Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) – Third-seeded Rafael Nadal and No. 6
seed Andy Murray punched their tickets into the Australian Open quarterfinals
on Sunday.
Nadal cruised past South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 7-5, 6-1, 6-4, while Murray
beat 10th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-5.
The 14-time Grand Slam champion Nadal beat Roger Federer in the 2009 Aussie
final and is a two-time runner-up in Melbourne, including last year when he
was stunned by Stan Wawrinka in the final. Nadal, of course, is the reigning
French Open king.
Nadal will play in the quarterfinals here for the eighth time. He will next
face seventh-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych, who defeated Bernard Tomic 6-2, 7-6
(7-3), 6-2.
Berdych is through to the quarterfinals in Melbourne for the fifth straight
year.
Murray, a three-time Aussie Open runner-up, was almost taken to a fifth set on
Sunday. The Brit saved a set point while serving at 5-2 down in the fourth
set, then got it back on serve at 5-5, broke Dimitrov to love — which
prompted the 23-year-old to destroy his racquet — and then served out.
The victory sends Murray to an Australian Open quarterfinal for the sixth
straight year, and came against an opponent who ended his Wimbledon 2013 title
defense in the quarterfinals last year.
Murray also reached his 16th straight Grand Slam quarterfinal. The last time
Murray failed to reach the last eight at a major was when he lost in the third
round at the 2010 U.S. Open to Wawrinka.
Next up for Murray is Australian Nick Krygios, who rallied past Andreas Seppi
of Italy 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 8-6. Seppi was trying to build off his
monstrous upset of Federer in the third round.
Krygios, who saved a match point, became the first Australian man to reach the
quarterfinals here since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005.
