The Olympic champion lacked the usual confidence in his groundstrokes against Shapovalov. There was no sign of the confidence he had portrayed in the final months of last season after his gold medal in Tokyo. Zverev played incorrectly and did not look fresh. The German ATP Finals winner has never beaten a top ten player in a Grand Slam tournament. It wasn’t even enough for world number 14 on Sunday in Melbourne.
“At the end of the day, it was not good enough. There are no excuses. There is nothing. I have to take it on my own and try to do my best,” the German said after the poor performance. Could just sit here and say, ‘I’ve got a cold and something else.’ But no, I am always very honest. I don’t have anything. To be honest, I only had a short week. ”But this final assessment should have primarily affected the match against Shapovalov, as Zverev did not score a sentence in the first three rounds.
Nadal asked for only one sentence
On the other hand, Rafael Nadal has reached the quarter-finals for the 14th time. The Spanish fifth in the world ranking played their part as the favorite against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in 7:6 (16/14) 6:2 6:2. Nadal will now face Shapovalov in the fight for a place in the semi-finals. He won his only Australian Open title so far in 2009. If the 35-year-old wins the title in Melbourne this year, he will expand his massive collection to 21 trophies thus becoming the only record winner.
The first set already meant an early decision: the strong Mallorcan faced four set balls in the tie-break and won the first round after 81 minutes. After that, Mannarino was at the end of his strength, having defeated last year’s semifinalist Aslan Caraze (RUS) in a 4:39 hour thriller in the last round. “The first set was very emotional, anything could have happened there and I was a little lucky,” Nadal said.
Monfils in quarter-finals for the second time
Next is Gail Monfils. French seed No. 17, who is looked after by Günter Bresnik and again in Melbourne by Vienna’s Richard Rückelshausen, defeated Serb Miomir Kekmanovic 7:5 7:6 (7/4) 6:3. Monfils, 35, is in the quarterfinals for the second time since 2016.
“I tried to be aggressive. It was really tough, he played very fast from both sides,” Monfils said. “I want to go further, we haven’t worked here yet.” His next opponent is Matteo Berrettini (ITA/7), who is Pablo Carreo Busta (ESP/19) with a 7:5 7:6 (7/4). 6:4 green.
Krejcikova and Keyes without any problems
Women’s quarterfinal duel between Barbora Krejcikova and Madison Keys. French Open winner Krejcikova and former US Open finalist Keys made it to the quarterfinals with clear successes. World number four Krejcikova retained her chance to win the title with 6:2 6:2 against two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Asrenka of Belarus.
In their last two appearances at the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, the Czech did not make the second round. “I admire Vika. She is the champion here. I am extremely happy to have won today. Words are hard to find,” said the 26-year-old.
Keys, who is also 26, needed only 69 minutes to go 6:3 6:1 against Spain’s top ten player Paula Badosa. Keys reached the US Open final in 2017 and her best result to date was the 2015 Australian Open semifinal. “I’m just enjoying playing tennis again,” said the world number 51.
Barty On, Sakkari Out
World number one Ashleigh Barty is also in the race for the title. The Australian won against American Amanda Anisimova 6:4 6:3 in the last women’s game of the day. In the quarterfinals, the 25-year-old will take on Jessica Pegula (USA), who won 7:6 (7/0) 6:3 against Greek Maria Sakkari, who was at number five.
Anisimova had earlier defeated defending champion Naomi Osaka of Japan in the third round. In Melbourne, Barty hopes to become the first Australian tennis player since Chris O’Neill in 1978 to win the Australian Open.
Australian Open in Melbourne
(Australia, Grand Slam tournament, €47.5m, Tough)
men’s singles
women’s singles
