A COUPLE of Grand Slam winners are through to the quarter finals in the bottom half of the draw to face seeds who have outdone expectations and will receive a handy rankings post at the end of the week.

With the hopes of a nation on her shoulders, 28th seed Anett Kontaveit is only one win away from making history at the Australian Open. The Estonian reached the quarter finals at the Grand Slam following her three-set victory over Poland’s Iga Swiatek, and if she can defeat Simona Halep, will become the first Estonian into a semi-final at a major. In a match that lasted two hours and 42 minutes, Kontaveit had to battle all the way through to the end, eventually breaking in the twelfth game of both the second and third sets to avoid going into tiebreakers. The 28th seed won 6-7 7-5 7-5 against a dogged Swiatek by hitting 29 winners and only 35 unforced errors to her opponents’ 42 and 51 respectively. She broke nine times to seven in a match not renowned for its strong serving, but was slightly ahead in the key categories. Now she has to step it up to face Grand Slam winner Halep in the final eight.

The fourth seed Romanian booked her spot in the quarters courtesy of an easier than expected 6-4 6-4 victory over 16th seed Belgian, Elise Mertens. The controlled Halep only hit eight unforced errors for the entire match – three straight off the return – while recording 21 winners. She won 45 per cent of her receiving points as well as an impressive 74 per cent of her first serve points. Mertens’ net play was what kept her in it, winning 23 of a possible 29 points when approaching, and still managed to break three times from only five opportunities. Halep broke five times from 14 chances, but struggled on her second serve, winning just six of a possible 18 points. In the end just 10 points separated the duo with the new world number two moving through to the quarter finals to take on the in-form Kontaveit.

One former Grand Slam winner down and another facing her, 30th seed Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova continued her run into the final eight with a hard-fought win over German, Angelique Kerber. Pavlyuchenkova downed the 17th seed 6-7 7-6 6-2, taking until the third set to break clear after two tough tiebreakers. Another marathon match that lasted two hours and 37 minutes, Pavlyuchenkova could not be faulted on her serve-volleying, winning 70 per cent of her first serve points, and 87 per cent of her points at the net. On top of that, she smashed home a whopping 71 winners for only 36 unforced errors, while recording a 41 per cent receiving points success rate. Kerber had been impressive this tournament, but she looked helpless to stop the barrage of winners from the Russian, hitting 35 winners herself and also recording a 70 per cent first serve winning points percentage. She broke three times from four opportunities, but it was like the dam wall eventually breaking with Pavlyuchenkova having five breaks from 18 chances for the match. All up, Kerber was impressive, but the Russian played an out-of-this-world match to move through to the last eight.

The final Round 4 match to take place was Spain’s Garbine Muguruza toppling ninth seed Dutchwoman, Kiki Bertens. The Grand Slam winner won 6-3 6-3 to book her spot in the quarter finals in just 68 minutes to signal her intentions. Muguruza broke five times to two during the match, only dropped three points on her first serve, and hit 19 winners for 18 unforced errors. Bertens was still solid with 17 and 18 respectively, while winning 33 per cent of her second serves – six per cent more than Muguruza. The Spaniard will want to clean up her second serve against Pavlyuchenkova in the final eight, but her serving was reliable enough to get the job done, even serving six aces to five. The 26-year-old makes her second quarter finals appearance at the Australian Open after reaching there in 2017, and hopes to be on track to win her third Grand Slam, having triumphed at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

[28] A. Kontaveit (EST) defeated I. Swiatek (POL) 6-7 7-5 7-5
[4] S. Halep (ROU) defeated [16] E. Mertens (BEL) 6-4 6-4
G. Muguruza (ESP) defeated [9] K. Bertens (NED) 6-3 6-3
[30] A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) defeated [17] A. Kerber (GER) 6-7 7-6 6-2