MELBOURNE, 22 JAN

Carlos Alcaraz completed a Grand Slam set by reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals for the first time. Alcaraz, the 20-year-old Wimbledon champion, missed the season-opening major in 2023 because of injury. But he’s more than making up for lost time. The No 2-seeded Alcaraz beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 in less than two hours Monday to open the night session on Rod Laver Arena.

Zverev vs Alcaraz

He has dropped just one set en route to the last eight. Zverev is there for the third time but is coming off some long five-set wins, including a four-hour, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3) fourth-round victory over No 19 Cameron Norrie.

It was the 32nd five-set match so far at Melbourne Park, a tournament record in the Open era. The Olympic champion Alexander Zverev has to face world number two Alcaraz tomorrow.

Medvedev vs Hurkacz

No 3 Daniil Medvedev, a two-time Australian Open runner-up, beat No 69-ranked Nuno Borges 6-3, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-1 and will next face No 9 Hubert Hurkacz, who ended the run of French wild-card entry Arthur Cazaux 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3), 6-4.

Medvedev had two match points at 5-4 in the third set but Borges forced a fourth, only to fade as the Russian pulled away for victory. AP

Yastremska, Noskova- a fight to watch out for

While the highly-ranked players continue to advance in the men’s draw, the seeded players keep toppling out on the women’s side. And that has opened opportunities for Dayana Yastremska and Linda Noskova to advance to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time.

Yastremska beat the 18th-seeded Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (6), 6-4, a two-time Australian Open champion, and No 23-seeded Elina Svitolina had to retire after hurting her back when she was trailing Noskova 3-0.

Azarenka served for the first set twice and had two set points at 6-5 but couldn’t convert them. Yastremska was down a break in the second but rallied to win six of the last seven games. AP

Zheng pulls away to reach QF against Kalinskaya

All four quarterfinalists from the top half of the women’s draw are also into the last eight at Melbourne Park for the first time, with No 12-seeded Zheng Qinwen the highest-ranked player in the group. Zheng matched her career-best run — she reached the US Open quarterfinals last year — by breezing to a 6-0, 6-3 win in under an hour against Oceane Dodin in the last night match.

She’ll next play Anna Kalinskaya, who beat No 26 Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-2. In 13 previous majors, Kalinskaya had never got past the second round. Zheng received a surprise visit from 2014 Australian Open winner Li Na, China’s first major winner, after the third round and took some advice: “Focus on the moment. Li Na said, ‘Just play, don’t think too much. Keep it simple.” AP

The match on Margaret Court Arena between Zverev vs Alcaraz was prolonged after being delayed briefly when a protester threw anti-war pamphlets onto the back of the court in the third set. The protester was escorted out by security. AP