Wawrinka eases into Australian Open fourth round

Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka signs autographs after winning his third round match against Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol at the Australian Open tennis tournament at Melbourne Park, Australia, January 23, 2016.

Third-seeded Garbine Muguruza had a 6-4, 6-2 win over Kirsten Flipkens to reach the third round of the Australian Open for the third straight year.

The hard-serving Canadian came into the fourth-rounder winless in four matches against Wawrinka, the 2014 Australian Open champion, and all their results had been close and involved tiebreakers.

There was no questioning the commitment of Raonic and Wawrinka as the pair slugged out a three-hour 44-minute thriller in the day session on Rod Laver Arena.

Second seed Andy Murray had his feathers ruffled but scrapped his way into the Australian Open quarter-finals with a 6-4 6-4 7-6(4) victory over local world number 17 Bernard Tomic on Monday.

The Swiss, who won his second major title at last year’s French Open denying Novak Djokovic a coveted calendar-year Grand Slam, broke Rosol’s service four times.

“For sure it’s been a key for those big matches that I won”, Wawrinka, still flawless this year after claiming a fourth title in Chennai, told reporters.

Like Wawrinka, Raonic is ideal so far in 2016, triumphing in Brisbane, where he upset Federer in the finale. I’m surprised it still went five sets.

Raonic cruised in the first two sets, then watched as Wawrinka attempted to come back from two sets down for the seventh time in his career.

Raonic used to live and die with his serve.

Kerber, who saved a match point in her first-round win over Misaki Doi, is into the quarterfinals for the first time in Australia. Raonic supplied 24 aces and got 68 per cent of his first serves in play, winning 79 per cent of those points.

As does the attention to detail that means Raonic is always seeking marginal gains to add to one of the game’s most destructive serve/forehand combinations.

“(I’m) feeling good because I play really good. “Today was a good example of that”.

“He’s been semifinal already”.

Earlier in the week, the Australian newspaper Herald Sun asked Milos Raonic what he would be doing in his professional life if he was not a tennis player.

“In general, I always find some solution to break his serve, even if it’s really tough”.

LOOKING FOR THREE: Two-time Australian champion Victoria Azarenka takes on Barbora Strycova among four women’s matches in the bottom half of the draw. “You need to be 100 per cent to have a chance to beat him”. Wawrinka, who won the French Open previous year, breezed to a 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win over Radek Stepanek.

“Definitely on the court tonight I was more emotional than normal”, he said. When she heard the Denver Broncos had beaten the New England Patriots 20-18, she shouted “Yesss!!” – stepping back and raising both arms, “I’m so happy now”. The next stop for Newton and the Panthers is Super Bowl 50, against the Broncos.