Australian Open 2016: Strycova shocks Muguruza

Victoria Azarenka came through her toughest test yet of this year’s Australian Open as the two-time Melbourne champion booked her place in the quarter-finals.

It was only a temporary reprieve as Azarenka went on the attack with some piercing groundstrokes, giving her the first break of the match to pull 3-2 clear.

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.

Men’s 4th rd: Andy Murray (Gbr) bt Bernard Tomic (Aus) 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-4), David Ferrer (Esp) bt John Isner (USA) 6-4 6-4 7-5, Milos Raonic (Can) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) 6-4 6-3 5-7 4-6 6-3, Gael Monfils (Fra) bt Andrey Kuznetsov (Rus) 7-5 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4). “And clearly didn’t work out so well”, she recalled.

“I’m sure she’s going to do the same”, Azarenka said.

Monfils said of his flying dive onto the hardcourt: “It hurts, but it’s something that snaps in my mind and I just go for it”.

Australian player Daria Gavrilova thrilled Aussie fans with her spirited performance at her home slam.

Angelique Kerber has beaten fellow German Annika Beck 6-4, 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park. “Be more aggressive, play aggressive”, she said. Daria Gavrilova demonstrated this in her capitulation against Carla Suarez Navarro yesterday, and Beck was similar today.

“Moving good and actually playing my game like I’m playing in practice and just focusing more on me and not on her game”.

But she took a medical timeout for treatment on her upper left leg early in the second set and was in obvious pain the rest of the match.

“I played smart. I kept my composure.” said Azarenka, who is thrilled to keep winning at a venue that delivered her two Grand Slam titles in 2012 and 2013. Fissette, who started coaching Azarenka last season, said Azarenka is just as relentless in practice as she is in matches. He won 37 of the 57 serve-and-volley points he played.

The draining victory marked the Australian-born 24-year-old’s furthest progression at a Grand Slam, and is the best British effort at a Major since Jo Durie made the Wimbledon quarter-finals 32 years ago.

“She’s aiming for a goal and once she reaches that goal, she’s really fist-pumping on the practice court, saying: ‘Yes, I did it!'” Fissette said. But to win a Grand Slam, you have to beat two of the big four.

This was Azarenka’s third consecutive straight-sets victory over the 29-year-old Strycova.

Azarenka will meet a familiar opponent, No. 7 seed Angelique Kerber, in the quarterfinals. “I saw her hitting some balls the other day and she’s hitting the ball very well”.

Asked for her pick to win the Super Bowl, Azarenka couldn’t decide.

Azarenka, 26, looked in ominous form in Brisbane and, to the delight of her fans, she is looking even better in Melbourne, dropping only five games in three matches until now.

Kerber opened this season with a run to the final of the Brisbane International, where Azarenka beat her, but struggled in her opening match here, surviving a match-point scare.