Half of the Australian Open 16 final is set, with three exciting events between seed players heading into Sunday’s action. The WTA Tour is so deep that mythical crashes, winning streaks and old World No.1s can happen at this stage of competition. And even more amazingly, first time meetings are two of the most exciting things. Here’s what it’s all about:
[7] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) Vs. [10] Serena Williams (USA)
Williams, who has an Open Age record of 23 major titles, will meet surfer Sabalenka, who has collected more awards than anyone else from Roland Garros. None of them have lost a set yet this fortnight, although Williams had to save two set points against Anastasia Potapova in the third round.
They both have something to prove on the Grand Slam stage. Sabalenka fell to Kaia Kanepi in her Gippsland Trophy opening last week, ending the 15-maids-winning streak, which included titles in Ostrava and Linz in late 2020, and in Abu Dhabi to start 2021. However, his week marks only her second run to the fourth round of a major, following the 2018 U.S. Open, where she lost at that point -support Naomi Osaka eventually in three difficult sets.
The gap between Sabalenka’s performances at Grand Slams and on the WTA Tour can be partially explained by difficult draws. Among those, Sabalenka fell to Amanda Anisimova (at both Australia and French opening in 2019), reviving Victoria Azarenka (US Open 2020), Magdalena Rybarikova on grass (Wimbledon 2019), a concerned artist Yulia Putintseva (US Open 2019) and veteran Carla Suárez Navarro (Australia Open 2020).
There are few more exciting obstacles than Williams, who is still chasing the 24th Grand Slam title and the first since he became a mother. Williams, 39, is a finalist in four of the last nine majors, 53-8 at this stage and 12-3 at the Australian Open with her only losses coming to Elena Likhovtseva in 2000 , Ekaterina Makarova in 2012 and Ana Ivanovic in 2014.
Sabalenka has been open about being inspired by Williams growing up: “I think I said, I want to hit even stronger than her,” she recalled. I don’t know if it was smart or not, but at the time I thought, wow, it ‘s very powerful. I want to be powerful too, and I want to get the upper hand on the journey of the same [as she does]. “
It was then that Sabalenka was 13. Nine years on, the 22-year-old will finally get a chance to test how powerful she has been when she meets Williams for the first time, with a discussion Grand Slam quarter-final involved.
[14] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP) Vs. [3] Naomi Osaka (JPN)
Arguably head-to-head even paler than the two between World No. 1, the two youngest active Grand Slam winners. Muguruza and Osaka report five top awards together since 2016, but their roles appear to be in parallel rather than a real rivalry.
None of them won a major in the same year or at the same place: Muguruza captured Roland Garros 2016 and Wimbledon 2017, both when Osaka had not yet broken the Top 50. The Japanese player forced her to move into the elite the following year and has since won two U.S. Opens and one Australian Open. At the same time, Muguruza’s consistency has declined and he has fallen out of the top 10.
That’s largely due to COVID-19, as a lack of events hasn’t allowed players to climb back up in the ranking changes.
Muguruza’s run to the Australian Open final last year marked her return to the pinnacle of the sport. Featuring her Yarra Valley Classic final show last week, Muguruza, 27, has conceded four games or less in her seven wins on Australian soil and has just 10 games dropped this week to make it the second week of prime for the 15th time (and sixth at the Australian Open).
But a cup is the last piece missing from Muguruza’s revival. The world lost No.14 to Sofia Kenin in Melbourne last year and to Ashleigh Barty in the Yarra Valley title game. Monterrey 2019 was Murguruza’s last title, and Cincinnati 2017. was her latest rating of over 250 (formerly International) And for all the recent riots at Muguruza, Osaka has start gaining the upper hand at another level. The 23-year-old will not lose a game in more than a year. She has a 33-3 record since September 2019 and has dropped just 13 games in three games this week, all against fourth-round Grand Slam rivals Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Caroline Garcia and Ons Jabeur.
The last 16 is something of a talismanic round for Osaka. She has reached this level at five majors before and every time she passed she has gone on to win the title. Both Osaka and Muguruza have a positive fourth-round record, with Osaka 3-2 (1-1 yards Australian Open) and Muguruza 8-6 (2-3 at the Australian Open).
[15] Iga Swiatek (POL) Vs. [2] Simona Halep (ROU)
Another season, the last-16 Grand Slam clash between Swiatek and Halep, who have not yet played each other at any other stage of another tournament. What is interesting about this edition of their strong rivalry, however, is that it is the first away from clay, the favorite turf of both players.
The pair’s two Roland Garros duels serve mostly as signs of just how steep Swiatek’s learning curve has been since appearing on the main round just two years ago. In 2019, an inexperienced rookie and blocker in the second week of prime for the first time, Pole quickly lost to defend champion Halep 6-1, 6-0 in 45 minutes. Sixteen months later was her chance to deal with the chase, avenging her 6-1, 6-2 loss in 67 minutes on the way to her Grand Slam title.
How do their games match on fast hard courts? Halep was an Australian Open vice-runner (to Caroline Wozniacki in 2018) and has a 14-4 record at this level of majors (4-1 at the Australian Open, with her only loss coming to Serena Williams in in 2019).
But Swiatek came within two games of making her first Grand Slam quarter-final final last year, losing heartbreaks 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5 to Anett Kontaveit and three straight set wins this fortnight have revealed that when it comes to playing with the expectations that come with being a Slam fan, she is running up that learning curve so quickly as she ever was.
Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) Vs. [19] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE)
Just a month ago, in the first round of Abu Dhabi, Hsieh announced that her singles form was on the uptick by pushing past Vondrousova 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
That should be a preview of what Hsieh did this fortnight. Turning around her 1-7 singles record in 2020, she has delighted the crowd with wins over Tsvetana Pironkova, Bianca Andreescu and Sara Errani to reach the fourth round of major finals for the fourth time. Three of those have now been at the Australian Open. Surprisingly, the first one came in 2008 as a World No.158 ranking candidate, a run that allowed Hsieh to break the top 100 for the first time.
That came seven years after Hsieh reached the semifinals on her first WTA record in Bali in 2001 as a 15-year-old. The career arc of a Chinese Taipei player has been so unique and invisible in her game. After earning a reputation as a big killer in her thirties (Hsieh was famous for losing her first 14 games against the Top 10 against, but since 2017 has won seven of the last 10 ), it would be appropriate if the last former teenager was sealed the seasonal Grand Slam Debate at the age of 35.
Hsieh ‘s opponent has a lot to prove too. It could be said that Vondrousova has entered the latest wave of elite teens on tour, becoming the first player in a decade to reach the Grand Slam final before turning 20 at Roland Garros 2019. But the Czechs have since slipped back into the reflections. A month after she turned out, she was kept away for six months due to left surgery. In 2020, it failed to get its move back in 2019 among the COVID-19 pandemic.
Back in the second week of prime for the first time since that Parisian run, the 21-year-old has slipped under the radar so far despite running to the Yarra Valley Classic semifinals last week. For Vondrousova, this is an opportunity to step back into the scene.