Highlights Of Day 7 Of The Australian Open

There was plenty of action on Day 7 of the Australian Open as players battled it out for a place in the quarterfinals. It was an amazing action-packed Sunday as the crowd turned up in numbers to watch their favorite start in action.

Nadal and Maria Sharapova put earlier stumbles in Melbourne behind them with convincing fourth-round wins.

The No. 2 seed dominated proceedings in her Round of 16 clash against China’s Peng Shuai on Rod Laver Arena. Peng was the first to get a break point off Sharapova’s serve in the seventh game of the first set. The Russian won the next two game to take the opening set 6-3. The No. 21 seed committed 15 unforced errors and three double faults to lose the second set 0-6.

Sharapova faces Bouchard in her next match, a repeat of the semifinals of the Franch Open last year. Sharapova leads their head to head rivalry 3-0. “I feel like something or someone gave me another chance,” Sharapova said. “Getting to the quarters is really special.”Bouchard made the semis or better at the first three Grand Slam tournaments last year, losing to Sharapova in the French Open semifinals. Sharapova noted that Bouchard was the most consistent player at recent Grand Slams.”She’s playing really well, confident tennis. So aggressive,” Sharapova said. “I have a tough match ahead of me, but I always look forward to that.”

Momentum in Nadal’s 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 win over towering Kevin Anderson swung on two games at the end of the first set. Nadal fended off five break points to hold, and then broke the 2.03-meter-tall (6-foot-8) South African’s serve to trigger his winning roll. He will next face No. 7 Tomas Berdych, who had a 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Bernard Tomic.”The chance to be in the quarterfinals after a tough period of time for me is a fantastic result,” Nadal said. “I was playing better than the days before. The way that I improved my level is not the most important thing; obviously the victory is.”

An avowed teetotaller, Andy Murray is not the typehttps://www.essentiallysports.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=6445&action=edit to celebrate Burns Night with a double whisky. But some of his fans must have felt like a dram or two after watching their man scrap for 3hours 32mins against an inspired Grigor Dimitrov before finally earning a place in the Australian Open quarter-finals. This match actually started at just before 9pm on Jan 25, the birthday of the celebrated poet, and finished in the early hours of Australia Day. The last few minutes were dramatic indeed, as a bizarre line call, a fortunate net-cord and a massive racket-smash from Dimitrov all helped Murray to inch his way over the line by a 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, 7-5 margin.

The 19-year-old Kyrgios came back from two sets down and saved a match point to beat Andreas Seppi 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 8-6, becoming the first Australian man to reach the last eight in the national championship since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005, and the first male teenager since Federer in 2001 to reach two Grand Slam quarterfinals. He was on a secondary court for his night match, and his first words to a crowd that had chanted and screamed like football fans: “Thanks mate. Feels so good.”

Seventh-seeded Bouchard won nine of the first 10 games against Irina-Camelia Begu, but lost seven of the next nine. After serving a double-fault on set point to end the second, Bouchard took a short break before returning to complete a 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 win. “I gave myself a good, long hard look in the mirror,” Bouchard said. “I said, ‘Genie, this is unacceptable.’ I really kind of kicked myself in the butt a little bit.”

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