Ageless Nadal outlasts teen, Serena cruises

MELBOURNE — Rafael Nadal’s aging legs outlasted German teenager Alexander Zverev in an epic five sets as Serena Williams sailed into the last 16 at the Australian Open on Saturday. Nadal needed all his trademark grit against Zverev, 19, dubbed “the future of tennis”, and his superior fitness told as he ground out a thrilling 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-2 win. Germany’s Zverev looked in discomfort as he won a punishing 37-shot rally nearly four hours into their contest as Nadal, still full of running, pressed his advantage in the final set. It means Nadal, 30, follows fellow veteran Roger Federer into the last 16 of a contest now missing defending champion Novak Djokovic after his stunning defeat to Denis Istomin. “Well, fighting, and running a lot,” Nadal said, when asked how he came back from two sets to one down. “Everybody knows how good Alexander is. He’s the future of our sport, and the present.” Nadal now meets French showman Gael Monfils who won in with a straight-sets over Philipp Kohlschreiber on Saturday. Monfils reached the Melbourne round of 16 for the third time following a 6-3, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4 victory over the 32nd-seeded German in just under two hours on Margaret Court Arena. It was the sixth seed’s 13th win in 15 meetings with Kohlschreiber and clinched an anticipated crowd-pleasing encounter with Nadal, who fought back to beat rising young German Zverev in five sets. Williams, by contrast, had no such trouble as she brushed off fellow American Nicole Gibbs 6-1, 6-3 to maintain her charge towards a 23rd Grand Slam title. Williams, back after an injury break at the end of 2016, has been in brilliant form and she will take some stopping as she zeroes in on Steffi Graf’s Open-era record. The next player to take on Williams will be Barbora Strycova, who ousted France’s Caroline Garcia to earn a shot at the world No. 2. “Obviously I’m here for one reason,” said Williams, who again lifted her index finger in celebration at her victory, symbolizing the No. 1. “But at the end of the day, this is all bonus for me and I look forward to playing (Strycova). I’m ready for her.” Elsewhere 117th-ranked Istomin built on his win over Djokovic by beating Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the last 16 for the first time. David Goffin halted towering Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who won a tournament-record 84-game match in the first round, to set up a clash against Austrian eighth seed Dominic Thiem. “I was ready to fight until midnight if I had to,” grinned the Belgian. Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov produced a brilliant display to end Richard Gasquet's promising Australian Open campaign with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, victory in the third round on Saturday. 
Dimitrov, who ended a 2-1/2 year trophy drought by winning the Brisbane International title in the run up to the season's opening grand slam, appeared to be in a hurry to get off court after the players were kept waiting until almost midnight to start the match. 
Dimitrov will next face Istomin, for a place in the last eight. Roberto Bautista Agut ousted fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 7-5, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 and will next play third seed Milos Raonic, who negotiated tricky Frenchman Gilles Simon in four sets. Canada’s world No. 3, whose chances of making the final from the bottom half of the draw have improved following the shock exit of defending champion Djokovic, beat Simon 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3. Raonic said he had spent a difficult previous 48 hours with a bug that laid him low. “I had a rough last 48 hours. But I got my energy up today much more,” he said. “I had a bad fever. I didn’t come to the stadium yesterday. I just slept pretty much all day. Everything was aching.” In the women’s draw, Britain’s Johanna Konta maintained her sizzling form with a dominant 6-3, 6-1 victory over former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. “Against someone like Caroline, she’s not going to give it to you. You really do have to earn it and win it till the very last point. I’m just very happy I was able to keep that pressure on,” said the ninth seed. Konta’s prize is a round-of-16 rematch with Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, whom she edged at the same stage last year, going 8-6 in the final set. Makarova, seeded 30, beat sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova in a three set marathon. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who hadn’t won an Australian Open match since 1998 before this year, extended her fairytale run by beating Greece’s Maria Sakkari 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Next up for the 34-year-old Croatian, who put her career on hold to flee her abusive father, is American qualifier Jennifer Brady, who upset 14th seed Elena Vesnina. Fifth seed Karolina Pliskova survived a huge scare Saturday, scrambling into the Australian Open fourth round after battling from a set down in a marathon match. The Czech, who had dropped only four games in her opening two matches, needed 2hrs 5mins to get past fast-rising Latvian teen Jelena Ostapenko 4-6, 6-0, 10-8 in a seesawing encounter. Her perseverance set her up for a last-16 clash with local hope Daria Gavrilova, who ground her way past 12th-seeded Swiss Timea Bacsinszky in three sets. Meanwhile, Martina Hingis and CoCo Vandeweghe have been beaten 6-2, 7-5 in the second round of women’s doubles by the Australian wild-card pair of Casey Dellacqua and Ashleigh Barty. She has won five Australian Open doubles titles — the first in 1997 and the latest coming last year. Hingis and Vandeweghe were seeded fifth in Australia, where Vandeweghe has reached the fourth round in singles for the first time. — AFP