Aus Open, Day 8: Rafa Nadal passes Fabio Fognini test with flying colors, local star Ash Barty sweeps into quarters
Top-ranked Ash Barty sealed a dominant 6-3 6-4 victory over American Shelby Rogers to reach at least the quarter-finals for the third year in a row. She will face 25th seed Karolina Muchova in the last eight after the Czech beat Belgium`s Elise Mertens 7-6(5) 7-5.
Rafa Nadal eased past Italian 16th seed Fabio Fognini 6-3 6-4 6-2 to reach his 13th Australian Open quarter-final on Monday. The Spanish second seed, who is chasing a record 21st Grand Slam title, held steady against the fierce hitting of Fognini and counter-punched brilliantly. He set up a quarter-final meeting with Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who advanced to the last eight after ninth seed Matteo Berrettini withdrew due to an abdominal strain. Meanwhile, top-ranked Ash Barty sealed a dominant 6-3 6-4 victory over American Shelby Rogers to reach at least the quarter-finals for the third year in a row. She will face 25th seed Karolina Muchova in the last eight after the Czech beat Belgium`s Elise Mertens 7-6(5) 7-5. Here are the winners from Monday:
Australian Open Day 8
Matteo Berrettini withdrew from his Australian Open fourth-round match against Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday due to an abdominal strain. The walkover sent fifth seed Tsitsipas into the next round where he will meet Spain`s Rafa Nadal for a place in the last four of the year`s opening Grand Slam.(Twitter/australianopen)