The last of the Russians
The quarterfinals of the Grand Slam tournaments remain an insurmountable barrier for Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. At the current Australian Open, she repeated last year’s result and for the sixth time tried to break into the top four in the majors, but again failed. The Russian tennis player was defeated by the ex-first racket of the world Garbinier Mugurus with a score of 5: 7, 3: 6.
The Spanish athlete was one of the "dark horses" of the Australian Open. During her career, she won both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, but in recent years has not shown outstanding results, and upon arrival in Melbourne she was in 32nd place in the WTA without receiving seeding.
Nevertheless, this time Garbinier defeated two rivals from the top ten of the world ranking Elina Svitolina and Kiki Bertens in a row, and each of them gave no more than three games for the set.
Pavlyuchenkova was able to impose a fight in Mugurus in the first set. The Russian woman stepped forward twice with a break, but each time the Spaniard managed to recoup. At the end of the game, feeding problems started at the 30th seeding number - she made three double mistakes when she tried to continue the fight with a score of 5: 6, but in the end the set remained with the former first racket of the world.
Soon Pavlyuchenkova tried to start all over again - she again took the game on the Mugurusa pitch, but since then the Russian tennis player has not managed to earn even a break point. The Spanish woman not only recouped, but also avoided the need to win the seventh game.
Mugurus entered the semifinals of the major for the fifth time in his career and for the first time at the Australian Open. After the tournament, she will return to the top twenty WTA ratings, and Pavlyuchenkova will lose three positions and drop to 33rd place, although she defended her last year's points.
After the game, the organizers of the Australian Open noted the advantages of the Russian woman, calling her the most talented tennis player, who has never climbed the top 10 in her career. At the same time, Pavlyuchenkova beat 34 rivals from the elite and won 12 titles over her career, but at the Grand Slam tournaments, the curse of the quarter finals continues to haunt her.
See you in the semis 👋 @ GarbiMuguruza
books a date with Halep in a first #AusOpen final four as she upends Pavlyuchenkova 7-5 6-3. # AO2020pic.twitter.com / L5F3y5GKC8
Halep quick win
The rival of Mugurusi by that time had long been decided. Simone Halep spent only 53 minutes to beat Estonian Anette Contaveit with a score of 6: 1, 6: 1 and for the eighth time in her career to become a semi-finalist in Grand Slam tournaments.
Kontaveyt began the match with the fact that by zero she won the game on her serve, but then the game passed under the dictation of Halep. 78% of her first innings brought points, and with such an indicator, the Estonian had no chance to turn the tide of the match. The fourth racket of the world, which will soon rise to second place, made only ten unforced errors and made five breaks per match, which allowed her to quickly leave the court and go to rest before the semi-finals.
Near Perfect 👏 @ Simona_Halep remains undefeated against Kontaveit as she dominates 6-1 6-1 in a speedy 53 minutes to reach her second final four in Melbourne. # AO2020 | # AusOpenpic.twitter.com / vyoQgO2IUq
- #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 29, 2020The first victory of Zverev
Alexander Zverev finally managed to break into the semifinals of the Grand Slam tournament. During his career, the German tennis player managed to win several Masters, win the Final Tournament, rise to third place in the ATP ranking, but like Pavlyuchenkov, he only reached the quarter finals of the majors, and only at the Roland Garros. Now he entered the top four at the Australian Open, beating Stan Wawrinka.
Before arriving in Melbourne, Zverev failed at the ATP Cup, remembering only an angry tirade against his father and coach, but in two weeks the 22-year-old player managed to prepare properly. He reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open as quickly as possible, without losing a single set.
But in a meeting with Wavrinka, Zverev suddenly slowed down. In the first set, a tennis player with Russian roots lost the first four games and lost with a score of 1: 6. Moreover, the Swiss blocked the way to the quarterfinals to Daniil Medvedev, lost only three points in his serve.
In the second installment, it was no longer so easy for him - Zverev reduced the length of the draws, and such a forceful version of tennis did not fit Wavrinka. Soon, Stan began to concede on his serve, but Zverev no longer failed in this component of the game.
So he won the next three sets, spending a little more than two hours on reaching the next round. The 2014 Australian Open winner only managed to recoup from several setballs, which sooner or later were implemented anyway. Zverev became the first German tennis player in the semifinal of a major since Tommy Haas at Wimbledon 2010.
Grand Slam semifinalist ✅ @ AlexZverev comes from a set down to def. Stan Wawrinka 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-2 to advance to his maiden #AusOpen semifinal. # AO2020pic.twitter.com / OhexMEEySH
- #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 29, 2020Departure Nadal to the joy of Djokovic
The meetings between Rafael Nadal and Dominic Tim usually become the main events of the dirt season - on this surface they had 12 full-time fights of 13. In the same season, their paths crossed in the Australian Open quarterfinal. Tim had never before beaten the Spaniard at the Grand Slam tournaments, but from the sixth attempt he was still able to achieve this and keep the company Zverev.
At first, Nadal controlled the progress of the match - he made a break at the score 4: 3, taking the opponent's pitch to zero thanks to a bold game at the net. But Tim radically changed tactics, offering to play balls for a long time, which, in turn, quickly tired the ex-first racket of the world. The Austrian played the setball and achieved the transfer of the game to a tie-break, in which the Spaniard won only three points.
The second set went almost the same way. In the course of the game, the Spaniard was indignant at the actions of the judge on the tower, who issued him a warning for the delay in serving, but took himself in time and avoided penalty points. In the end, Nadal had already avoided the setball and “offered” to play a shortened game, but was defeated again - the 19-time champion of the majors equalized after four points lost so that Tim won three more.
Throughout his career, Nadal has never won on hard after two lost sets, and the last such case on a different cover dates back to 2007. The Spaniard tried to correct the statistics, sad for himself, in the third installment. Nobody managed to take the opponent’s pitch for a long time, but Nadal still made a save break in the tenth game.
Tim added to the reception in the next game, thanks to which he even had a chance to file for the match, but a series of four mistakes failed him. Again, the rivals reached the tie-break, and again Nadal did not bode well. Although he played two matchballs, he could not cope with the third and for the first time in his life lost three tie-breaks.
Over the past 12 months, an Austrian tennis player has beaten the Big Three tennis players seven times, but he will be able to meet with someone else in Melbourne only if he defeats Zverev. For Novak Djokovic, who will play Roger Federer in another semifinal, Nadal’s relegation means that he will be able to seize the title of the first racket if he wins the eighth title at the Australian Open.
THIEM's Time To 𝓢𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓮!
After 4 hours and 10 minutes, @ThiemDomi knocks out world No.1 Rafael Nadal, 7-6 (3) 7-6 (4) 4-6 7-6 (6) to advance to the #AusOpen semifinals for the first time . # AO2020pic.twitter.com / lWuZXBzNmt
Juniors in the quarter finals
For the first time since the US Open in 2017 at the Junior Grand Slam tournament, Russian tennis players reached the quarterfinals in both men's singles and women.
On Wednesday, the third-round barrier was overcome by Yegor Agafonov. In the tie-break of the third set, he beat Czech Martin Krumich. In the junior ranking, the Russian takes 80th place in the world, which makes him the lowest rated player to reach the Australian Open quarterfinal. Then he will meet with the 12th seeded Karlis Ozolins from Latvia.
Polina Kudermetova, the sister of Veronika Kudermetova, who occupies 40th place in the WTA ranking, continues to fight. She beat Frenchwoman Oban Droge, who already has experience playing in the doubles main draw at Roland Garros. Kudermetova, Jr. lost one set dry, but still won. The next rival sown under the eighth number of the Russian woman will be Chinese Bai Zhuosyuan.