The quarter-final lineup for the top half of the draw is set and will see Novak Djokovic face off against Taylor Fritz, while Jannik Sinner will take on X after the quartet progressed from Sunday’s 4th round matches in Melbourne.
First to cement his spot was Novak Djokovic, who was playing in the midday Melbourne sun for the first time this tournament, having occupied the night session in his three previous rounds.
However, sunshine proved to be the best disinfectant, and he cleaned up against Mannarino with a 6-0 6-0 6-3 win.
Taylor Fritz was next to join him, pulling off his best win at a Grand Slam in terms of opposition ranking with a 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 over last year’s finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Jannik Sinner then continued his march toward the latter stages with a tough but ultimately comfortable 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Karen Khachanov.
In the final match of the day, Andrey Rublev recovered from 2 sets to 1 down to see off Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0 to maintain his 100% record in 2024.
Day Eight 2024 Australian Open Round of 16 Results
| Winner | Loser | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|
| Novak Djokovic (1) | Adrian Mannarino (20) | 6-0 6-0 6-3 |
| Jannik Sinner (4) | Karen Khachanov (15) | 6-4 7-5 6-3 |
| Andrey Rublev (5) | Alex de Minaur (10) | 6-4 5-7 4-6 6-3 6-0 |
| Taylor Fritz (12) | Stefanos Tsitsipas (7) | 7-6(3) 5-7 6-3 6-3 |
Djokovic Destroys Mannarino
Novak Djokovic made light work of marathon man Adrian Mannarino 6-0, 6-0, 6-3 on Sunday en route to his 32nd straight victory in Australia as he moved into the quarter-finals.
If both players were on an equal footing heading into the match, I’d have given Mannarino between 12 and 14 games, maybe a tie-break set or even pinching one set, as he has a well-rounded skill set.
However, given that he’d spent 15 hours on court in three rounds, the match was destined to be a complete carve-up. There isn’t a guy on the planet who can play three five-setters in a row and beat Djokovic at his best tournament.
So, based on that, I’m not sure where some tennis talking heads got the idea that Mannarino would be a huge threat, even more so given their H2H, which is now 5-0 Djokovic.
The Serb dominated, winning the first 13 games of the match to produce an unassailable lead. It was an all-business-like performance, and there’s not much Mannarino could have done.
Even though the score looks dreadful, the opening set had plenty of extended baseline exchanges, and Mannarino played solidly enough.
However, he doesn’t have a game where he can go nuclear and end the point in 1 shot. Instead, he has to soak up the pace and move the ball around the court, but it’s an uphill task when you’re playing the best lateral mover of all time who can play like that without missing seemingly forever, especially when you’re not running on a full tank of fuel having played those five-setters.
Djokovic, on the other hand, is recharging as the tournament goes on as he continues to shake off a virus that hampered him somewhat in the earlier rounds. Next for him is Fritz, who, despite having a lopsided H2H, can do some damage from the baseline and will offer more of a challenge.
Obviously never easy to play Adrian, who is a very unorthodox player, uses the angles really well and has got one of the flattest and most consistent backhands in the game. It’s kind of a cat-and-mouse tennis match against him. So I had to, in a way, physically endure the long rallies and try to run him around the court, which I did, and I think I served very well. In the moments when I needed to come up with the first serve, I did, so all in all, a great performance. Djokovic on his win over Mannarino.
Match Stats
| Novak Djokovic | Adrian Mannarino | |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 17 | 1 |
| Double Faults | 5 | 0 |
| 1st Serve Percentage | 70% | 0.59 |
| 1st Serve Points Won | 81% (39/48) | 50% (17/34) |
| 2nd Serve Points Won | 62% (13/21) | 33% (8/24) |
| Break Points Saved | 100% (3/3) | 36% (4/11) |
| 1st Return Points Won | 50% (17/34) | 19% (9/48) |
| 2nd Return Points Won | 67% (16/24) | 38% (8/21) |
| Break Points Converted | 64% (7/11) | 0% (0/3) |
| Winners | 31 | 12 |
| Unforced Errors | 15 | 31 |
| Net Points Won | 76% (13/17) | 43% (6/14) |
| Max Points In Row | 6 | 4 |
| Service Points Won | 75% (52/69) | 43% (25/58) |
| Return Points Won | 57% (33/58) | 25% (17/69) |
| Total Points Won | 67% (85/127) | 33% (42/127) |
| Max Games In Row | 13 | 1 |
| Service Games Won | 100% (11/11) | 30% (3/10) |
| Return Games Won | 70% (7/10) | 0% (0/11) |
| Total Games Won | 86% (18/21) | 14% (3/21) |
Highlights
Fritz Fires Past Tsitsipas
Taylor Fritz is into the Australian Open quarter-finals for the first time in his career, firing himself past Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
Perhaps even more surprisingly, this is Fritz’s first top-10 win at a Grand Slam. Although, given Tsitsipas’s ranking is on the slide, he won’t be there for much longer.
In Sunday’s encounter, the American was the better player, highlighting many of the Greek’s recent shortcomings on the return and his backhand wing.
If the Greek can get his forehand into the rally, he’s very hard to stop, but if you get him defending, especially on the backhand, you’ll get a short ball to take control of the point, and Fritz did that nicely.
Although he can look a bit ungainly in his movement, the American defended well and deserved the win with the more solid play, and he finished with 50 winners to just 19 unforced errors.
Check the highlights below, and you’ll see Tsitsipas channelling in his inner Swiatek as he tried the jumping jack hindrance on the match point. Lame.
I trusted my shots a lot. I served well the whole match. It kept me in it as there were some games he was in that I could get out of with my serve. At the end, when I really needed it, I turned it up a level and played some of my best tennis to finish it. Fritz on his win over Tsitsipas.
Match Stats
| Taylor Fritz | Stefanos Tsitsipas | |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 13 | 12 |
| Double Faults | 2 | 7 |
| 1st Serve Percentage | 70% | 63% |
| 1st Serve Points Won | 86% (68/79) | 76% (65/86) |
| 2nd Serve Points Won | 53% (18/34) | 44% (22/50) |
| Break Points Saved | 50% (2/4) | 64% (7/11) |
| 1st Return Points Won | 24% (21/86) | 14% (11/79) |
| 2nd Return Points Won | 56% (28/50) | 47% (16/34) |
| Break Points Converted | 36% (4/11) | 50% (2/4) |
| Winners | 50 | 41 |
| Unforced Errors | 19 | 33 |
| Net Points Won | 73% (24/33) | 79% (30/38) |
| Max Points In Row | 7 | 6 |
| Service Points Won | 76% (86/113) | 64% (87/136) |
| Return Points Won | 36% (49/136) | 24% (27/113) |
| Total Points Won | 54% (135/249) | 46% (114/249) |
| Max Games In Row | 4 | 3 |
| Service Games Won | 90% (19/21) | 81% (17/21) |
| Return Games Won | 19% (4/21) | 10% (2/21) |
| Total Games Won | 55% (23/42) | 45% (19/42) |
Highlights
Sinner Sails Into Quarter Finals
Another commanding performance from Jannik Sinner, and he’s through to the quarter-finals without dropping a set thanks to a 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 win over Karen Khachanov.
Despite the straightforward-looking scoreline, it was Sinner’s biggest test of the tournament so far, and the Russian played some high-quality ball that matched the 4th seed for most of the match, especially in the second set, in which he was arguably the better player.
However, after looking like he could level the match, Khachanov flopped at 5-5, losing serve from 40/15 as Sinner won four straight points to snatch the break before serving out the set to love. That was essentially the end of the resistance, and Sinner maintained his level in the third to progress.
It was for sure a different match today. I felt like we both were hitting the ball really well from the back of the court. Every match is obviously different. It’s a pleasure to be here in the quarter-finals. Obviously happy with the outcome of the match. Sinner on his straight sets win.
Match Stats
| Jannik Sinner | Karen Khachanov | |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 8 | 7 |
| Double Faults | 3 | 0% |
| 1st Serve Percentage | 54% | 67% |
| 1st Serve Points Won | 79% (41/52) | 66% (40/61) |
| 2nd Serve Points Won | 58% (26/45) | 47% (14/30) |
| Break Points Saved | 90% (9/10) | 38% (3/8) |
| 1st Return Points Won | 34% (21/61) | 21% (11/52) |
| 2nd Return Points Won | 53% (16/30) | 42% (19/45) |
| Break Points Converted | 63% (5/8) | 10% (1/10) |
| Winners | 46 | 27 |
| Unforced Errors | 34 | 29 |
| Net Points Won | 90% (26/29) | 61% (14/23) |
| Max Points In Row | 8 | 7 |
| Service Points Won | 69% (67/97) | 59% (54/91) |
| Return Points Won | 41% (37/91) | 31% (30/97) |
| Total Points Won | 55% (104/188) | 45% (84/188) |
| Max Games In Row | 4 | 2 |
| Service Games Won | 93% (14/15) | 69% (11/16) |
| Return Games Won | 31% (5/16) | 7% (1/15) |
| Total Games Won | 61% (19/31) | 39% (12/31) |
Highlights
Rublev Reaches Quarter Finals
Andrey Rublev is into the 10th Grand Slam Quarter Final of his career thanks to a 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0 win over Alex de Minaur in the night session on Rod Laver Arena.
The win was also the 300th tour-level win of his career and means that Stefanos Tsitsipas remains in the top 10, for now. Had de Minaur bagged the win, the Greek would have slipped to 11 in the rankings, somewhere he’s not been since 2019.
Rublev bagged the opening set, but he was pegged by the dogged de Minaur, who has the footspeed to track down even the heavies of groundstrokes, and with the crowd fully behind him, the Aussie snatched sets two and three on a tie break.
The fourth was a tense affair, with Rublev establishing an early 3-0 lead, only to relinquish the break. However, the Russian didn’t lose his head, breaking again en route to a 5-2 lead, and he served it out 6-3.
The fifth looked set to be more of the same, but with Rublev looking hampered either by fatigue or injury, he opted to go nuclear on his groundstrokes. De Minaur no longer had that spring in his step either, and the fifth seed ran away with it, blasting his way to a bagel.
Massive credit to Alex. Two sets to one down, I told myself I would die to win this. It’s always tough against Alex; all of the past matches were dramatic—one of the fastest players and super tough to play. I’m super happy to be in the quarter-final; we’ll see what happens. I felt some pain at the end but it was normal after four hours, tried not to think about it and push myself. Keep fighting, and we’ll see what’s going to happen. My head is like a scary movie! A lot of emotions, better not to be inside myself. Rublev on his win over de Minaur.
Match Stats
| Alex de Minaur | Andrey Rublev | |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 6 | 6 |
| Double Faults | 6 | 6% |
| 1st Serve Percentage | 53% | 59% |
| 1st Serve Points Won | 64% (54/85) | 67% (72/107) |
| 2nd Serve Points Won | 50% (38/76) | 55% (40/73) |
| Break Points Saved | 38% (5/13) | 81% (13/16) |
| 1st Return Points Won | 33% (35/107) | 36% (31/85) |
| 2nd Return Points Won | 45% (33/73) | 50% (38/76) |
| Break Points Converted | 19% (3/16) | 62% (8/13) |
| Winners | 42 | 39 |
| Unforced Errors | 50 | 64 |
| Net Points Won | 72% (26/36) | 62% (16/26) |
| Max Points In Row | 8 | 12 |
| Service Points Won | 57% (92/161) | 62% (112/180) |
| Return Points Won | 38% (68/180) | 43% (69/161) |
| Total Points Won | 47% (160/341) | 53% (181/341) |
| Max Games In Row | 5 | 7 |
| Service Games Won | 67% (16/24) | 88% (22/25) |
| Return Games Won | 12% (3/25) | 33% (8/24) |
| Total Games Won | 39% (19/49) | 61% (30/49) |
Highlights
Australian Open Day 9 Round of 16 Matches
- Nuno Borges vs Daniil Medvedev (3)
- Arthur Cazaux (WC) vs Hubert Hurkacz (9)
- Alexander Zverev (6) vs Cameron Norrie (19)
- Miomir Kecmanovic vs Carlos Alcaraz (2)
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