Djokovic in Australian Open quarter-finals

MELBOURNE. — Novak Djokovic flirted with a rare “triple bagel” and Aryna Sabalenka produced yet another powerful performance as the defending champions swept into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open yesterday.

American fourth seed Coco Gauff also rattled through her match in double quick time and while she was only on court for an hour, the US Open champion showed she has all the weapons to win a second Grand Slam title.

Djokovic, playing in an unfamiliar rare daytime match, blanked Adrian Mannarino in the opening two sets and threatened to become only the sixth player to win 6-0 6-0 6-0 in the main draw of a Grand Slam.

However, the Frenchman salvaged some pride in the third set, leaving Djokovic with a 6-0 6-0 6-3 victory, the Serb’s 32nd straight match win at his favourite stomping ground. It also earned the world number one a 58th Grand Slam quarter-final berth, equalling the all-time record of Swiss maestro Roger Federer. Djokovic said he was almost glad when Mannarino got on the board in the third set. “I almost felt like it’s good to give away the game, just to be able to reset and refocus, because the tension was growing as the match progressed without him winning a game,” he told reporters.

“Of course, it’s tough for him, but also for me to be able to not think about that . . . I was happy that got that out of the way, 1-1 third set, then focused on what I need to do to close out the match.” The Serb next meets Taylor Fritz after the American beat last year’s runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(3) 5-7 6-3 6-3 to reach the last eight for the first time.

“PRETTY EASY” While Djokovic is seeking an 11th Australian Open title and 25th Grand Slam overall to surpass Margaret Court, Sabalenka is a defending major champion for the first time and the second seed was full of confidence after beating Amanda Anisimova 6-3 6-2.