Sabalenka, Alcaraz ease into Australian Open quarters, Medvedev crashes out

MELBOURNE, Jan 25 : Aryna Sabalenka extended her reign as tiebreak queen to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals for a fourth successive year and Carlos Alcaraz joined her as Daniil Medvedev's campaign ended on Sunday.

Third seed Coco Gauff advanced to her third quarter-finals in a row with a pulsating 6-1 3-6 6-3 victory over crafty Czech Karolina Muchova in a late-afternoon contest at Margaret Court Arena, while Alexander Zverev and Alex de Minaur eased through.

But three-times finalist Medvedev was handed another harsh lesson by his new nemesis Learner Tien, the Russian going down 6-4 6-0 6-3 to the American again at Melbourne Park.

"He played great, super-aggressive. Even when I was making good shots, he was making a better shot back," Medvedev said.

"I didn't find many solutions today on the court, which is rare, and I didn't feel that many times in my life like this."

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 Canadian 19-year-old Victoria Mboko 6-1 7-6(1) in a match of two halves.

The Belarusian was at her irrepressible best as she crushed the teen in a 31-minute opening set and raced to a 4-1 lead in the second before Mboko produced a thrilling fightback.

Breaking Sabalenka twice on the way to a 6-5 lead, Mboko then hit a brick wall as the Belarusian raised her game to notch a 20th successive tiebreak win at Grand Slams, eclipsing Novak Djokovic's record of 19 between Wimbledon 2005 and 2007.

"I'm upset right now," Djokovic joked in response to a post on X highlighting Sabalenka's feat.

PUSHED HARD

Belarusian Sabalenka