Djokovic fittingly enters quarters, Garcia out

MELBOURNE, January 23

Novak Djokovic said playing without pain for the first time at this year’s Australian Open today had given him the belief that his hamstring would hold out in his hunt for a 10th title at Melbourne Park and 22nd Major to match Rafa Nadal.

The Serbian fourth seed, who sustained the injury en route the Adelaide International 1 title earlier this month and has been managing the problem, mowed down Australian Alex de Minaur 6-2 6-1 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals.

“A week ago I didn’t really think about the title, I just thought about being in a good enough condition to play the next match. Tonight, the way I played, the way I felt gives me reason to believe I can go all the way,” Djokovic told reporters.

“I mean, I always believe I can go all the way in terms of my tennis. But the way my leg felt before tonight wasn’t giving me too many hopes, so to say, for the entire tournament, to go all the way through,” he added.

Djokovic looked hampered by the problem in previous matches and described Monday’s win over De Minaur as his best match of the year but he conceded later that it had been tiring to get himself ready for matches.

“We take it day by day. We do a lot of things actually. It’s been exhausting to be involved in a lot of different treatments and machines and stuff that we do,” Djokovic said. “At the same time it was necessary... in order to get myself in a condition to play. So I’m really glad my body has responded really well. Tonight I didn’t feel any pain. I moved as well as I have the whole tournament. It means we’re progressing in the right direction.” — Reuters

Day 8: Highlights

Linette stuns Garcia

Magda Linette reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a 7-6(3) 6-4 upset of fourth seed Caroline Garcia in just under two hours. Linette made only 14 unforced errors to Garcia’s 33 in the win.

Sabalenka’s first love

Aryna Sabalenka stormed into the Melbourne Park quarters for the first time with a 7-5 6-2 victory over Belinda Bencic, setting up a meeting with Linda Fruhvirtova.

Pliskova in a hurry

Karolina Pliskova needed only 55 minutes to beat China’s Zhang Shuai 6-0 6-4 to move into the last-8. Pliskova fired 12 aces and 33 winners to set up a clash with Linette.

Rublev soars

Fifth seed Andrey Rublev fought back from 2-5 down in the final set and saved two match points to beat Holger Rune 6-3 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6(11). Ben Shelton beat compatriot JJ Wolf 6-7(5) 6-2 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 6-2.