2-time champ Azarenka reaches quarters

Strycova has only been past the third round once before in 38 Grand Slams, chose to stay in the moment after beating Mugurza, knowing her next rival was likely Azarenka.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS: Novak Djokovic continues his quest for a sixth title at Melbourne Park when he takes on Frenchman Gilles Simon, whom he’s beaten in nine out of 10 career matches. He lost in the finals in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015. Djokovic, who won three Grand Slam tournaments in 2015 and has 11 titles overall, said that with this kind of success comes lofty expectations.

The Chinese qualifier stormed past Varvara Lepchenko, 6-1, 6-3, and into a fourth-round clash with 15th seed Madison Keys.

Murray put the medical emergency behind him but it was a scrappy match, as he broke the Australian’s serve six times and dropped his own serve four times.

Raonic held in the next game, clinching it with an ace, and Wawrinka saved a match point in his next service game. Azarenka laughed on-court after the match.

The left-hander took an hour to win the first set before storming through the second in 23 minutes to reach the last eight at Melbourne Park for the first time.

Australian Open organizers didn’t provide any confirmation on Sears or his condition, although stadium announcer Craig Willis told the Rod Laver Arena crowd: “Nigel Sears had a turn, as we all saw”. Azarenka is getting no less than 68 percent of her first serves in play and is winning at least 74 percent of those points.

He will play No. 13 Milos Raonic, who beat No. 4 seed Stan Wawrinka in five sets 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-3.

Belarusian Victoria Azarenka defeated Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-4, thus advancing to the quarterfinals of the season’s first Grand Slam tournament the Australian Open. Azarenka leads Strycova 4-0 in their head-to-heads, but the Czech comes into the matchup with a little extra motivation: she’s just dispatched the No.3-seeded Garbiñe Muguruza in a straight sets upset. Upon learning the final score, an elated Azarenka could hardly contain her excitement on the court.

Murray’s wife, Kim, is due to give birth to their next child next month, and the two-time major victor said he’d miss a match in any round to be there if she goes into labor.

It was the first time two German women had gone head-to-head in the latter stages of the Australian Open since 1989 and Angelique Kerber’s dominant straight sets vitory over Annika Beck was a near mirror image of Steffi Graf’s that day.

Seventh seed Kerber powered past Beck to reach the quarter-finals for the first time and knows she has a formidable task ahead against a player who has won each of their encounters dating back to 2012. She played very well from the first match here in Melbourne. Strycova reached this stage by defeating two seeded players including No. 3 seed Garbine Muguruza.

Play is under way in bright sunshine on the eighth day at Melbourne Park which features the final group of fourth-round matches that will determine singles quarterfinalists.