(Tennis news): The men’s draw of the 2022 Australian Open saw world number 3 Alexander Zverev failing to progress beyond the fourth round. It was also the same for Maria Sakkari and Paula Badosa as three top 10 players made their way out of the competition.
In men’s singles, Denis Shapovalov made his third career Grand Slam quarterfinal when he beat Alexander Zverev in straight sets in the fourth round. Shapovalov had never made it past the third round since making his debut at Australia 4 years ago, this was also their first career meeting in a Grand Slam. Shapovalov got an early break in the first set and in the second was two points away from losing it but got it right in the tiebreaker. Zverev was also seen breaking his racket in between the match as the German will have to wait a few more months to get a shot for his first major. Shapovalov defeated Zverev 6-3, 7-6(7-5), 6-3.
“I think off the ground I was playing really well, really feeling my shots off both wings,” said Shapovalov. “I played pretty smart today, it felt like things were going my way early on. I lost a little bit of momentum mid-way in the second set but fought well to come back and just kind of rolled with it after.”
Jessica Pegula got her first victory over Maria Sakkari in their third ever meeting in the fourth round. The world number 8 had never progressed past the fourth round of the Australian Open and it did not change this year too when Pegula made her 2nd consecutive quarter final at Australia. The 21st seed had a close call in the first set as she lost set points in the 8th game but at the tie break she won 7 points as Sakkari was at 0. In the next set, it only took 40 minutes for Pegula to win 34 points and one break of serve to fight against Ashleigh Barty in the next match. Pegula defeated Sakkari 7-6(7-0), 6-3.
"It was a little hot out there today, so I didn't really want to kind of play a lot of long points," Pegula said after her win. "I thought I really had to step up and be aggressive when I had the chance to. Luckily I was able to capitalize on that pretty well today and play a pretty clean match, I think.
Madison Keys made the quarterfinals at Australia for the first time in four years as she defeated Paula Badosa in their first ever career meeting. Keys had last reached the last eight here in 2018 and will be aiming for a second semifinal after reaching the last four in 2015.
The world number 51 took a 4-1 lead in the first set as the Spaniard held her serve in the last few games but could not break her opponent’s serve. Keys won the first three games of the match until Badosa held her serve and then again there was 3 in a row by Keys to end the fourth round battle in an hour. Keys defeated Badosa 6-3, 6-1.
Also read: Taylor Fritz reaches fourth round for first time in Grand Slams at Australia
