Murray, Nishikori reach round of 16
Kerber, Federer also advance; Evans eliminates last Australian in men’s draw with win over Tomic
>> MELBOURNE: Andy Murray showed no signs of trouble with his sore ankle as he advanced to the round of 16 at the Australian Open for the ninth straight year, avoiding any chance of an upset against Sam Querrey.
Five-time runner-up Murray served out for a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win yesterday over Querrey, who has had recent form against the No.1-ranked player in the third round of a major.
It was Querrey who ended Novak Djokovic’s impressive Grand Slam run in the third round at Wimbledon last year. At that time, Djokovic had won four straight major titles — Wimbledon and US Open in 2015 and Australian Open and French Open in 2016.
Murray, who replaced Djokovic in the No.1 ranking last November, said he was surprised at the six-time Australian Open champion’s secondround loss to Denis Istomin.
But he didn’t think it changed anything for him unless he reached the final.
“I wasn’t scheduled to play Novak today, so my job’s to concentrate on Sam and to go into that match with a clear head and a good game plan and try to play well,” said Murray, who lost to Djokovic in four of the five finals he has played at Melbourne Park. “I did that.
“Obviously, if you’re to get to the final, then it has an effect.”
Murray injured his right ankle in the second round, and said he was hesitant at first but warmed into the match against Querrey, who was at the top of his game in the first set.
“I felt better and better as the match went on in terms of my movement,” Murray said. “I was moving well at the end — it was very positive.”
Murray next plays Mischa Zverev, who had a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Malek Jaziri, and, if results go with the seedings, could have a quarter-final against Kei Nishikori.
The fifth seeded Nishikori made it to the last 16 for the sixth straight year with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over the Slovak qualifier in two hours, 11 minutes.
Nishikori will next face his first big challenge against 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer who swept past Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.
US Open champion Stan Wawrinka was twice broken while serving for the match before finishing off a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) win over Viktor Troicki.
Wawrinka, the 2014 Australian Open winner, will next play Andreas Seppi, who beat Steve Darcis 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/2).
The last two Americans in the men’s draw lost within an hour of each other. After Querrey’s exit, No.23-seeded Jack Sock lost 7-6 (7/4), 7-5, 6-7 (8/10), 6-3 to No.12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
There are no more Australians in the men’s draw, either, after Daniel Evans beat Bernard Tomic 7-5, 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/3) to go beyond the third round for the first time at a major.
Seven-time major winner Venus Williams routed Duan Yingying 6-1, 6-0 while Angelique Kerber had a straight-set win for the first time in her first Australian Open title defence, 6-0, 6-4 against Kristyna Pliskova.
Kerber will next play world No.35 CoCo Vandeweghe, who reached the fourth round in Australia for the first time with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win over 2014 semi-finalist Eugenie Bouchard.