A STACKED day of quarter finals action at Rod Laver Arena sees four finals played out to determine which players will reach the final four of the Australian Open. The first up is the surprise quarter final between 14th seed Sofia Kenin and Ons Jabeur, with the winner to face off against the victor of the highly anticipated match between Ash Barty and Petra Kvitova. Then we see the two highest male Australian Open winners take to the court, with Roger Federer taking on surprise quarter finalist, Tennys Sandgren before Novak Djokovic faces in-form 32nd seed, Milos Raonic.

Rod Laver Arena – 11am

Age: 21 | 25
Height: 170cm | 168cm
Ranking: 15 | 78
Titles: 3 | 0
Grand Slam Titles: 0 | 0
Best Aus Open Result: R2 (19′) | R1 (17′, 18′-19′)

In what was “supposed” to be a massive blockbuster quarter final between reigning title winner Naomi Osaka and 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams, instead the quarter final clash is between two underdogs, which is indicative of the entire Open that keeps surprising. These two players defeated those who toppled the champions – in Coco Gauff and Qiang Wang respectively – and now the pair who are well beyond their best ever effort at Melbourne Park, have the chance to move into a semi-final. Kenin reached the second round last year in her best effort to-date, while Jabeur won her first match at the Open in 2020, then repeated the dose another three times. What has been impressive about Jabeur’s run is they have not been slouches. She bundled out all top 50 players, including former winner Caroline Wozniacki, 12th seed Johanna Konta and 27th seed, Qiang Wang. Kenin has had an easier run to the the quarter finals outside of her win over Gauff. She defeated Zhang Shuai, as well as a couple of qualifiers in up-and-coming compatriot Ann Li and Italian, Martina Trevisan both in straight sets. If form is an indicator in this clash, then Jabeur deserves to start favourite, and more importantly, it will be fascinating to see if one of these players can go all the way and write themselves into the history books. Kenin has already moved up two spots in the world rankings to number 12, and could force her way into the top 10 if she can keep it going with a bright future for the 21-year-old. Jabeur has bolted up 32 spots to-date into number 46. Remarkably, these two have played four times with Kenin winning three of those, though the last time in Mallorca last year, Jabeur was forced to retire. It is expected the winner will have a tough time downing either Barty or Kvitova in the semi final, and the head-to-heads point to Kenin, but Jabeur’s form is undeniable and she has beaten a wide variety of players, so she may well keep that up in three sets.

—

Rod Laver Arena – 12.30pm

Age: 23 | 29
Height: 165cm | 183cm
Ranking: 1 | 8
Titles: 9 | 27
Grand Slam Titles: 1 | 2
Best Aus Open Result: QF (19′) | F (19′)

In a repeat of last year’s quarter final, Petra Kvitova will hope to produce a second dose against the world number one, Ash Barty here at Melbourne Park. Barty will have the home nation support behind her, but Kvitova has been no stranger to going deep here with a final run last year before falling to Naomi Osaka in the decider. The world number eight breezed through her first three matches, including a stunning 58-minute smashing of the previously unbeaten in 100-odd days, Ekaterina Alexandrova. Maria Sakkari was her first challenging game, taking two hours and 12 minutes – and three sets – to overcome the Greek young star. When she did, it was a 6-3 6-2 final two sets, but this will be a tougher challenge. Barty has not had it as easy as Kvitova, needing three sets to overcome her first round opponent in Lesia Tsurenko and again in the fourth round against Alison Riske. Indeed, Barty was up to her neck in it against Riske who forced her all the way in the match until the last game where Barty broke and took the win. The positive for the Australian is that since her quarter final loss to Kvitova 12 months ago, she has not lost to the Czech in three meetings. She defeated her at Miami and Beijing in three sets, and then a straight sets win in the WTA Finals last year. But with two convincing wins in Grand Slams and Kvitova shown twice she can beat Barty on home soil, this is a game that could leave the Australian crowd disappointed. It genuinely could go either way, but on form, Kvitova in three sets is a good chance – but considering the way the women’s draw has gone at this year’s Open, anything can happen, The winner of this should book a spot in the final, so this is crucial.

—

Rod Laver Arena – 2.30pm onwards

Age: 28 | 38
Height: 188cm | 185cm
Weight: 88kg | 85kg
Ranking: 100 | 3
Titles: 1 | 103
Grand Slam Titles: 0 | 20
Best Aus Open Result: QF (18′) | W (04′, 06′-07′, 10′, 17′-18′)

Everyone loves a good story of an underdog and in this year’s event, that is definitely the American world 100, Tennys Sandgren. He is no longer welcome back in Italy having knocked out the nation’s top two players in Matteo Berrettini and Fabio Fognini, but has enjoyed a remarkable run of form at the 2020 Australian Open. Even if he loses this clash, the American has bolted up 44 spots on the ATP Rankings to be situated at number 56 in the world. But while he was able to overcome the inconsistent Berrettini and Fognini, he faces by far his greatest challenge yet in Swiss Master, Roger Federer. The world number three almost bowed out at the hands of John Millman when the Australian showed that he could be beaten, but that night Federer produced a performance that was not a usual Federer performance which could be chalked up to age, or great planning on Millman’s behalf. Sandgren would be rewatching that match carefully, because he must provide some unpredictability for the Swiss star. He is a much bigger server than Millman, so will win more off his first serve, but his court coverage is not as good, so he has to make sure he produces more winners before Federer can use his picture-perfect technique to move him around the court. This match is not a guaranteed win to Federer, and he has been a slower starter in the past two rounds, but when he gets going, he can be a hard man to stop. These two have never played before, so it should be a fascinating contest, with a prediction of Federer in four sets.

—

Rod Laver Arena – 7pm onwards

Age: 29 | 32
Height: 196cm | 188cm
Weight: 98kg | 77kg
Ranking: 35 | 2
Titles: 8 | 77
Grand Slam Titles: 0 | 16
Best Aus Open Result: SF (16′) | W (08′, 11′-13′, 15′-16′, 19′)

The 29-year-old Canadian, Milos Raonic has not missed a beat this tournament cruising through to the quarter finals without dropping a set – a feat that not even his opponent, seven-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic has been able to do in 2020. He is a consistent quarter finalist here at Melbourne Park, having bowed out three times in the final eight, as well as a best-ever result of a semi-final loss in 2016. His opponent on the other hand has won the title seven times, and aside from a shock loss to Denis Istomin in Round 2, 2017 and a fourth round exit the year after, the Serbian champion has reached at least a quarter final in every Australian Open since 2008. He is yet to face too much of a challenge in the 2020 edition, with German Jan-Lennard Struff winning a set against him, but since then he has breezed through his matches in straight sets, including 14th seed Diego Schwartzman. Raonic has brushed aside three top 40 players in a more challenging lead-up to the quarter finals, with Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round being his biggest scalp. Neither of these players have spent excessive time on court, so should be feeling refreshed and ready to put on a shot. Unfortunately for the Canadian, he would need to defy a massive losing head-to-head against Djokovic to try and cause an upset here. The world number two has won all nine times they have faced off and in fact, Raonic has only ever won two sets against him in that time, with seven of those nine clashes being in straight sets. They played here in a quarter final back in 2015, when Djokovic took out the title and the Serbian star won 7-6 6-4 6-2 that day. While Raonic might look like he is in career best form, Djokovic is another beast altogether. It would need a special effort from Raonic to cause an upset here, so expect Djokovic to be challenged with the Canadian’s serving, but to ultimately prevail in four sets.