Goffin sees off Thiem at Open
Belgian No 11 David Goffin reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in Melbourne for the first time after beating Austrian eighth seed Dominic Thiem 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-2 last night.
He’ll next play No 15-seeded Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria), who closed with an ace to hold off wild-card entry Denis Istomin 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-1. Russian Istomin, who upset six-time champion Novak Djokovic in the second round, needed treatment on his tiring legs in the third and fourth sets.
The Serbian’s loss was just one of the big upsets in a chaotic first week capped by the fourth-round exits of both top seeds on Sunday.
Top-ranked and five-time finalist Scot Andy Murray was upset by No 50-ranked Mischa Zverev, from Germany, while his compatriot Angelique Kerber was beaten by CoCo Vandeweghe, from the US.
Yesterday, with her serve misfiring and the ball coming back at her from some irregular angles, it was time for Serena Williams to go to Plan B.
The American knuckled down and scrapped her way to a 7-5, 6-4 win over No 16-seeded Barbora Strycova to reach the quarter-finals in Melbourne for the 11th time.
Despite four service breaks — two in the first four games — and 46 unforced errors, and with the fluky net cord and the off-balance, scrunched-shouldered backhand that bounced flatly and clinched her the first set on her eighth set point, she ground down Czech Strycova.
“It’s good to know I have a Plan B, or Option 2. I wasn’t serving my greatest today, also she was putting a lot of returns in there,” said Williams, who had a first-serve percentage of 45, and made four double-faults.
“I feel like it was really good for me to win on probably not my best day, which is always good, because sometimes you rely on one shot and if it goes off, and then, like, what happens now?”
That keeps Williams on track in her bid for an Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam title. If she gets there, the 35-year-old will regain the No 1 ranking from Kerber.
Next up, she’ll face No 9 Johanna Konta, who beat Russian Ekaterina Makarova for the second straight year in the fourth round. The 2016 Australian semifinalist is excited at the prospect of a quarter-final with Williams, one of her inspirations as a young player.
“She’s one of the few players still playing I watched growing up,” Konta said. “It’s an incredible honour and I can’t wait to share the court with her.”
German Mirjana Lucic-Baroni reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1999 as a 17-year-old and, after a long, difficult time off the tour, she has returned to the quarter-finals of a major for the first time since.
She beat US qualifier Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-2 and will next play US Open finalist Czech Karolina Pliskova, who had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Australia’s Daria Gavrilova.
Whatever happens, the 34-yearold Lucic-Baroni said she’d make the most of the moment. “I’ve done this sport since I was a little kid. These are kind of, like, awards for all the hard work.”
Williams, a possible semifinal rival, was relaxed after her match, retelling a story about her marriage proposal from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. “I live in a movie and in a fairytale in my mind, so I guess eventually it was bound to happen,” she said.