Apologies for the late post again. I’m in the bad books this Australian Open :). Day 8 was an interesting one where there were loads of tight matches but not as many upsets as there could have been. 9th seed, Auger-Aliassime was up against an inspired Cilic who had come through 5th seed Rublev in the previous round. Felix managed to take the match in 4 sets after losing the first set. A good effort from the Canadian. The 2nd seed, Medvedev also dropped a set in his 4th round encounter against unseeded American Cressy. The 11th seed Italian, Sinner, knocked out Australian De Minaur in straight sets. A very impressive display from the young Italian. The last mens match of the day was between 4th seed, Tsitsipas, and 20th seed, Fritz. The American won the first set and was looking good but the class of the Greek shone through to take the 2nd set. Fritz though continued to play well and took the third set to lead 2 sets to love. The Greek had other ideas as he won the 4th and 5th set and booked a place in the quarter-finals.

On the ladies side however, all the higher seeds did not come through their tight 4th round encounters. The exception being 7th seed, Swiatek, who beat Cirstea in 3 sets after dropping the 1st set. The day started with 27th seed Collins beating 19th seed, Mertens in three sets. The American coming from a set down to beat the Belgium. Cornet was the next ladies match and she was up against Simona Halep. Cornet had had 63 grand slam appearances and never made a quarter-final but today was the day for the French lady. She came through in 3 sets against Halep and will face Collins in the quarter-finals. The last ladies match was between unseeded Kanepi and 2nd seed, Sabalenka. For the first time in this years Australian Open, Sabalenka took the first set. This however was not a good thing as she went on to lose in the 3rd set super-tiebreak.

Onto the leaderboard and ‘To immunity and beyond’ has retaken the lead. There is a tie for 2nd between ‘Magic Team’ and ‘Novax Needed’. ‘Nodjok’ sits in 4th with ‘Eish’ and ‘Bella Napoli’ both sitting in 5th. ‘Meerkat’ still sits in the wooden spoon position.

Matches from Day 8

• Collins(27) beat Mertens(19) – 4-6; 6-4; 6-4
• Cornet beat Halep(14) – 6-4; 3-6; 6-4
• Swiatek(7) beat Cirstea – 5-7; 6-3; 6-3
• Kanepi beat Sabalenka(2) – 5-7; 6-2; 7-6(10-7)
• Auger-Aliassime(9) beat Cilic(27) – 2-6; 7-6(7); 6-2; 7-6(4)
• Medvedev(2) beat Cressy – 6-2; 7-6(4); 6-7(4); 7-5
• Sinner(11) beat De Minaur(32) – 7-6(3); 6-3; 6-4
• Tsitspas(4) beat Fritz(20) – 4-6; 6-4; 4-6; 6-3; 6-4

Matches tomorrow:

• Shapovalov(14) vs Nadal(6) (05:00)
• Monfils(17) vs Berrettini(7) (11:15)
• Krejcikova(4) vs Keys (03:30)
• Barty(1) vs Pegula(21) (10:00)

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a fantasy organiser.