of the third set, which he wrapped up with quick reactions on a backhand volley. The Serbian committed just four unforced errors in the 29-minute set, and kept the pressure on 2016 semi-finalist Raonic, who appeared to be hampered by his ankle injury on return of serve.

Raonic recovered from 15/40 at 1-1 in the fourth set, but Djokovic broke decisively at 4-4. The Serbian joined Federer (362-59) in the 300 match wins club at the major championships with a hold to 15, and now has two days to prepare for Zverev.

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Preview: Fabio Weighs Risk & Reward Against Rafa

It’s been a lopsided rivalry, really. Rafael Nadal boasts a 12-4 advantage in ATP Head2Heads against Fabio Fognini dating back to 2013. No, it’s not Borg-McEnroe or Sampras-Agassi. It’s not Fedal. But there’s something to this Spanish-Italian match-up that makes it unlike any other.

Perhaps it was their dust-up during the Hamburg final in 2015, when Nadal snapped a two-match skid against Fognini, prevailing 7-5, 7-5. Courtside microphones picked up Fognini, who amassed 60 unforced errors that afternoon, airing out his frustration at his opponent.

Fognini would famously avenge the loss later that same year at Flushing Meadows. Playing some of the most aggressive tennis of his career, the flamboyant and fiery Italian roared back from two sets down in the third round to pull off one of the most stunning upsets in US Open history, winning 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. The match, which lingered until 1:30 a.m., featured some dazzling shot-making, including 70 winners from the victor.

The loss was a significant one for Nadal, then No. 8 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. It officially ended the Mallorcan’s streak of winning at least one Grand Slam title a year for 10 consecutive years. It remains his only loss after taking a two-sets-to-love lead.

Fognini had never beaten a Top 10 player on a hard court in 17 previous attempts.

“[It] was something incredible that I did today,” Fognini told reporters afterward. “With Rafa, you have to risk. You have to attack him when you have the chance.”

That storyline continues in 2021. Fognini and Nadal, now 33 and 34, respectively, will face off for a 17th time on Monday in the fourth round at the Australian Open. Despite the history, both players insist there’s no ill will between them.

“The past is the past,” said 16th seed Fognini, who impressed with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over home favourite and No. 21 seed Alex de Minaur in the third round. “The future is going to be the future.”

“I have a very good relationship with him,” said the second seed Nadal, who despite some lower back tightness is looking sharp in his quest for a record 21st Grand Slam singles title. “Of course, we had our story on court a couple of years ago, but no problem at all after that. I always try to have a good relationship with everybody in the locker room. Life is much happier like this, no?

“With Fabio, I never had a big problem. Just on court that one time. I was speaking with him now in the locker room. When he’s playing well, he’s one of the most dangerous opponents on tour without a doubt.”

We’ve seen some stellar starts in tennis. John McEnroe kicked off his 1984 campaign with a 42-match win streak, finishing the year at 82-3. More recently, Novak Djokovic won his first 41 matches in 2011 en route to a 70-6 mark. Andrey Rublev isn’t quite there yet, but the tennisphere is fast taking notice of the Russian’s start to 2021.

After a straight-sets, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 dispatch of Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the third round, Rublev, the seventh seed at Melbourne Park, is a spotless 7-0 on the year, a streak that includes a title with his countrymen at the ATP Cup.

Last year, the Russian won his first 11 matches of the season, claiming titles in Doha and Adelaide before falling to David Goffin in the fourth round at Melbourne Park. When he gets on a run, he’s very difficult to stop. Also last year, Rublev won 19 of 20 matches during a hot streak that reaped titles in Hamburg, St. Petersburg and Vienna and a quarter-final appearance (l. Tsitsipas) at Roland Garros.

Into the Round of 16 at the Australian Open for the second year in a row, Rublev will next face 24th seed Casper Ruud of Norway.

“He’s been one of the best players on Tour the last seven, eight, nine months, so I’m up for a big test on Monday,” said Ruud, only the second Norwegian player to reach the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam. (The first was his father and coach, Christian, at this same tournament in 1997.)

“It’s going to be a physical match because he has really great physical power,” said Rublev, whose two wins over Ruud came in Hamburg in 2019 and 2020. “He can run a lot. He’s hitting the forehand really hard.”

This from a player who, despite his slight 165-pound build, possesses a penetrating, heavy-ball forehand usually reserved for the likes of a Juan Martin del Potro or Fernando Gonzalez. It’s the kind of shot that leaves commentators wondering aloud over the airwaves: Where does that firepower come from?

With Rublev and ATP Cup teammates Daniil Medvedev and Aslan Karatsev all advancing, this is the first time in the Open Era that three Russian men have reached the Round of 16 at the Australian Open. Like Rublev, the fourth seed Medvedev has yet to lose in 2021. (In fact, he’s riding a 17-match win streak that dates back to November 2020.) He’ll look to keep that going when he takes the court against the only American man remaining in the draw: Mackenzie McDonald. The 192nd-ranked former UCLA standout has battled injuries of late, but appears to be putting it all together again. (See his 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 upending of 22nd seed Borna Coric in the second round.)

“He’s tricky, man,” said McDonald of his next opponent, against whom he’s 0-2. “Honestly, he makes a ton of balls. He’s got amazing reach. His serve is really good. Returns, exceptional. I mean, he can really do everything. It’s showing with his ranking and his results. That’s been definitely a struggle for me in the past playing him. He’s made me feel uncomfortable. But, hopefully, I can take all those matches into consideration for my next one and I’ll plan accordingly and hopefully I can make the best of it.”

Rounding out the action on Day 8 will be a hard-hitting affair between fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and ninth-seeded Italian Matteo Berrettini. This won’t be their first encounter in Melbourne. In fact, in their only career ATP Head2Head, Tsitsipas downed Berrettini in the opening round of the Australian Open, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(4). in 2019. Tsitsipas has twice reached the Round of 16 here, his best result a semi-final showing in 2019 (l. to Nadal 6-2, 6-4, 6-0).

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Australian Open: Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams into last eight

Naomi Osaka saves two match points to beat Garbine Muguruza, as Serena Williams also makes Australian Open quarter-finals.

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Zverev Wins 50th Grand Slam Match, Beats Lajovic In Melbourne

Alexander Zverev was impressive on Sunday, as he recorded his 50th major championship match win for a place in the Australian Open quarter-finals for the second consecutive year.

The German struck 44 winners, including 15 aces, to beat No. 23 seed Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3 in two hours and 21 minutes for a place in his fifth Grand Slam quarter-final.

“Today was a pretty good match, much colder than the other days,” said Zverev. “I’m very happy with a win and it could have gone either way early on. It wasn’t easy.”

Zverev will now prepare to face World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the eight-time Australian Open champion, on Tuesday. Zverev trails Djokovic 2-5 in their ATP Head2Head series.

When asked about the match-up Zverev said: “You’ve got to play your best tennis, especially here. This is his favourite court, this is his favourite tournament. To be able to have a chance against him, you have to be playing extremely well. You have to be playing aggressive tennis, being the one that dominates. I’m looking forward to the challenge. I think it’s one of the toughest challenges in our sport.”

Lajovic started positively in his bid to beat Zverev for the first time in three ATP Head2Head meetings. But groundstroke errors started to mount for Lajovic and Zverev recovered, breaking serve in the third and seventh games. Lajovic saved one set point at 3-5, with a superb backhand winner off a Zverev return.

Following an exchange of service breaks late in the second set, Zverev dominated in the tie-break and kept his Serbian opponent deep behind the baseline. Zverev clinched the second set with a mid-court forehand winner, then capitalised on four Lajovic errors at 1-2 in the third set. Zverev completed victory by striking his 15th ace.

“I played some quality tennis today… and I felt really good on the court, [for the] first time in a while,” said Lajovic. “I’m positive [about] this tournament. I’m disappointed right now, but [I’m] looking towards [the] future. I think I’m in a good spot.”

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Francesca Jones wins first WTA tour match but more misery for Sofia Kenin

Britain’s Francesca Jones wins her first WTA tour match with victory over Zheng Saisai at the Phillip Island Trophy.

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Australian Open: Alfie Hewett, Gordon Reid & Andy Lapthorne into semi-finals

Britain’s Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open men’s wheelchair singles.

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The Competitive Fire That Burns Within Casper Ruud

Casper Ruud will play the biggest match of his life on Monday against seventh seed Andrey Rublev in the fourth round of the Australian Open. The Norwegian star will have a chance to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final, so there will be an abundance of pressure on the 22-year-old’s shoulders.

Ruud would rather have it no other way.

The 24th seed lives for these moments. Many players dread pressure and the nerves that often come with big matches, but Ruud embraces it all.

“It shows that your body is pumping up adrenaline to fight,” Ruud told ATPTour.com. “You really show yourself that you’re preparing for a tough fight, for a tough moment. It shows that you really want to win and that’s a good feeling. You prefer to play when you’re not nervous of course. You can get tight, you can maybe miss shots that you shouldn’t. But at the end of the day, I’ve learned that being nervous is actually a good thing.”

When you watch Ruud play, he shows few emotions, and rarely displays his nerves. The 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals competitor never gets too high or too low. It’s as if the Norwegian has ice in his veins. But inside, he is a fiery competitor.

“Overcoming pressure situations when you’re nervous on break points, set points, all these things, that’s probably the best feeling for a player,“ Ruud said. “That tension that you get in your body on those points and overcoming it, that’s one of the biggest satisfactions on the court. It’s tough when you lose them when you don’t get that feeling, but that makes the time you overcome those situations feel even better.”

Competing drives Ruud off the court, too. He is an avid golfer, who has a dedicated Instagram page to show the world his skills on the course.

“I like to win when I play, so I challenge better golfers than me, worse golfers than me,” Ruud said. “It’s just the challenge of trying to win and get better at it.”

But while he doesn’t often show it, Ruud admitted that he does feel nerves, saying, “I get nervous too, even if it might not seem like it.”

The Norwegian recalls the semi-finals of the 2017 Rio Open presented by Claro. Then 18, he began the week without a tour-level win, but earned a match point in the second set against gritty Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta. He was desperate to reach his first ATP Tour final that day in Brazil. But that moment remains the most nervous he has ever been on court.

“I knew that if I had won I would break into the Top 100 as an 18-year-old and I would play in all the main draws at the Slams that year,” Ruud said. “That was a little bit of a nerve-wracking moment for me. It all just collapsed when I didn’t win that second set. In the third set it all just went south and I remember I was really nervous on that match point and in those games trying to close out the match. I played a great match up until that point, but after that, the nerves got me.”

Ruud didn’t show it by screaming or throwing a racquet, but from 6-2, 5-4 up, he did not win a game the rest of the match and did not crack the Top 100 until March 2019, more than two years later.

The Norwegian played Roger Federer in the third round at 2018 Roland Garros, and the Swiss was highly complimentary of his opponent’s demeanor.

“I can see why he’s going to be good in the future. He’s got a great attitude, very calm, very quiet, maybe very Norwegian, I’m not sure,” Federer said. “But it’s nice to see that he’s very focused, he’s got good energy. Even though he is maybe more on the calm side, also very fair… It’s just nice to play against a guy like that, to be quite honest.”

Rublev leads the pair’s ATP Head2Head series 2-0, but the red-hot Russian expects a difficult battle.

“It’s going to be tough,” Rublev said. “It’s going to be a physical match because he has really great physical power. He can run a lot. He’s [hitting his] forehand really hard.”

Ruud is just the second Norwegian player to reach the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam, joining his father Christian Ruud, who accomplished the feat at the 1997 Australian Open. The 22-year-old will try to become the first from his country to reach a quarter-final. No matter what happens, Ruud has come a long way since that day in Rio de Janeiro.

“I’ve grown up. I’ve matured more than I was back then. I’ve gotten physically stronger, mentally stronger. My tennis has gotten better. I don’t have weaknesses that I had,” Ruud said. “I think it’s just a big development that I’ve made in all aspects of my game. In one way I’m happy that I didn’t break into the Top 100 at that stage. It’s been tough, but I’ve enjoyed the tough work to get here and it’s a nice way to get a little bit of payback when you reach the late stages in a Grand Slam.”

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Australian Open: Qualifier Aslan Karatsev reaches quarter-finals

Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev comes from two sets down to pull off another stunning victory to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals.

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McDonald's Long, Slow Path To Medvedev Showdown At Australian Open

Mackenzie McDonald is the lowest-ranked player remaining in the Australian Open at World No. 192. On Monday, the American will have a chance to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final. The catch? He has to play fourth seed Daniil Medvedev, who is arguably the leading favourite to lift the trophy.

“He’s tricky, man. Honestly, he makes a ton of balls, he’s got amazing reach. His serve is really good. Returns, exceptional,” McDonald said. “He can really do everything. It’s showing with his ranking and his results.”

It won’t be McDonald’s first chance to beat Medvedev, who leads their ATP Head2Head series 2-0. The Russian lost only five games in each of those meetings, at 2019 Indian Wells and in Barcelona less than two months later.

McDonald admitted that one of the toughest challenges about playing the reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion is that he excels at making opponents beat themselves.

“That’s definitely been a struggle for me in the past playing him,” Medvedev said. “He’s made me feel uncomfortable. But hopefully I can take all those matches into consideration for my next one and I’ll plan accordingly and hopefully I can make the best of it.”

The fourth seed was highly complimentary of McDonald during his on-court interview after battling past Filip Krajinovic in five sets in the third round.

“He’s a really tricky opponent, a great player. He takes the ball early,” Medvedev said of the American, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2018. “I would kind of say even playing Roger style, trying to rush the net, rush the balls, so not easy to play.”

“That’s probably the best compliment I’ve ever gotten,” McDonald said, cracking a big smile when told about Medvedev’s comment.

The American has a lot to be happy about these days. Not that long ago, the 25-year-old went through the scariest moment of his career.

 

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A post shared by Mackie McDonald (@mackiemacster)

At 2019 Roland Garros, former World No. 57 McDonald tore his right proximal hamstring tendon during a doubles match. Eight days later, he had surgery.

“Four hours before, at like 2 a.m., we were still deciding if we were going to cut me open or not and the surgeon decided to at six-something a.m.,” McDonald said. “Thankfully we did because it started growing somewhere else, and it was hanging by a string. It was just tough to know because there was so much fluid and other stuff going on in there and you want to get that surgery done ASAP.”

The former UCLA Bruin, who won the 2016 NCAA singles and doubles titles, did not leave his apartment for nearly three weeks, and did not walk on his right foot for six to eight weeks.

“Then it was like you can go 10 per cent on the right leg with crutches. Then it was 20 per cent, then it was 30 per cent then 50, 80 and then walking without crutches and it was one pound weight, two pounds weight, three pounds weight and that’s each week,” McDonald said. “It was really slow. But then it started progressing faster.”

Later in 2019, McDonald tried other roles at tennis events, including commentary. He also took multiple UCLA classes and watched “a lot of tennis”. McDonald had plenty of doubt regarding his future.

#usopennow pic.twitter.com/M1xcPwuPd8

— Mackie McDonald? (@mackiemacster) September 7, 2019

“It means a lot [that I got my level back] because it was a really tough time and I don’t think many people really know [what it is like]. Or at least for me, you don’t really think about that until it happens to you,” McDonald said. “That was a major injury, a major surgery, and it was honestly really scary because [I did] not walk for as long as I did and everything that I went through was a big wake-up. So I’m really happy to be back here.”

McDonald’s FedEx ATP Ranking is still on the mend. But when he steps on the court against Medvedev, the 25-year-old will have a chance to show that he is better than ever.

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Murray To Face Marchenko For Biella Challenger Crown

A trophy will be on the line when Andy Murray battles Illya Marchenko on Sunday in Biella, Italy. On Saturday, Murray earned the most comprehensive victory of his stay in Biella, as the former World No. 1 surged into the final of the ATP Challenger Tour event with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Mathias Bourgue. The top seed at the Biella Challenger Indoor 1 fired five aces and saved four of five break points faced to reach the championship match.

Murray, who needed one hour and 33 minutes to dismiss his French opponent, extended his streak of sets won to eight in a row. As he seeks to build confidence and momentum to start his 2021 campaign, it has been a successful opening week for the Scot.

After dropping his opening set of the tournament, Murray has navigated through tricky terrain en route to the final. On Thursday, he overcame an eclectic Gian Marco Moroni in the second round, before outlasting sixth seed Blaz Rola 6-4, 7-6(9) in Friday’s quarter-finals. It was against Rola that he needed five match points to cross the finish line, while saving four set points in the second-set tie-break.

When Murray and Marchenko meet for the title, it will mark the Dunblane native’s first final appearance in nearly 18 months. In 2019, following his long-awaited return from hip surgery, he lifted the trophy at the European Open, an ATP 250 event in Antwerp.

On the ATP Challenger Tour, he is bidding for his first piece of silverware since 2005. At the time, an 18-year-old Murray was first embarking on his professional journey. He would claim back-to-back crowns on American soil, in Aptos, California and Binghamton, New York.

Now, as Murray descends on the Challenger circuit with a different objective, a trophy will taste just as sweet. In search of match play as he pushes towards a return to the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings, he will also play the Challenger 125 event in Biella next week.

Murray and Marchenko’s first meeting at the 2011 Australian Open

Marchenko, meanwhile, toppled second seed Federico Gaio 7-5, 6-1 in Saturday’s other semi-final. The former World No. 49 has also conceded just one set en route to the final. Nearly two years removed from his most recent title, the Ukrainian previously triumphed at the Challenger tournament in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan in 2019.

It will be the third encounter between Murray and Marchenko, following a pair of Australian Open victories for the 33-year-old Scot. He previously prevailed 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-2 in the second round in Melbourne in 2011, before scoring a 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 victory in the first round in 2017.

In fact, Murray will have faced three straight familiar opponents when he battles Marchenko on Sunday. His quarter-final win over Rola was a rematch of their Wimbledon encounter from 2014. And his semi-final victory over Bourgue was their first meeting since the Frenchman pushed Murray to five sets at Roland Garros in 2017.

You can watch a free live stream of the Biella championship at 4:30pm CET/10:30am ET.

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