Tim and Halep-Serena duel in the quarter-finals

Melbourne (Australia) February 14th (EFE). Austrian Dominic Thiem (3) bid farewell to Melbourne Park against Bulgarian Gregor Dimitrov (19) after he fell in the 16th round of the Australian Open 6-4, 6. 4, 6-0; Meanwhile, the women’s team will have an excellent meeting between American Serena Williams (10) and Romanian Simona Halep, beating Belarusian Arena Sabalenka (7) and Poland’s Ijia Sweatk (15), respectively.

Current finalist accused Tim of accumulating fatigue after returning to local Nick Kyrios in a five-set match in the previous round and being run over by the newly arrived excellent Dimitrov after playing only one set in the third round as a result. From the abandonment of the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.

Thiem, who committed a total of 41 non-coercive fouls (23 more than his opponent), put off very high expectations for his status as current US Open champion.

Bulgarian hangman Dimitrov proved once again why the Australian “pioneer” was his favorite in the Grand Slams after reaching the quarter-finals for the fourth time in his career.

His next opponent will be Russian Aslan Karatsev, who was confirmed to have unveiled the championship after ousting Canadian Felix Oger-Aliassim (20) in the round of 16.

For his part, German Alexander Zverev (6) decided the last 16 match against Serbian Dusan Lyovic (23) with a score of 7-6 (5) 6-4 and 6-3, while his fiftieth victory was in Grand Slam. Competition.

“It was cooler than usual, but I am very happy to be in three sets,” he said after the match.

He returned to present his scariest side by obtaining 14 direct serve kicks and 43 winners that were necessary to beat Lagovic in the fast lane that forced him to rule in five sets on the last two occasions they faced each other at Roland Garros (2018 and 2019).

Zverev will strongly reach his commitment in the quarter-finals, where he will face Serbian Novak Djokovic (1) or Canadian Milos Raonic (14), after having finished his last three matches without giving up a single set.

The young tennis player from Hamburg reached the quarter-finals for the second year in a row, thus becoming the sixth German to qualify for the round of 16 on more than one occasion.

In the women’s competition, American Serena fought a huge battle by defeating Belarusian Arena Sabalenka (7) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Serena, who won the most titles (7) in Melbourne Park in the open era, will continue to have options to match Margaret Court’s mark as the player with the most Grand Slam titles (24), and he’s now only three games to get him. . .

Despite the victory, the Michigan tennis player gave up a group for the first time in the tournament after concluding her first match in straight sets against German Laura Siegmund, Serbian Nina Stojanovic and Russian Anastasia Potapova.

It was the first time since she started her career in Melbourne Park that she faced the seeded American.

The next hurdle, Romanian Halep avenged the crushing semi-final defeat she suffered in the last Roland Garros by Polish Swiatek, beating them 3-6, 6-1 and 6-4.

“It was very difficult, I knew it would hurt me a lot with this right turn. I tried to go back a little to be able to make it work more,” he said after the match ended.

The young Polish, who went from accumulating eleven non-compulsive fouls in the first half to nineteen fouls in the final set, was unable to maintain the lead on the scoreboard.

As Roman explains, she changed her strategy when aware of her opponent’s punch and took a step back to be able to get more play. His desire to pursue an opponent’s failure led him to commit only 17 non-coercive fouls in a match that lasted nearly two hours.

Despite her clearly unfavorable background facing her upcoming rival Serena (2-9), her most recent memory is the victory she won in the Wimbledon Final in 2019 when Romanian won 6 duels.

Spanish Garbin Muguruza (14) lost in the second round to Japanese Naomi Osaka (3), 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, in a wonderful battle at a high level of tennis.

Muguruza, the current finalist, missed two match points against the rest when he reversed the scoreboard 5-3 in his favor in the third set. However, she left with her head held high, despite a bitter defeat to complete two weeks in Melbourne, in which she had amassed seven wins and two losses, against local Ashley Barty (1) and Osaka herself.

“I didn’t know what to expect because we had never faced each other.” After the match, which lasted about two hours, ended, “I was in dread before I started because I knew so well that I would participate in the match.

The confrontation was called out to be an epic battle for the unbeatable status of the Grand Slam champion by not conceding one set in the first three rounds.

The domination with the two candidates raised a draw on the scoreboard to 5-4, by which time Muguruza took a break in time to score the first set against Osaka, who came out to dispatch at 195 km / h.

Muguruza’s self-confidence continued in the second set, which opened with an early “break”. However, realizing how her chances of surviving in Melbourne Park had diminished, Osaka brought her best tennis to the rest to hold the tie once again in the second round.

Muguruza’s suspicions, accompanied by Osaka’s toughness to the rest, led the game to a final set that began by defending both players for serve matches until the Spaniards took a pass forward 2-2 to close further to the quarter-finals.

The Spanish tennis player, born in Caraca, scored a match that touched the supremacy with a score of 4-3 in her favor, after converting three aces, one of which was to save the “break” ball, and signing one of the game’s best points by tying a parallel winning backhand set up 5-3.

It was in the next match when Muguruza got two match points at 15-40, which was saved by Osaka after tying a direct serve and capitalizing on an unintended foul by Spain.

Physical fitness prevented her from maintaining the same level of aggression and ended up taking a break “ in the extreme ” which qualified her for the next round in which she will face Taiwanese Su-Wei Hsieh, 35, and 71 in the world, who continues to make history by beating Czech Marqueta. Fondrosova, 6-2, 6-4 and achieving her best Grand Slam career.

“She’s always a very strong opponent.” Osaka commented on the talented Hsieh, after I played the first match against Muguruza, if I’m not angry I will have a great time but now I have to rest because it was a very difficult match.