Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) – Defending champion Stan Wawrinka
withstood a tough match against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Monday and advanced
to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
The fourth-seeded Wawrinka pulled out a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8)
victory and will next face the winner of the Kei Nishikori-David Ferrer match.
Garcia-Lopez, who ousted Wawrinka in the first round at last year’s French
Open, won the first five points of the fourth-set tiebreak and had five
chances
to force a fifth set.
Wawrinka, though, saved them all and survived to keep his hopes of defending
his title alive.
Top-seeded and four-time Aussie champion Novak Djokovic will try to reach his
23rd consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal when he takes on Gilles Muller late
Monday night.
Eighth-seeded Milos Raonic and No. 12 Feliciano Lopez will play in Monday’s
other fourth-round match.
