Nadal to meet Tsitsipas in Australian quarters

Seeking record

No. 2 seed rafael Nadal earned an appearance in his 13th Australian Open quarter-final with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 over Italian Fabio Fognini on Monday in Melbourne.

Nadal, the 2009 champion, needed two hours and 16 minutes to defeat Fognini, the 16th seed. Nadal moved to 13-4 against his opponent.

“When you go on court against Fabio, you worry,” Nadal said after the match.

Next up for Nadal, who is seeking a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title, will be Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece. The No. 5 seed, Tsitsipas advanced in a walkover when No. 9 seed Matteo berrettini of Italy withdrew because of an abdominal strain.nadal, of Spain, has a 6-1 record against the 22-year-old Tsitsipas.

Monday’s action also set up an all-russian quarter-final, with No. 4 seed daniil Medvedev and No. 7 Andrey rublev advancing.

On the women’s side, topranked Ash barty sealed a dominant 6-3, 6-4 victory over American Shelby rogers to reach at least the quarter-finals for the third year in a row.

She will face 25th seed Karolina Muchova after the Czech beat belgium’s elise Mertens 7-6(5), 7-5.

Jessica Pegula continued her dream run in Melbourne with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over ukrainian fifth seed elina Svitolina to set up an all-american quarter-final against Jennifer brady, who beat Croatia’s donna Vekic 6-1, 7-5.