The first 4 quarter-finals were played on day 10. 2 ladies quarter-finals and 2 mens. And well the program ran very late due to some long matches in the day.

The first match on was between 4th seed, Gauff, and unseeded Ukranian Kostyuk. Surprisingly is was Kostyuk that started off the better of the 2 players as she raced to a 5-1 lead against the US Open champion. However her inexperience so deep in a major was telling as she was unable to close out the first set and eventually lost the set in a tiebreak 8-6. Gauff then used that momentum to break Kostyuk and lead 5-3 in the 2nd set but the curse struck again but this time for Gauff who was unable to close out the set and she went on to lose the set 7-3 in the tiebreak. Gauff however regrouped well and raced to a 4-0 lead in the 3rd set before taking the set 6-2 and booking her place in the quarter-finals.

The 2nd match of the day was also a long one and it was between 1st seed, Djokovic and 12th seed Fritz. These two players have played before at the Australian Open and Djokovic won it in an epic 5 set encounter. This time round however Djokovic only needed 4 sets to get past the American. Djokovic played an amazing tiebreak to seal the opener but then Fritz probably played one his best sets of tennis to level the match at 1 set all. The effort he put into that 2nd set however cost him as he fell 6-2; 6-3 in the next 2 sets.

The 3rd match on and the first night session match was between 2nd seed and defending champion, Sabalenka, and 9th seed, Krejcikova. It was not to be for the 9th seed who finally found some of her 2022 form that she had. However on the day Sabalenka was the stronger player and showed it in the impressive 6-2; 6-3 win in a quarter-final. This win sets up a repeat of the 2023 US Open final between Gauff and Sabalenka. Whoever wins that will most certainly be the favourite to win the ladies final on Saturday.

The last match on was on paper a mouth-watering contest as 2 heavy hitters were playing against one another. It was 4th seed, Sinner, against 5th seed, Rublev. Both players had never made an Aussie Open semi-final however Sinner did have experience of making a major semi-final whereas Rublev has yet to get past the quarter-finals. The match started very even as we expected and the 1st set was decided by 8 crucial points. Rublev managed to give himself 2 chances to break as he went up 15-40 on Sinner’s serve. However the 5th seed lost the next 4 points which meant Sinner held and then lost the next 4 points on serve to hand the break to the Italian. This break was the all important break for Sinner who took the set 6-4. Both players then had many chances in the 2nd set but both players managed to produce their best tennis when it mattered and the set ended up going all the way to a tiebreak. The tiebreak was initially played better by Rublev who raced away to a 5-1 lead before once again Sinner managed to turn the deficit around and win the next 6 points to take the tiebreak 7-5 and with it the 2nd set and a 2 set to love lead. Once again Rublev missed some opportunities to break in the 3rd set and well Sinner did not miss his opportunity and that was the difference in the 3rd set with the Italian taking it 6-3. This means we are having a repeat of the Wimbledon 2022 semi-final between Sinner and Djokovic on Friday. Poor Rublev continues his wait for a major semi-final. This loss takes him to 10 quarter-final defeats at a grand slam level.

Onto the fantasy leaderboard and we have a familiar face at the very top of the leaderboard. ‘Faulty Feet’ move back up into 1st place and sit on 192 points which is just 1 point ahead of their nearest challengers ‘Serve with Eish’ who sit on 191. ‘Tennis Addicts’ are still right in it as they sit just 3 points off top spot in 3rd place. ‘Lorna’s Lucky 13’ sit in 4th just 3 points off 3rd. ‘Left Back in the Changerooms’ makes another appearance in the top 5 and sits in 5th. The last prize is currently with ‘Aussie Guess’ who unfortunately have now dropped out of the top 5. ‘Match Point’ falls further behind and now sit firmly in that wooden spoon position. Impressively we still wait for the first team to be eliminated.

Matches on Day 10

• Yastremska beat Noskova – 6-3; 6-4
• Medvedev(3) beat Hurkacz(9) – 7-6(4); 2-6; 6-3; 5-7; 6-4
• Zheng(12) vs Kalinskaya – (10:15)
• Zverev(6) vs Alcaraz(2) – (11:30)

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.