Kyrgios nicks out Seppi
Melbourne, Jan. 25: Maria Sharapova was all business on Sunday as she set up a glamour Australian Open quarterfinal with Eugenie Bouchard as Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray continued their unrelenting Grand Slam march.
The Russian world number two ended Chinese hopes by swatting aside 21st seed Peng Shuai 6-3, 6-0 as she lifts her game the deeper she goes in the tournament.
It hands organisers a dream last eight clash between two of the most marketable players on tour with Canadian seventh seed Bouchard surviving a mid-match slump to defeat unseeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in three sets. But Sharapova’s boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov was turfed out by never-say-die British sixth seed Andy Murray, who won the last five games to battle through a pulsating night match on Rod Laver Arena 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-5.
Nadal was dominant after a tight first set against power-hitting South African Kevin Anderson, running out a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 winner and will next play Czech Tomas Berdych for a place in the semi-finals.
The consistent Berdych, who made the final four last year, ended Australian Bernard Tomic’s tournament with a comfortable 6-2, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 hit-out.
Another Australian, teenager Nick Kyrgios, managed to achieve what Roger Federer could not by beating dogged Italian Andreas Seppi 5-7, 4-6, 63, 7-6 (7/5) 8-6.
The 19-year-old becomes the first home-grown quarter-finalist in Melbourne since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005 with a face-off against Murray his reward.
“When I saw I had finally won the match it was incredible. It was the best feeling I ever had,” he said. PAES-HINGIS ADVANCE,
BOPANNA OUT Seventh seeds Leander Paes and Martina Hingis took 65 minutes to beat Australia’s Masa Jovanovic and Sam Thompson 6-2, 7-6 (2).
Rohan Bopanna and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova fought hard against the third seeds Kristina Mlad-enovic and Daniel Nestor before going down 2-6, 6-3, 4-10 in the super tie-break.
India’s Ojasvinee Singh suffered a first round loss in the girls’ doubles. She and her Thai partner Tama chan Momkoonthod lost to Katharina Hobgarski and Greet Minnen 3-6, 7-6 (2), 9-11.