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Nadal through in Australian Open

January 25, 2015

Rafael Nadal eased into the Australian Open quarterfinals in Melbourne on Sunday as Germany's last representative in the singles lost her fourth round tie. Elsewhere, there were wins for Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova.

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Rafael Nadal Tennis Australian Open 25.01.2015
Image: Reuters/C. Barria

Nadal, the No. 3-seeded Spaniard, moved into the last eight of the Australian Open with a businesslike straight sets win over South Africa's Kevin Anderson on Sunday.

The 14-time Grand Slam champion was dominant after a tight first set against his powerful opponent, running out a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 winner.

Nadal is returning from a long injury lay-off and will likely face a sterner test of his title credentials in his quarterfinal with No. 7 seed Czech Tomas Berdych, who easily overcame Australia's Bernard Tomic 6-2, 7-6, 6-2.

"The chance to be in the quarterfinals after a tough period of time for me is a fantastic result," Nadal said afterwards. "I was playing better than the days before. The way that I improved my level is not the most important thing; obviously the victory is."

German interest in the singles draws of the first Grand Slam event of 2015 abruptly came to an end on Sunday.

Julia Goerges struggled with her service throughout the match with the No. 10 seed from Russia, Ekaterina Makarova, winning only 19 of 32 points on her first serve and four of 21 on her second. Goerges crashed 3-6, 2-6 in only 69 minutes.

Julia Goerges at the Australian Open
The fourth round challenge of Germany's Julia Goerges was ended in a little over an hour.Image: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Among the other women's singles matches on Sunday, No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova, of Russia, surrendered only three games in a straight sets win over Peng Shuai of China, while Romanian No. 3 seed Simona Halep also eased through to the quarterfinals with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 win over Yanina Wickmayer, of Belgium.

Elsewhere in the men's draw, Sharapova's boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov went down in four sets to Great Britain's Andy Murray.

The big-serving Bulgarian won a second set tie-break to level at 1-1 and looked poised to take the match into a fifth set when 5-2 up in the fourth. The three-time losing finalist, however, rebounded to book a quarterfinal date with Australian teenager Nick Krygios.

In the longest singles match of day seven, the explosive home favorite rebounded from losing the first two sets to beat Italy's Andreas Seppi after over three-and-a-half hours on court.

"When I saw I had finally won the match it was incredible. It was the best feeling I ever had," said Krygios, who was world-ranked 53 coming into the tournament. "To know the body could come back from two sets to love, knowing I haven't had matches, it's just massive confidence."

pwh/bw (AP, AFP)