Adelaide—Former world number one Daniil Medvedev locked in an all-Russian Adelaide International quarter-final with Karen Khachanov Wednesday, while Aryna Sabalenka stormed back to book her place in the last eight.
Medvedev, runner-up at the last two Australian Opens, blew away the new year cobwebs with a 6-0, 6-3 romp over Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic.
It came a day after the 2021 US Open champion had to save nine set points against first-round opponent Lorenzo Sonego before the Italian retired hurt.
“I think it was a great match. Miomir is a tough opponent, a high-ranked player so there are no easy guys left in Adelaide,” third seed Medvedev said of the 29th-ranked Serb.
“I’m not sure there were any (easy opponents) from the first round, so really happy to be through, happy with my level.”
Next up is eighth seed Khachanov, who eased past Britain’s Jack Draper 6-4, 6-2.
Rising Japanese star Yoshihito Nishioka also went through. Having dispatched fifth seed Holger Rune in the first round, he backed up to beat American Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-3.
His reward is a last eight clash with either Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin, who stunned second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime on Monday, or American Marcos Giron.
World number five Sabalenka came back from 1-5 down in the first set to fight past dogged Russian Liudmila Samsonova 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/3) and make the quarter-finals.
She will meet Marketa Vondrousova for a place in the last four after the Czech player’s dominant 6-0, 6-4 dismissal of Estonian Kaia Kanepi.
In Brisbane, world number one Iga Swiatek outlasted Martina Trevisan to level Poland’s United Cup city final Wednesday after rising star Lorenzo Musetti produced an almost flawless display of serving to put Italy in front.
Musetti lost only three points on serve to beat Poland’s Daniel Michalski 6-1, 6-1 in just 57 minutes in the best-of-five-match Brisbane city final.
The winners of the city finals in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth progress to the semi-finals of the inaugural mixed teams tournament along with the best-performing losing finalist.
The 20-year-old Musetti, who climbed to 23 in the world in 2022, had far too much firepower for his opponent, blasting 17 winners past the 260th-ranked Michalski.
“I was so focused today on the match and the serve was really good,” he said. “But with every shot I had a great feeling for the ball so I think I played the best match so far.”