Djokovic, Shapovalov to meet in Adelaide quarterfinals

Top‐seeded Novak Djokovic has reached the quarterfinals of the Adelaide International where he will face Denis Shapovalov.

Djokovic defeated Quentin Halys 7‐6 (3) 7‐6 (5) on Thursday, and Canadian Shapovalov beat Roman Safiullin 6‐4, 6‐3 to advance.

Djokovic and other top players are using this event as a warm‐up for the Australian Open beginning Jan. 16. Djokovic missed the Aus‐ tralian Open last year because he was unvaccinated. He's been al‐ lowed to enter this year as COVID‐ 19 restrictions have been relaxed.

Djokovic lauded Halys' play in a very tight match.

"It was a great performance from my opponent today," Djokovic said. "I want to congrat‐ ulate him for great quality tennis and a great fight today. Tough luck, but he played like a top‐10 player."

Djokovic said he was still trying to get a feel for his game.

"Two tiebreaks were probably the most realistic score of today's match and I'm just glad to over‐ come the tough challenge," Djokovic said.

Djokovic is unbeaten in seven matches against Shapovalov. However, the Canadian may have added confidence this time after Canada defeated Australia in the Davis Cup final in November.

"Last year we started with win‐ ning the ATP Cup and finished it off with winning the Davis Cup, so definitely the team events were a good success for me last year," Shapovalov said. "I'm definitely trying to implement that on the individual side as well, and so far it's been a great start."

On the women's side of the com‐ bined ATP‐WTA event, former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka de‐ feated Zheng Qinwen 6‐2, 7‐5 to reach the quarterfinals.

Azarenka is a two‐time Aus‐ tralian Open champion. She will next face Linda Noskova, who de‐ feated American Claire Liu 6‐2, 6‐ 2.

Emma Raducanu injures ankle ahead of Australian Open

British star Emma Raducanu has injured her ankle ahead of the Australian Open and retired in her second‐round match at the ASB Classic on Thursday.

The 2021 U.S. Open champion took only 22 minutes to sweep the first set 6‐0 against Slovakian qualifier Viktoria Kusmova but faltered and lost the second set 7‐ 5. Raducanu summoned the trainer courtside to heavily strap her left ankle in a long injury break.

The 20‐year‐old Raducanu at‐ tempted to play on but was not able to complete the first point of the third set. She was tearful when she came to the net and acknowl‐ edged she could not continue.

Raducanu was marked as one of tennis' hottest stars when she won at Flushing Meadows. Her ca‐ reer since has been dogged by in‐ juries. She retired from matches four times in 2022 and most re‐ cently has had to contend with a wrist injury.

Venus Williams blew a 5‐3 last‐ set lead in a match which stretched over nearly seven hours because of rain in losing to Zhu Lin of China 3‐6, 6‐2, 7‐5.

The 42‐year‐old Williams fought through every moment of the sec‐ ond‐round match which began after noon and ended near 7 p.m., which began outdoors and ended indoors, and which contained 13 service breaks before finally tip‐ ping in favor of Zhu in the last few games.

Seven‐time Grand Slam cham‐ pion Williams, starting her 30th year on the WTA Tour, won her first tour match in nearly two years when she beat Katie Volynets on Monday in the first round of the Auckland tourna‐ ment. She played only four matches in 2022 and was hoping to progress to the second round of a tournament for the first time since 2019.

Williams had the upper hand early when she took out a first set which included five service breaks in 43 minutes. She was 2‐1 down when the first rain break of more than an hour occurred but re‐ turned to break Zhu's serve twice and take the set.

Zhu led 4‐2 in the second set when the rain returned and, unre‐ lenting, forced the players indoors onto a court without spectators. Zhu held serve for 5‐2 then broke Williams again to take the set and level the match.

Williams broke first for 2‐1 in the third set and extended that ad‐ vantage to 5‐3, coming within reach of a quarterfinal spot. But Zhu broke back, held serve and broke Williams again to advance.

Williams left the court after her sixth appearance in Auckland to no applause but also to no sugges‐ tion her career is nearer to an end.

"It was not great," Williams said. "Definitely tough. I've played a lot of matches in my life and I've played through some intense de‐ lays but it was definitely like two separate matches.

"Outside, it was really tough. It was rainy, windy. It was tennis but it was more about surviving instead of playing great. Indoors, it was completely different but I got to hit a lot of balls so that's im‐ portant."

Top‐seeded American Coco Gauff will face Zhu in the quarter‐ finals after her 6‐4, 6‐4 win over compatriot Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion.

Seventh‐ranked Gauff also had to play indoors and beat Kenin in just under 90 minutes, leveling their head‐to‐head record after Kenin beat Gauff en route to the Australian Open title.

Danka Kovinic, the seventh seed, beat former champion Lauren Davis 4‐6, 6‐3, 6‐2 and qualifier Rebeka Masarova beat Anna Blinkova 6‐1, 6‐4.