The second week of the Australian Open (AO) has started on spring of surprises in women's draw as unseeded Kaia Kanepi, ranked 115 in rankings knocked out second seed Aryna Sabalenka. The day also saw former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep exit in the fourth round after Alize Cornet knocked her out in a thriller. Normal service though resumed in men's department as top seed Daniil Medvedev rallied to book his place in the last eight. It needed a five-set thriller for French Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas to punch his ticket for the quarterfinals.
Cornet and Kanepi turn out to be the surprise packages
The day started with a big upset as former world no.1 and Wimbledon champion Halep as she was shown the exit door in three sets. Veteran French star Alize Cornet booked her first-ever major quarterfinal ticket. It was her 63rd attempt in 17 years that saw her get the better of Halep by 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
More upsets were to follow as second seed Sabalenka was outclassed by Estonia's Kanepi in thrilling three sets. The deciding set went into a tiebreaker as the Estonian held her nerves to continue her giant-killing run. With scoreline reading 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (10-7), Kanepi advanced to the last eight. She had earlier eliminated 16th seed Angelique Kerber in the first round.
In other women's singles matches, no.1 seed Ashleigh Barty continued her impressive run with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Amanda Anisimova. She will now face Jessica Pegula, the 21st seed who beat fifth seed Maria Sakkari 7-6, 6-3.
Former AO champion Victoria Azarenka couldn't trouble fourth seed and Rolland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova as she exited in straight sets in 6-2, 6-2.
The draw contains three unseeded players in the quarterfinals with Madison Keys also in the running along with Kanepi and Cornet.
Tsitsipas survives huge scare
The Rolland Garros runners-up had to pull all the tools in his arsenal to snatch a dramatic five-set win against 20th seed Taylor Fritz of the USA. After three sets, the Greek star was 1-2 down but pulled up a handsome comeback to book his place in the next round. His 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win saw him sweat for nearly four hours to book overcome his opponent.
Highest seed remaining in the tournament, Medvedev dropped a set against another USA star Maxime Cressy but did enough to win by 6-2, 7-6, 6-7, 7-5.
Ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada also made it to the last eight with a win against former US Open champion Marin Cilic as he won 2-6, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6.
Tuesday (January 25) will see women's quarterfinal action where the top seeds will look to book their place in the final four. Also, Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils will also take the court at the Rod Laver Arena against Denis Shapovalov and Matteo Berrettini respectively.
