“You’re working as hard as ever, but now, ‘hard as ever’ isn’t enough.”

Coach Pepe Vendrell had those words to say to Roberto Bautista Agut following the Doha champion’s 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win over sixth seed Marin Cilic in the fourth round of the Australian Open. The victory over last year’s runner-up marked a breakthrough for Bautista Agut: In his 10th fourth-round appearance at a Grand Slam, the 30-year-old finally reached his first quarter-final.

Back to work on Court 16 at Melbourne Park to prepare for his inaugural quarter-final match, coach and player are devising a plan to build on what’s already been the ideal start to 2019. The 22nd seed Bautista Agut is tied with #NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur for most tour-level wins this year (9), and he claimed his ninth ATP Tour title by lifting the Qatar ExxonMobil Open trophy to begin the campaign.

So what’s the secret to his boost in form?

“The maximum effort has always been there,” Vendrell said. “But I think we’re maturing as a team, in terms of processing information and understanding what’s happened and why it happened, as opposed to focusing on just whether Roberto won or lost. I’m analysing things from a different perspective now. We won a tournament, but how did we go about doing that? We’re into the quarter-finals [at the Australian Open], but what did we do differently to achieve this?”

Bautista Agut agrees.

“These days, I’m able to single out the small differences I made during my matches. I can look back and see a subtle change in the way I handled a certain moment and how it differs to ways I reacted to those types of situations in the past,” Bautista Agut said. “I’m more level-headed as well. I focus more on myself and less on my opponents. In that regard, I feel more confident when I step on the court.”

Already this year, Bautista Agut has wins over Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych, Stan Wawrinka and Cilic, the latest coming after three hours and 58 minutes in Melbourne on Sunday. The victory means the Spaniard has met a goal he set for himself in the preseason: to break through that fourth-round barrier at a Grand Slam.

“One of my goals before the start of 2019 was to reach the quarter-finals of a major,” Bautista Agut said. “Marin made that very difficult, but I think I played at a very high level against a top-level player. I’ve been in-form here and I feel especially good playing on these courts and under the current conditions.”

After 14 hours and 18 sets in four matches, Bautista Agut has been dubbed “Marathon Man” and for good reason: Before defeating Cilic, the Spaniard also needed five sets to overcome Andy Murray (6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(4), 6-2) and John Millman (6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-7(6), 6-4) in the opening two rounds in Melbourne, before defeating 10th seed Karen Khachanov in straight sets. Despite all that time on court, the World No. 24 feels he isn’t any worse for the wear and he is eager for more success.

“I was forced to battle my way past Cilic, but I’ve been fighting throughout the tournament,” Bautista Agut said. “But I’m not tired. I’m holding up well physically and I’m used to recovering quickly after these types of matches.”

The excellent level of play and bounds of confidence are there, and the results have been stellar so far. After working hard with his charge throughout the pre-season, Vendrell isn’t surprised with Bautista Agut’s recent surge.

“He’s talented, committed and a hard worker, and he’s working especially hard every day to raise his game,” Vendrell said. “So it doesn’t surprise me when I see Roberto earning victories like these, and I say that with humility and all due respect for his opponents. But it’s no coincidence Roberto is stringing together wins like he has been. We’ve stressed recently the importance of focusing on what we have to do in critical situations and not on what the opponent might do. We can’t control that, but we can control how to handle those big moments.”

Fast starts to the year are nothing new to Bautista Agut. He kicked off 2016 by lifting the trophy in Auckland. In 2017, he captured the title in Chennai. In 2018 he again conquered Auckland and this year he emerged victorious in Doha. But this season is proving more special than years past, for both player and coach.

“With all the victories I’ve had so far, I consider this to be the best January of my career,” Bautista Agut said.

“It’s not by accident when you accomplish something like that four years in a row,” Vendrell added. “It suggests that this time of the year suits us. I’m in tune with Roberto and I’m aware these types of conditions suit his style of play. We’re starting the season well-rested but also having laid the groundwork by planning and preparing in practice. I think we found the ideal approach to start a season.”

With nothing to prove and even less to lose, Bautista Agut will step on Rod Laver Arena for the first time in this year’s Australian Open campaign with another tough task to handle. He’ll face reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas, who upset six-time titlist Roger Federer in the previous round.

“Tsitsipas is a great player. He’s playing a top level,” Bautista Agut said of the 20-year-old from Greece. “He’s one of the top players in the world. He will be one of the best, for sure. He’s playing at a very high level.”

The same can be said of Bautista Agut.

Lucas Pouille recovered from a set down to reach his third Grand Slam quarter-final on Monday, beating Borna Coric 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(2) at the Australian Open.

The 28th seed, who also advanced to the last eight at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2016, landed 57 winners and won 66 per cent of second-serve return points (23/35) to advance after three hours and 15 minutes. Pouille becomes the 13th Frenchman to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals in the Open Era and the first since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2017.

With his 25th Grand Slam victory (25-19), Pouille improves to 4-7 against Top 20 opposition at Grand Slam events. The 24-year-old will look to add a fifth victory to that record when he meets 2016 semi-finalist Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals. Pouille is yet to win a set against Raonic in three FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings.  

Last year, Pouille reached a career-high No. 10 in the ATP Rankings shortly after advancing to his third tour-level final in four weeks at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (l. to Bautista Agut) in February. But Pouille struggled for form throughout the remainder of the season, before taking the decision to hire Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach. Having now earned four consecutive tour-level victories for the first time since his appearance in Dubai last year, that decision could prove to be the catalyst for a rise up the ATP Rankings during the 2019 ATP Tour season.

After trading breaks in the opening four games of the match, both men held serve with relative ease to reach a first-set tie-break. From 4/4, Pouille clipped the tape on back-to-back points to hand Coric two set points, but the Croatian needed just one, sliding his ninth ace of the match out wide to take a one-set lead.

But Pouille earned the only break of the second set to level the match. The Frenchman ripped a forehand return winner to open the seventh game and charged to net to gain a 0/30 lead, before Coric gifted Pouille the break with his fourth double fault of the match and a misplaced forehand.

A second tie-break appeared likely with both players holding serve through the first 10 games of the third set, but Coric once again found himself 0/40 down on serve and, despite saving the first two break points, Coric could not stop Pouille from converting the third with a forehand winner.

Pouille rode the momentum with an immediate break of serve in the opening game of the fourth set, and, despite conceding his break advantage for 4-4, the Frenchman clinched the win on his first match point as Coric fired his 55th unforced error of the match.

Coric was bidding to become just the seventh Croatian to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final. Goran Ivanisevic, Goran Prpic, Ivan Ljubicic and Marin Cilic are the only to have achieved the feat at Melbourne Park.

If this is the new and improved Milos Raonic,the rest of the ATP Tour better take notice in 2019.

Raonic produced a glittering performance on Rod Laver Arena on Monday afternoon, efficiently dismissing Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-1, 7-6(5) in a tidy one hour and 59 minutes. The Canadian booked his spot in the Australian Open quarter-finals for the fourth time in five years. He will await either Borna Coric or Lucas Pouille next.

“The tension was palpable in the end,” Raonic said after sealing the win on his fourth match point. “I tried to keep him off pace and make him as uncomfortable as possible. It worked today.”

For the first hour and three minutes, Raonic could do no wrong. He broke a rattled Zverev four times in a row to surge to a 6-1, 6-1 lead. The German claimed the initial advantage with a break in the opening game of the match, but it was one-way traffic from there for the Canadian.

One of Raonic’s 15 aces sealed the first set and a return winner gave him the second. Zverev started to find his rhythm in the third set, but it was too late. He saved two match points at 4-5 15/40 and one more at 4/6 in the ensuring tie-break, but Raonic would eventually clinch the victory with a volley winner on his fourth opportunity.

Raonic now owns a 2-1 lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, having also prevailed in the Round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2017. Zverev’s lone win came at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome earlier that year.

The former World No. 3 continues his quest to return to the Top 10 after suffering from a litany of injury issues. He most recently withdrew from the Rolex Paris Masters in October with an elbow injury, after undergoing a wrist operation the year before. Now sitting at No. 17 in the ATP Rankings, the 28-year-old is projected to rise to at least No. 14 with his quarter-final run.

Raonic has enjoyed great success this fortnight against tricky competition. After defeating Nick Kyrgios in straight sets, he proceeded to rally past former champion Stan Wawrinka and edge Pierre-Hugues Herbert, before routing World No. 4 Zverev. It was Raonic’s first Top 5 win since last year’s Mutua Madrid Open, when he ousted Grigor Dimitrov in the first round.