JUST two matches were fully completed in the Australian Open men’s Round of 16 on day eight of the competition, with a total of eight sets played across the four matches. Second seed Rafael Nadal and fourth seed Daniil Medvedev moved through in straight sets, while fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas strolled into the quarter finals, and seventh seed Andrey Rublev only played two sets before booking his place in the final eight.

Nadal booked his spot in the quarter finals with a 6-3 6-4 6-2 win over Fabio Fognini in two hours and 16 minutes. Playing a consistent brand of tennis all tournament, the world number two stepped it up a gear against the talented Fognini, only hitting 20 unforced errors to the Italians’ 35, whilst having just eight less errors.

“When you go on court against Fabio you worry,” Nadal said post-match. “There can always be problems. I was just lucky that when he broke me [in the second set] I responded immediately and held the score. Today was very humid and quicker during the day, which I like, but I have to adapt to every condition.”

Fognini served one extra ace (7-6), but Nadal was more consistent with a whopping 77 and 69 per cent success rate from his first and second serve, dropping just 19 points for the match. By comparison, Fognini only won 64 and 41 per cent of his first and second serve points, and broke twice from six chances, though defended bravely to save 13 break points. It mattered little however as Nadal did break six times during the straight sets win.

Next up is Tsitsipas, who did not even take to the court after the other Italian remaining in the Australian Open draw, Matteo Berrettini, pulled out prior to the match due to injury.

“It will be a big challenge and today’s win was good for my confidence,” Nadal said. “I will need to be ready. “My back is holding up and tomorrow’s practice will be important preparation.

“[The] first set, without a doubt, was my best level in the tournament. My physical condition needs to keep improving, but I think [today’s] match helps. I was not able to practise the proper way for the past 19 days, but yesterday I started again to increase the amount of work in practice.”

It is an all-Russian quarter final in the other match following Medvedev’s straight sets triumph over American talent Mackenzie McDonald. The world 192nd had a solid win, with four set victories over Marco Cecchinato and 22nd seed Borna Coric, before toppling Lloyd Harris in the Round of 32. He was no match for the impressive Medvedev, who won 6-4 6-2 6-3 in just 89 minutes.

In that time Medvedev broke six times from seven chances, and won 78 per cent of his first serve points. McDonald was competitive with only eight less winners (21-29) and only two less non-ace winners after Medvedev produced seven aces to one. It was the Russian’s consistency with his shots, producing 15 unforced errors to McDonald’s 23, while winning 60 per cent of his second serve points and 40 per cent of his receiving points compared to his American’s 43 and 25 per cent respectively.

“It’s an exciting moment [to be] in [the] quarter-finals in Australia for the first time, that’s a great achievement for me,” Medvedev said post-match. “I want more all the time, but step by step. “So this is amazing.

“When you play Mackenzie, many times he’s going to be in control of the games and you just need to defend,” Medvedev said. “I knew that I needed to play a lot of low balls, because he plays really flat and aggressive. “If you give him high balls, he’s going to try to destroy them. “That’s what he did in a few moments.

“I was just trying to stay as much as possible in the points… and I managed to take all my chances today.”

An abdominal injury to Norway’s Casper Ruud allowed in-form rising Russian talent Rublev to book an all-Russian battle with Medvedev in the quarter final. Leading 6-2 7-6, the seventh seed was in control over the 24th seed who was playing in his first Grand Slam fourth round match. It became too much though, and after losing the second set, opted to pull out and hand Rublev safe passage into the final eight.

In those two sets, Rublev won nine of his 10 points approaching the net, breaking four times to two, and winning 77 and 57 per cent of his first and second serve points, Ruud was still solid with a 61 per cent success rate off his first serve, but only 44 per cent off his second. He also had a winner to unforced error ratio of 20-21, while Rublev was slightly better at 22-17.

Like Medvedev, Rublev was thinking of his nation and friends when it came to taking on the world number four.

“At least one of us [Russian players] will be in the semis,” Rublev said post-match. “At least that’s the good news. But it’s going to be a tough match. I mean, last time he beat me in the quarters in the US Open. Now we’re again in quarters in the Australian Open. So we’ll see what’s going to happen. I hope we can show a great fight and great level.”

The results mean for the first time, three Russian will compete in the quarter finals at the same Grand Slam as qualifier Aslan Karatsev is set to take on 18th seed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov today. World number one Novak Djokovic will hope to pull through injury worries when he locks horns with sixth seed Alexander Zverev in the other quarter final played today.

ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[2] Rafael Nadal (ESP) defeated [16] Fabio Fognini (ITA) 6-3 6-4 6-2
[4] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) defeated Mackenzie McDonald (USA) 6-4 6-2 6-3
[5] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GER) defeated [9] Matteo Berrettini (UTA) Walkover
[7] Andrey Rublev (RUS) defeated [24] Casper Ruud (NOR) 6-2 7-6 RET

Picture credit: ATP Tour