The other highly anticipated match of the eighth day of the Australian Major is the one which will oppose Novak Djokovic in the evening, in search of a 22nd Grand Slam title to equal the record of Rafael Nadal, but who suffers from the left thigh, at the last local hero in the running, Alex De Minaur.

After her semi-final at the US Open and her year-end Masters title, the best of her career at 29, Garcia was one of the favorites in Melbourne.

But his risk-taking game did not allow him to gain confidence during the first three rounds and the fourth, against Magda Linette (45th), was fatal to him.

The Lyonnaise was dismissed 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 by a Pole who was struggling to achieve.

"I don't believe it... I don't understand what happened... I don't have the words", admitted Linette, who will celebrate her 31st birthday on February 12 and who has not yet never passed the third round of a Grand Slam tournament.

Service

What happened was that she took advantage of Garcia's lack of success, especially on serve, to beat her.

And after the premature defeat of her compatriot and world No.1 Iga Swiatek the day before, she will represent Poland in the quarter-finals.

French Caroline Garcia tries to cool off between two games against Poland's Magda Linette in their round of 16 match at the Australian Open, Melbourne, January 23, 2023 © WILLIAM WEST / AFP

"The key was my serve because it punished me when I was not effective on my face-off," said the Pole, who posted a success rate of 75% of first serve balls.

For his part, Garcia, whose very risky game is very dependent on his own service, managed only 49% of first serves.

The French also conceded 33 unforced errors for 27 winning strokes, against 14 unforced errors and 25 winning strokes for Linette.

Garcia had however started the meeting on a double break which allowed him to come off 3-0.

She served for the set at 5-4, but Linette picked up before dominating the tie-break.

In the second set, "Caro", as loudly encouraged by French supporters, repeatedly exteriorized his growing frustration by hitting his racket on the ground or with a "I can't take it anymore!"

screamed from the first game of the inning.

The Pole made the decisive break to lead 5-4 and qualified on her first match point, on her serve.

Not a set

And it is therefore Linette, who had never passed the third round in a Grand Slam, who will face the Czech Karolina Pliskova (31st) for a place in the semi-finals.

The latter eliminated the Chinese Shuai Zhang (22nd) 6-0, 6-4 in less than an hour.

Semi-finalist in Australia in 2019, Pliskova had not passed the third round there.

Ex-world No.1 (2017), she reached the finals at Wimbledon in 2021 and at the US Open in 2016.

The other quarter-final at the bottom of the table will pit Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (5th) against Croatian Donna Vekic (64th).

The first dismissed the Swiss Belinda Bencic (10th) 7-5, 6-2 and will play a quarter-final for the first time in Melbourne.

"I am very happy with this victory and my level of play", welcomed the 24-year-old player, who also said she was "very happy" with her state of mind, the mind being precisely her weak point. since the start of his career.

Polish Magda Linette celebrates her victory against French Caroline Garcia in the round of 16 at the Australian Open, in Melbourne, January 23, 2023 © WILLIAM WEST / AFP

She still hasn't lost a set of the season, which started with a title at Adelaide 1.

As for Vekic, she ended up dismissing Czech nugget Linda Fruhvirtova (82nd at 17) 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.

© 2023 AFP