The Ukrainian qualifier Dajana Jastremska surprisingly reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open. In the men’s category, Daniil Medvedev is one round further.
The 23-year-old beat the favorite Viktoria Asarenka 7:6 (8:6), 6:4 in Melbourne. In the fight for a place in the semi-finals, Jastremska will now face Linda Noskova. The Czech benefited from the injury-related retirement of Ukrainian Jelina Switolina, who, from her point of view, was unable to continue playing due to an injury when the score was 0-3.
“It feels like my heart is jumping out of my body,” said Jastremska, completely overwhelmed after the game in the Rod Laver Arena. It felt like she had lost the game 20 times: “Unbelievable. I think I won because I’m a great fighter.”
Round of 16 women arrow right Round of 16 men arrow right
In the first set, Jastremska had to fend off two set points in the tiebreak. In the second set, Asarenka, who won the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2012 and 2013 tennis season, quickly moved away to 3-0. But Jastremska fought back and scored her first match point after 2:07 hours. She is the second Ukrainian to reach the quarter-finals in Melbourne. Marta Kostjuk had previously won her round of 16 on Sunday. She now has to deal with the American Coco Gauff.
Medvedev in the quarterfinals
In the men’s event, two-time finalist Daniil Medvedev made it to the quarterfinals without any major problems. The world number three from Russia underlined his title ambitions and defeated the Portuguese Nuno Borges 6:3, 7:6 (7:4), 5:7, 6:1 in around three hours of play. “I just hoped it wouldn’t go beyond five sets,” said Medvedev: “Now I’m very tired. But that should be better by the next match.”
In the quarterfinals, Medvedev will face ninth-seeded Pole Hubert Hurkacz, who defeated the young Frenchman Arthur Cazaux 7:6 (8:6), 7:6 (7:3), 6:4 and reached the round for the first time the last eight in Melbourne.
Hanfmann and Koepfer in the quarterfinals
The German tennis professionals Yannick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer surprisingly reached the quarter-finals as a doubles team. The duo defeated Marcel Granollers from Spain and Horacio Zeballos from Argentina 7:6 (7:5), 6:7 (3:7), 6:4 and presented themselves well-coordinated in Melbourne despite little doubles experience together. “It’s not the case that I’m thinking: ‘Unbelievable’,” said Hanfmann: “We’re both good enough and can beat people in doubles. The fact that it’s working so well at a Grand Slam is of course cool.”
On Sunday, the Davis Cup double Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz had already reached the quarter-finals, and there could be a German duel in the semi-finals. Already in the second round, Hanfmann and Koepfer, who were eliminated in the singles in the first round, surprisingly eliminated the Australian defending champions Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler.
Siegemund also continued in doubles
Specialist Laura Siegemund also reached the quarter-finals with her new Czech partner Barbora Krejcikova. The duo beat the American Emma Navarro and the Russian Diana Schnaider 6:4, 6:0. Krejcikova is also in the singles quarterfinals in Melbourne.
