Sinner faces 'underdog' De Minaur on his home turf at Australian Open

MELBOURNE : The Australian Open quarter-finals continue on Wednesday and top seed Jannik Sinner's task of defending his crown is not getting any easier. The Italian is recovering from an illness and will face Australia's last hope Alex De Minaur, who will be pumped up by a vocal home crowd.

Women's second seed Iga Swiatek goes into her match against U.S. Open semi-finalist Emma Navarro with a huge burden lifted off her shoulders after the World Anti-Doping Agency decided not to appeal her case at sport's highest court.

TOP MEN'S MATCH: JANNIK SINNER V ALEX DE MINAUR

Sinner battled through illness and dizziness to beat Holger Rune in an entertaining fourth-round encounter where he was visibly shaking and the Italian top seed thanked the crowd for their support, saying "90 per cent" of the credit goes to them.

Sinner will not have much support in his quarter-final, however, with local favourite Minaur on the other side of the net.

Although the Italian has a perfect 9-0 record against De Minaur he is not taking the 25-year-old lightly, especially on his home turf.

"Every match is different. Playing against him here in Australia, it's for sure different," Sinner said.

De Minaur, seeking a first Grand Slam semi-final spot, is not looking at his record against Sinner and the eighth seed said he is prepared to "battle from the very first point till the last" on Rod Laver Arena.

"The great thing about tennis is that once you step out on the court, you both start at 0-0. It's a whole new day, a whole new match and anything can happen," he said.

"It's going to be my first match this whole tournament where I'm the underdog and don't have all the pressure and expectation of having to win."

TOP WOMEN'S MATCH: MADISON KEYS V ELINA SVITOLINA