MELBOURNE (Reuters) – 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%” 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
With younger top seeds falling by the wayside, Keys and Svitolina have shown that experienced players can adapt to the changing game and go deep into tournaments.
The pair have played each other three times at hardcourt majors with 30-year-old Svitolina winning the last two.
The Ukrainian has been trying to claw her way back into the top 10 since coming back from her pregnancy and foot surgery last year and Keys said she was impressed by how she has adapted her game.
“I watched her match against Jasmine (Paolini, in the third round) the other day and I was almost surprised. I was, like, ‘Wow, okay, she’s really going for it’,” Keys, 29, said.
“I think it’s kind of the evolution of all of us as we’re getting older and trying to make some changes and if you’re not having the success, then maybe you should adapt.”
Keys has also been forced to overhaul her game, especially her serve. Her previous motion led to injuries that forced her to miss the Australian Open last year and pull out of Wimbledon in the fourth round.
With a title already in the bag this year having won in Adelaide, Keys is looking to extend her winning run to 10 matches.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN ORDER OF PLAY ON WEDNESDAY
Here is the order of play on the main showcourts on the 11th day of the Australian Open (prefix number denotes seeding):
ROD LAVER ARENA
Day session (0030 GMT/1130 AEDT)
19-Madison Keys (U.S.) v 28-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine)
8-Emma Navarro (U.S.) v 2-Iga Swiatek (Poland)
21-Ben Shelton (U.S.) v Lorenzo Sonego (Italy)
Night session (0830 GMT/1930 AEDT)
1-Jannik Sinner (Italy) v 8-Alex de Minaur (Australia)
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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