Sunday Feb 22, 2026
Sunday Feb 22, 2026
Monday, 26 January 2026 03:22 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Iva Jovic (left) will face Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals
Aryna Sabalenka has extended her reign as tiebreak queen to book a fourth successive appearance in the Australian Open quarter-finals before Carlos Alcaraz reached the last eight with a Tommy Paul takedown.
Third-seeded Coco Gauff also advanced to her third quarter-finals in a row yesterday with a pulsating 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win over crafty Czech Karolina Muchova in a late-afternoon match at Margaret Court Arena.
The day’s biggest upset was veteran Daniil Medvedev’s straight-sets exit at the hands of Learner Tien.
Two-time champion and title favourite Sabalenka was first out, seeing off Canada’s 19-year-old talent Victoria Mboko 6-1, 7-6(1) in a match of two halves.
Having taken down one young gun, Sabalenka gets a shot at another in the quarters against 18-year-old American Iva Jovic, who thrashed Kazakh veteran Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 6-1 at John Cain Arena, two days after dumping out seventh-seeded Jasmine Paolini.
Jovic is the youngest player to reach the women’s quarter-finals at the Australian Open without dropping a set since Venus Williams in 1998.
The men’s tournament has seen few surprises of the magnitude of Mboko and Jovic with the last 16 shut out by seeded players for the first time at any Grand Slam in the professional era.
Top-seeded Alcaraz did his bit in preserving the status quo despite facing arguably his toughest test of this tournament against 19th-seeded Paul, a semi-finalist in 2023.
For all of Paul’s credentials, Alcaraz appeared in cruise control in a 7-6(6), 6-4, 7-5 win in the afternoon sun at Rod Laver Arena.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Gauff saw three match points slip through her fingers before prevailing in a proper scrap against 19th-seeded Muchova, a former semi-finalist. Gauff emerged the winner with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 scoreline.
Later in the day, last year’s runner-up Alexander Zverev stayed on track in his bid for an elusive maiden Grand Slam title, beating Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.
Zverev will face American Tien, who overcame a nosebleed in the opening set to school Medvedev 6-4, 6-0, 6-3 in a late session.
