Sports
Sabalenka and Alcaraz into quarter-finals
Top seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz are safely through to the quarter finals of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Sabalenka extended her reign as tiebreak queen to book a fourth successive appearance in the last eight while Alcaraz saw off the challenge of Tommy Paul.
Third seed Coco Gauff also advanced to her third quarter-finals in a row with a 6-1 3-6 6-3 win over Czech Karolina Muchova in a late-afternoon match at Margaret Court Arena.
A day after blistering heat caused mayhem at Melbourne Park, normal service resumed as a cool change brought relief for players, fans and tournament schedulers.
Twice champion and favourite Sabalenka was first out on a glorious morning, seeing off Canada’s 19-year-old talent Victoria Mboko 6-1 7-6(1).
Sabalenka breezed through a 31-minute opening set but Mboko fought back in the second set to take it to a tiebreak.
Sabalenka raised her game to notch an incredible 20th successive tiebreak win at Grand Slams.
“It’s incredible to see these kids coming up on tour,” said world number one Sabalenka, who has now booked 13 successive Grand Slam quarter-finals.
“She pushed me really hard today.”
In the men’s draw top seed Alcaraz looked serene against 19th seed Paul, a semi-finalist in 2023.
For all of Paul’s credentials, Alcaraz appeared in cruise control in a 7-6(6) 6-4 7-5 win.
“I guess the way that I would describe it is, you know, he kind of, like, suffocates you in a way,” Paul said of Alcaraz.
“He makes you feel like you have no time.”
Alcaraz will face the winner of sixth seed Alex de Minaur, the home hero, and 10th-seeded Kazak Alexander Bublik.
