MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev superior to the fourth spherical of the Australian Open for the third time in 4 years with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 win over Dan Evans on Saturday.
Rublev hit 60 winners, together with 10 aces.
“Each match I’m taking part in higher and higher,” Rublev stated. “At the start of the 12 months I misplaced a few shut matches towards actually good gamers and misplaced a little bit of confidence.”
Rublev, who will play ninth-seeded Holger Rune within the final 16, additionally thanked Evans for serving to him by giving him a banana late within the first set.
“I requested for a banana they usually didn’t have any,” Rublev stated. “Dan had requested for bananas earlier and had two and he simply gave me one. He helped me with the power.”
Danish teenager Rune beat Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (5) to maneuver into the fourth spherical on simply his second go to to Melbourne Park.
Rune had a nasty-looking fall on the second level of the second set when his proper ankle slipped. He had his proper wrist checked however appeared unaffected as he claimed a convincing victory.
Fifth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka prolonged her streak to seven matches as she beat Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-3 to achieve the fourth spherical. The Belarusian participant hit 32 winners to beat Mertens, with whom she received the doubles title in Melbourne in 2021.
“It’s actually robust to play towards her, she’s a fantastic participant and is at all times combating,” Sabalenka stated.
Sabalenka will now play Belinda Bencic after the Swiss participant reached the fourth spherical for the primary time since 2016, beating Camila Giorgi 6-2, 7-5 on Rod Laver Area.
The Twelfth-seeded Bencic was damaged when serving for the match at 5-4 however she broke serve within the following sport after which served out to like for victory.
“I’m actually pleased I bought a second likelihood to serve it out,” she stated. “However total I believe it was a fantastic match. (At 6-5) I simply tried to calm down. My coach (Dmitri Tursunov) was displaying me calm down (indicators).”
Bencic received the warm-up occasion in Adelaide earlier than the Australian Open and has received eight matches in a row.
Former top-ranked Karolina Pliskova additionally reached the final 16 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Varvara Gracheva. Pliskova, who final made the second week in Melbourne in 2019, didn’t face a break level.
“My serve, it may be a extremely good weapon,” she stated. “I’m not doing as a lot operating from the baseline.”
Pliskova subsequent performs Zhang Shuai, who ended the run of American qualifier Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2. Donna Vekic superior to the fourth spherical for the second time in three years with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Nuria Parrizas Diaz of Spain.