Andy Murray: ‘The last few days have been tough for me’
MURRAY VS. FERRER: The Scotsman has won 12 of 18 matches against Ferrer, including the last five.
Indian tennis stars Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna earned contrasting victories to sail through to the quarter-finals of their respective categories at the Australian Open here on Monday.
Fourth-seeded Wawrinka fell to Raonic while No. 2 seed Andy Murray cruised to another straight set victory.
A battle between two of the hottest players in tennis didn’t disappoint at the Australian Open and it was a Canadian who goes by the nickname of “Missile” that tamed the “Stanimal”.
Here is a preview of Day 10’s quarterfinals at Melbourne Park.
The British No 1, who has previously stated he will quit the tournament early if his pregnant wife Kim goes into labour, said after his fourth-round win over Bernard Tomic the same would have applied had her father’s condition worsened.
At 6-6, Konta broke back, then held her serve at love to clinch the match in 3 hours, 4 minutes.
Meanwhile Johanna Konta became Britain’s first female grand slam quarter-finalist since 1984 after she edged out Ekaterina Makarova in a nail-biting contest at the Australian Open.
Murray beat Ferrer fairly comfortably in four sets at the same stage of the French Open past year but the world number two is yet to find his best form in Melbourne.
His last grand slam quarter-final match came In the 2014 U.S. Open.
Wawrinka said he was feeling drained after an illness in recent days, and was surprised to push Raonic to five.
Raonic recorded his first win over Wawrinka in five attempts, and maintained his record of never losing a match when two-sets up.
In men’s action, Milos Raonic persevered with his serve-and-volley game plan, holding firm even in the deciding set against Stan Wawrinka after the 2014 champion had rallied from two sets down to force a fifth.
Wawrinka saved a match point in the eighth game but Raonic brought up a further three match points and finally won it with a put-away at the net.
“I felt very clear in what I needed to do and I believed that I could do it”, Raonic, who pounded down 24 aces and hit 82 clean winners, told reporters.
David Ferrer negated John Isner’s booming serve to beat the towering American 6-4 6-4 7-5 and advance to his sixth Australian Open quarter-final.
Monfils delighted the crowd with his acrobatic game, including a full-stretch dive onto the hard court that resulted in him needing an injury timeout for treatment on his right hand.
Azarenka is into the Australian Open last eight for the fifth time in her career – her best showing at any of the slams.
The 14th-seeded Azarenka will take on No. 7 Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals.
Wednesday’s match was played with the roof of the Rod Laver Arena closed after rainstorms passed through Melbourne in late afternoon.
The success follows his conquest of fellow Swiss ace Roger Federer in the Brisbane International final and extended the 25-year-old’s unbeaten start to the season to eight matches.