Australian Open 2020: Wawrinka stuns Medvedev, while Nadal and Halep advance
Upsets in the men's section of the Australian Open 2020 have been few and far between as compared to the women's event which has witnessed many a big seed tumble out of the competition long before they were expected to.
Fourth-seed Daniil Medvedev, however, failed to accompany Rafael Nadal into the last eight after falling to Stan Wawrinka. The Swiss, seeded 15th, won the first set but lost his way in the next two before staging an epic fightback to clinch the last two sets.
The 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 win mesmerised the audience at the Margaret Court Arena while top-seed Rafael Nadal broke Australian hearts by getting the better of Nick Kyrgios at the Rod Laver Arena.
Kyrgios went down fighting after losing the first set and coming back strongly in the second - only to lose the closely-fought third and fourth sets by a whisker.
Nadal, thus, makes it through to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6 win and will face Austrian, Dominic Thiem who got past Frenchman, Gael Monfils, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.
In the ladies section, fourth-seed Simona Halep got the better of Belgian, Elise Mertens, 6-4, 6-4, while ninth-seed Kiki Bertens lost to Spaniard, Garbine Muguruza, 3-6, 3-6.
In yet another upset in the women's event, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova made her way into the quarter-finals with a magnificent win over the German 17th seed Angelique Kerber.
The Russian seeded 30th, registered a 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 victory over the 2016 Australian Open champion to reach the quarter-finals for the third time, and will be next facing Muguruza.
Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev who promised to donate prize money from each of his wins to the bush fire victims has booked a place for himself in the last eight after taming Russian, Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
The German will face Wawrinka in the quarter-finals.
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