Serbian top seed Djokovic faces American 12th seed Taylor Fritz, while the Belarusian world number two tackles ever-consistent Czech star Barbora Krejcikova
Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka take the next step in their campaigns to retain their Australian Open titles Tuesday with tricky quarter-finals to negotiate in Melbourne.
Serbian top seed Djokovic faces American 12th seed Taylor Fritz, while the Belarusian world number two tackles ever-consistent Czech star Barbora Krejcikova.
Djokovic, gunning for an 11th title and record 25th Grand Slam crown, ran rings around fourth-round opponent Adrian Mannarino, losing just three games.
But he is expecting a harder test from Fritz, who beat last year’s finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas to set up their afternoon showdown at Rod Laver Arena.
“I’m really excited to enter the second week. I look forward to the battles because obviously the opponents are higher-ranked,” said the 36-year-old.
“I play Fritz. There’s no easy matches, no doubt about that.
“But the experience of knowing what I need to do with my own body, with my training, with the maintaining of the kind of level, I guess tennis-related specifics that I need to work on, and also recovery has been on point.”(HT)