Melbourne: Novak Djokovic set up a quarterfinal date with Japanese Kei Nishikori as the Serbian World No.1 struck back for the old guard at the Australian Open Monday, soaking up the pressure from a willing Daniil Medvedev before crushing the young Russian 6-4, 6-7(5-7), 6-2, 6-3.
This will be Djokovic’s 10th last eight contest at the Melbourne Park. Nishikori, on the other hand, recovered from two sets down to reach the quarterfinals with an epic win over Pablo Carreno Busta 6-7(8-10), 4-6, 7-6(7-4), 6-4, 7-6(10-8).
The night after Roger Federer was stunned by Greek tyro Stefanos Tsitsipas, there was another sniff of an upset at Rod Laver Arena as 22-year-old Medvedev rocked the Serb with a furious assault of power hitting.
Yet the Russian wearied in the constant attrition, and top seed Djokovic cruised to victory, having passed easily his biggest test so far at the tournament.
The World No.1 will continue his bid for a hat-trick of Grand Slam titles and a record seventh at Melbourne Park against eighth seed Nishikori.
Earlier, Japanese Nishikori played out his third five-setter of the tournament and the second time he had to recover with the never-say-die attitude as he came from two sets behind.
His win over the 23rd seeded Spaniard Carreno Busta took a marathon five hours and five minutes after an opening set that alone lasted 76 minutes. The former US Open finalist moves into the last eight stage for the fourth time where he will face a tough task against Djokovic.
In other round of 16 matches, Milos Raonic and Lucas Pouille stunned higher-ranked opponents Alexander Zverev and Borna Coric respectively.
However, it was the 16th seed Canadian who scripted the second biggest upset in the men’s category, outplaying fourth seeded German Zverev 6-1, 6-1, 7-6(7-5), after just a day of Roger Federer’s shocking ouster from the mega event following a fighting defeat against a 20-year-old Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Raonic took two hours to register an upset win over Zverev. Raonic proved to be Zverev’s nemesis once again at Grand Slams, after having been the cause of his elimination at Wimbledon in 2017.
Zverev, who faced a tough match against the Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the second round, was totally outplayed by Raonic. The Canadian is increasingly becoming a favourite at the tournament especially after also having knocked out Australia’s Nick Kyrgios and the Swiss Stan Wawrinka in the previous rounds.
Zverev has routinely been repeatedly touted as the leader of the next generation, but again he failed to live up to his reputation and has now missed out on making the last eight of a Grand Slam 14 times in 15 attempts. The 21-year-old erupted in the second set and took his frustration out on his racket smashing it into the ground eight times to leave it a crumpled mess.
Raonic will next face 28th seed Frenchman Pouille, who got the better of 11th seeded Coric 6-7(4-7), 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(7-2).