MELBOURNE: The Indian mixed doubles duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna advanced to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Australian Open after defeating the Uruguay-Japanese pair of Ariel Behar-Makoto Ninomiya in their second-round match on Monday.
Mirza-Bopanna defeated their opposition 6-4, 7-6 (11-9).
Earlier, Andrey Rublev rallied back from the brink to edge out Holger Rune of Denmark in a blockbuster 5-setter clash to book a seat in the quarter-final in the tournament at the Rod Laver Arena on Monday.
Rublev saved two match points before winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (11/9) on Rod Laver Arena.
“I never in my life was able to win matches like this. This is the first ever time that I won something like this, especially in a very special tournament, the Australian Open, to be in the quarter-finals. So it’s something I will remember for sure all my life. I have no words, I am shaking and happy,” ATP.com quoted Rublev as saying in a post-match.
Poland’s Magda Linette produced a gritty performance to get through to her first-ever quarterfinal after she upset No.4 seed Caroline Garcia of France in straight sets in the ongoing Australian Open here at Rod Laver Arena on Monday.
Linette kept her great run going with a 7-6(3), 6-4 upset against WTA Finals champion Garcia.
On the other hand, Karolina Pliskova extended her head-to-head dominance over Zhang Shuai to advance to her 11th career Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Aryna Sabalenka defeated Belinda Bencic on Monday at Rod Laver Arena to reach her first Australian Open quarterfinal.
Sabalenka produced a stunning performance to defeat No.12 seed Bencic 7-5, 6-2 in a match that lasted 87 minutes, coming back from a breakdown in the first set.
Elsewhere at the Margaret Court Arena, former Top 20 player Donna Vekic of Croatia rolled into the second Grand Slam quarter-final of her career with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory against Czech teen Linda Fruhvirtova after two hours and 7 minutes of battle.
Stefanos Tsitsipas survived a marathon five-set-thriller against Jannik Sinner in the fourth round of the Australian Open on Sunday, as he advanced to the quarterfinals at the Rod Laver Arena.
The Greek faced the most challenging test of his campaign from 21-year-old Sinner after cruising through his first three encounters in Melbourne without dropping a set. He was faced with a stern challenge but ended up winning 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, and 6-3 against the Italian.
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka advanced to the quarterfinals of the ongoing edition after registering a win over China’s Zhu Lin in her round of 16 match at Melbourne on Sunday.
Victoria sealed the win in two hour, 40-minute affair by 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to book her sixth QF spot in the tournament, having won it twice in 2012 and 2013. (ANI)