Nadal, Barty reach Aussie Open quarters in straight sets

Melbourne, Australia, Feb 15 (efe-epa).- Spain’s Rafael Nadal made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open men’s tournament after winning his fourth-round match against No. 18 seed Fabio Fognini by 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

“Against a player such as Fabio you have to be worried at all times. For me it is better to play during the day, it suits me because of my game characteristics,” he said after beating the Italian in almost two and a half hours.

He’ll next face No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who went through after Italy’s Matteo Berrettini pulled out because of injury.

Russia’s Daniil Medvedev reached the quarterfinals for the first time by defeating American Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-2, 6 -3 in an hour and a half.

Medvedev’s chances of becoming a Grand Slam champion increased after his top three competitors have failed to keep up. World No. 3 Dominic Thiem fell to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round; while both No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic and Nadal are carrying minor injuries.

In the women’s draw, world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty had no compassion against the American Shelby Rogers, whom she beat 6-3, 6-4 and will face Russia’s Karolina Muchova in the quarterfinals.

The Australian will continue with the hopes of becoming the first local champion to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after Chris O’Neil’s 1978 title.

American Jessica Pegula beat Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the fourth round and will face compatriot Jennifer Brady in the quarterfinals, who beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic.

It was the first time Pegula had played a fourth-round match in a Grand Slam, with her best performance in a major being the third round of last year’s US Open. EFE-EPA

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