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The final eight in the running for the men’s Australian Open title is set after Novak Djokovic crushed Australia’s last chance Alex de Minaur in straight sets.
Djokovic was in command for the whole match, prevailing in just over two hours, despite a hamstring injury in earlier matches seeming to slim his chances.
Australia’s Alex de Minaur says Novak Djokovic has what it takes to win another title. Credit:AP
Djokovic said the injury did not bother him on Monday night.
“I really wanted to win in straight sets,” he said on court after the win.
A shocked and deflated de Minaur said after the match that Djokovic was moving well on court.
“If he has that level, he will win another title here,” he said.
The favourite for the women’s title, Aryna Sabalenka, delivered a similar blow to Swiss 12th seed Belinda Bencic in straight sets earlier in the day.
Sabalenka is yet to drop a set in this tournament.
Meanwhile, Russian Andrey Rublev defeated Danish ninth-seed Holger Rune in an epic that came down to a 20-point tiebreak in the fifth set.
Rublev will now face Djokovic in the quarter-finals. Earlier in the day, unseeded Polish player Magda Linette quashed fourth seed Caroline Garcia’s title hopes.
Up Tuesday night, the tournament’s third seeds – the highest still in the competition – will play in the men and women’s quarter-finals.
American Jessica Pegula is up against Victoria Azarenka on Rod Laver Arena from 7pm. The match will be the fifth time the pair have met, with their head-to-head all square at 2-2.
Afterwards, Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas will clash with Czech world No.71 Jiri Lehecka. The pair last met in Rotterdam where Tsitsipas won in straight sets.
Earlier in the day, Kazakhstan’s 22 seed Elena Rybakina will play 17th seed Jelena Ostapenko, from Lativa, while 18th seed Karen Khachanov is set to face American Sebastian Korda, seeded 29th.
Wheelchair tennis will kick off on Tuesday, with Australia’s Ben Weekes set to face Spain’s Martin de la Puente on Margaret Court Arena from 11am.
Be sure to tune in to our day nine blog for all the action.
Novak Djokovic spoke to the media after his massive win against Alex de Minaur.
The transcript is below.
Djokovic says tonight represents his best tennis so far this year. Credit:Getty
Q: Well done, Novak. Alex said just now that he thought you were very close to your best tennis ever. Do you agree with that assessment?
A: Well, I don’t know ever, but definitely [the] best tennis I’ve played this year, this tournament, so far this season. Best match. I’m really glad, because obviously as the tournament progresses, the matches are going to get tougher. I’m really glad to manage to win the way I did tonight. To feel really great in terms of mobility and movement of my leg, which is great news. So, all in all, [a] perfect match for me tonight.
Q: Can you give us insight on how you’re managing the leg in this tournament? How many more gears do you think you have left?
A: We take it day by day. We do a lot of things, actually. It’s been honestly exhausting to be involved in a lot of different treatments and machines and stuff that we do. At the same time, it was necessary. It is necessary in order to get myself in a condition to play. So I’m really glad that 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 are progressing in the right direction.
Q: Did the treatments ramp up after your match against Grigor Dimitrov? You seemed to have less mobility that night.
A: It’s just the response of the body. Some days you feel good; some days maybe not as [good]. So, as I said on the court, I do not want to celebrate too early ’cause I don’t know how the body’s going to respond tomorrow and for the next match.
Q: If I told you six days ago that you were going to have this night in less than a week, given how you were feeling back then, what would you have said?
A: I’ll take it. I’ll take it, definitely. I mean, at that point it wasn’t looking at all like that’s going to happen, to be honest with you. But it did, so I’m grateful. But as I said, having a little bit of experience throughout my career with these kind of particular circumstances, I know that my body responds pretty well. At the same time, there were situations where it was responding great a certain day, and then the next day not so well. Yeah, we’ll take it day by day. I’ll keep doing what I have done so far, which is what helped me to get to this condition. Hopefully, it can still keep improving.
Q: I’m sure you’re not going to take anything for granted, but can you give us an idea of how your mindset about your title ambitions here might have changed in this period as your leg now is feeling better, and that’s one less concern you might have? I’m also wondering, given all of your accomplishments, the rest of the field, nobody’s ever won a grand slam title, how much of an advantage is that for you?
A: Well, as I’ve answered to your colleague in the previous question, 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 until tonight. Tonight, the way I played, the way I felt, gives me reason now to believe that I can go all the way. 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. Tonight I feel that, so I feel positive about it. Being the only guy remaining in the tournament that has won a Grand Slam, of course flatters me, but I don’t think it’s going to make too big of a difference, to be honest. Maybe it will to some extent, I mean, for me, but maybe not for the other guys. I don’t know. I know Tsitsipas, for example, probably the most experienced guy out of all of them, all the quarter finalists. He has played already the final stages of a Grand Slam quite a few times. I think he has never played a finals, am I wrong?
Q. You beat him in Roland Garros, Paris, it was a good match, you came back.
A: That’s right. That’s right. Sorry, my bad. What I wanted to say is I wanted to compliment him because he’s someone that looks ready to go for the title, and the way he has been playing, he’s been coming closer and closer. But you have the other guys, some young American guys, that are doing extremely well at this tournament. Anything is possible, I think. We’ll just have to take it day by day. I’ve been in this situation so many times before, as you mentioned. I think from that point of view I think it helps me to have kind of a more, let’s say, clear approach to the remaining days of the tournament and what I need to do. Of course, I’ll keep an eye on all the other matches, see how the other guys are doing. We’ll see what happens.
Q: On the hamstring, can you explain to us how it has restricted you in previous matches and how you potentially changed your game because of that?
A: Well, certain movement was affected, particularly the extreme movements on the court, change of directions and so forth. Maybe people who were watching me play don’t maybe get that idea. For me as a player, being on the court, I can feel the difference definitely. I guess you have to accept and deal with the fact that you have a certain amount of the pain, which is not an issue for me. The biggest issue was the unpredictability of what the next quick move can cause. That’s what was my biggest concern because that’s how I got injured actually before the tournament started. So those quick change of directions and movements have been in the first couple of matches tough for me. But tonight, no problem at all.
Q: Have you had to change your game at all?
A: Well, I think looking at the performance tonight, the game is greatly affected when I have less [to] worry about what’s happening with the leg, when I don’t need to think about, calculate whether I’m going to go for a certain ball or not. When I’m free in my mind, I mean, this is what happens on the court like tonight.
Djokovic’s post-match press conference is under way, we will have the transcript with you shortly.
Alex de Minaur will console himself in the postmortem of his Australian Open fourth-round hiding from Novak Djokovic that he was beaten by a “pretty faultless” opponent.
The world No.24 walked onto Rod Laver Arena with the host nation’s hopes resting on his shoulders as the last Australian standing, but could wrest only five games off a brilliant Djokovic in a ruthless 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 result.
He admitted afterwards that he had almost certainly never played anyone better than the version of Djokovic he faced on Monday night.
Click here to read more.
Alex de Minaur farewells tonight’s crowd.Credit:AP
It’s an Australian Open ritual, the way lambs to the slaughter is a ritual.
An Australian pretender braves his way into the second week, then runs into the brick wall of one of the true contenders. It’s like going up a division. This is the Premier League, the heavyweight section.
It’s been this way all but twice for more than 20 years. The exceptions who got further in prove the rule. They were Lleyton Hewitt and Nick Kyrgios. One won majors, one should.
Click here to read more.
Novak Djokovic waves to the crowd after breezing past local hope Alex de Minaur.Credit:Getty Images
Alex de Minaur spoke to the media after the match.
Here’s the transcript:
Alex de Minaur farewells tonight’s crowd. Credit:AP
Q: Alex, tough match today for you. What can you learn from the match against Novak tonight?
A: Yeah, just, if anything, [I’m] a little bit disappointed. I didn’t give much for the crowd to cheer on. I think I came up against a very good opponent with a very high level today. But, yeah, there’s lots of things to improve for me if I want to take the next step.
Q: Have you played a better player than the version you got tonight?
A: I don’t think I have, if I’m completely honest. I think what I experienced today was probably Novak very close to his best, I would say. To me, if that’s the level, I think he’s definitely the guy that’s going to take the title.
Q: What was it about Novak’s game tonight that stumped you a little bit, that you looked at him and said, ‘Geez, he’s on fire?’
A: I think what makes Novak Novak at the end of the day [is] how solid he is, his movement, his end range gets, what he’s able to do with that, the depth he’s able to keep. It just felt like constant pressure today. Every service game I had, wasn’t getting free points. It felt like an uphill battle from the start. [I was] never really ... able to get my teeth into the match, make it tough for him, or bring the pressure moments and situations.
Q: Putting aside your performance, are you astounded how good Novak was tonight, how powerful he was?
A: Yeah, I think he was moving pretty well. He hasn’t done what he’s done in this sport without knowing how to play this level. Look, I knew what to expect. Ultimately, you go out there with a plan. You try to execute it. At times your opponent makes it pretty difficult to execute a plan. I think today that’s what he was doing. He was what felt like on another level to mine. I was just trying to hang on there. At the start [it] was very solid, then he loosened up even more and started swinging. It felt like he could hit winners from every place in the court. [I] didn’t really know what to do out there.
Q: You mentioned the game plan going in. Where did you feel you could attack Novak tonight?
A: I mean, I tried to be aggressive. That was the game plan, to get him moving, really test where he’s at. Yeah, didn’t get much joy out of it. I think two things happened, really. Whenever I got him on the move, he was pretty good out there. He hit a quality shot from end range, which ultimately got him back into the front seat of a point. Then he made it quite tough for me to be aggressive, as well, by hitting the ball very hard, flat and deep, not giving a lot of chances for me to attack. There was a bit of both happening.
Q: How do you sum up your summer overall in Australia?
A: Look, it’s tough to look back on it now. I mean, it’s the old cliche: I’m happy with the summer I’ve had, but really I want to do better than fourth round at a slam. It’s great, I’m happy, but I’m not content. I want more. I want to be in [the] quarter-finals, be in the semi-finals, really go deep. I want to take the next step. That’s what I want to do. Like everything, it will add fuel to the fire. I’ll get my head down. I’ll speak to my team and work on the things I need to work on to take the next step ’cause this is not where I want my goals to be, making fourth rounds of slams.
Q. You mentioned how well Novak moved. Does that make all the speculation about the hamstring frustrating while you’re on the court?
A: I don’t know. You tell me how you thought he looked out there. Playing him, I thought he was moving pretty well, so... I don’t know.
Q: Is it hard to isolate yourself from all that speculation on the hamstring when you entered the court today? How did you move away from that?
A: Look, I don’t know. I think everyone’s kind of seeing what’s been happening over the couple of weeks. It’s the only thing everyone’s been talking about. Today I was out there on court against him. Either I’m not a good enough tennis player to expose that, or... it looked good to me. He was just too good in all aspects.
Q: We’ve spoken a lot in the lead-up to the Open with your wins over Medvedev and Nadal. What about a loss like this? How difficult is it to get over this? If you were to play Novak again down the track or another top player, how do you go on the court mentally believing you can win?
A: Yeah, I mean, that’s a great question. I guess we’ll see once we get there. Ultimately, these are the matches I want to play. Maybe I’m being very hard on myself right now, but it did seem like I played a pretty faultless Novak today. I could be wrong. I could then look at the match and see what I could have done better to expose him in any way, shape or form. The feeling I’ve got just walking off the court is that I played a pretty high-level Novak, which I feel like if he has that level, he will win another title here. That’s my thoughts.
Q: That makes it easier?
A: Yeah, I’ll try not to take it too hard on myself because, ultimately, these guys, they’ve done a lot
in the sport. If they bring their best level, you’re just slightly off your game, this is what happens.
Q: You mentioned before it was a pretty faultless Novak. What positives do you take from the tournament going forward to the next events that you’re playing?
A: I had a great match against [Frenchman Adrian] Mannarino. That was a positive. Made the second week of a slam again. That’s another positive. Yeah, over the Aussie summer I got a win over Rafa, which is pretty positive. There’s definitely positives out there. Now it’s just about forgetting what happened out there today and moving on, ’cause ultimately in this life you’re going to have a couple of these performances, nights, days, where things just don’t go your way. There’s plenty of them. If you take it too hard, then it’s going to linger for a while. You got to get ready for the next week
Some social media reaction to Djokovic’s destruction of de Minaur...
So much for Novak Djokovic, maybe, being vulnerable.
After a competitive start, the nine-time king of Melbourne Park broke Australian hearts with a devastating 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 fourth-round romp over an outmatched Alex de Minaur that should silence any doubts about his title credentials.
It seems improbable, particularly after Monday night’s scintillating performance, that anyone will stop him this Australian Open fortnight from the ultimate redemption after being booted out of the country 12 months ago.
Click here to read more.
Djokovic was in commanding touch.Credit:Getty Images
Djokovic spoke to American former world No. 1 tennis player Jim Courier after the match.
Here’s a transcript of the conversation.
Novak Djokovic applauds as Alex de Minaur leaves Rod Laver Arena.Credit:Getty
Q: It’s a beautiful night for tennis. Going up against Alex (de Minaur) who has been playing well. He beat Rafael Nadal a couple of weeks ago. That’s how well he’s playing. Lot of Aussie fans in the building tonight looking forward to a great night of tennis possibly a late night of tennis. Didn’t happen. I’m not going to ask you how you beat him so convincingly. I’ll ask you why you beat him so convincingly.
A: Because I wanted to. Good evening, everybody. Good evening. Thanks for coming out. I cannot say I’m sorry that you haven’t watched a longer match to be honest. I really wanted to win straight sets. Obviously, you never know what is going to happen on the court. Once you’re on the court, obviously, you’ve got to deal with a lot of things that are on and off the court. So I thought it was first four or five games were quite close. One break of serve in the first set. I started feeling, I guess more loose, more free to kind of go through the ball and be more aggressive. I felt maybe he was a bit more nervous towards the end of the second and beginning of the first. I felt like it’s my opportunity to try to capitalise on those chances. Tennis is a very quick, very dynamic sport. Things can change in a matter of moments, matter of points. Kept my focus all the way through. Just played the best match of this year so far.
Q: It’s obvious that you’re dealing with an issue on your left leg and managing that is something you’ve been doing throughout this tournament. What’s the status of the injury? How does that impact not just a match but also your days off? What is different for you in this tournament because of that?
A: Thank you, Jim, but tonight it wasn’t obvious I was dealing with an injury. I mean ... I didn’t feel anything today. Today was great. I thank my medical team, my physio. Thank God – anybody that really helped me. Yeah, I keep on going. Obviously, I don’t want to celebrate too early. I’m still in the tournament. I was feeling very good in the first match. Second match, not so great. So I know that things can change really quickly. I don’t take anything for granted. I’m really pleased with the way I played and the way I moved today. The way I hit the ball. So let’s keep it going.
Q: Two years ago you won this tournament, but you also suffered an injury in your abdominal. Does that experience of being able to manage coming through not having perfect health ... does that give you confidence?
A: Well, look, you Jim have been through a few injuries in your career, you know how that feels – especially when playing a tournament. You don’t know really what is the degree of the injury until you play a competitive match. I’ve been taking a lot of pills these days. It’s not ideal. But trying to mask the pain. Not those kind of pills, guys. Anti-inflammatory pills. I normally don’t like taking [them], but, yeah, I had to find a way with my team and take it day-by-day. Today, as I said, I don’t want to go too deep into it. Today was the best day so far of the tournament. Hopefully [it] stays that way.
Q: Andrey Rublev won an amazing match today. [He’s your] next opponent. He’s beaten you once and you beat him twice. What are you looking forward to? What’s that challenge going to be in a couple of days’ time?
A: Well, he’s an established top-five player already. [He’s got] incredible firepower, especially from the serve and forehand corner. Just [a] very explosive player. A little bit like de Minaur. So, hopefully, the result will be the same.
And there it is. Djokovic completes his rout of local hope de Minaur 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 in two hours and six minutes.
This was a statement match if ever there was one.
It’s almost as though Djokovic used the top Australian in his home tournament as the sacrificial lamb to send a message to the tennis world that the sheriff is still in town.
Djokovic celebrating his win.Credit:Getty
The Serb might be the fourth seed, but he still looks every bit the best player in the world.
It was like a boy strayed into the men’s tournament – that’s how cavernous the gulf in class was.
Djokovic almost tripled de Minaur for winners (26-9) while committing fewer unforced errors (27-28).
In all, the nine-time Australian Open champion brought up 12 break-point chances, converting six, while de Minaur didn’t bring up a single one.
Djokovic dominated the serves, too, finishing with a massive advantage in percentage of points won both on first serve (75-52) and second (67-44).
Djokovic qualifies for his 54th grand slam quarter-final, where he will face Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev.
It’ll be a brave punter to back against Djokovic clinching his record-equalling 22nd major on Sunday night.
As for de Minaur, he can’t better his personal best of a fourth-round exit at the Australian Open, and he remains on just one final-eight appearance (the 2020 US Open).
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2023-01-23 11:55:38Z
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