The eight women that play in singles today possess eight distinctly different styles and personalities, making for some intriguing clashes. On the men’s side, all eight players are inside the top 20 on the live rankings, creating some marquee matchups. But the most talked-about match of the day is certainly Nadal/Kyrgios.
Rafael Nadal (1) vs. Nick Kyrgios (23)
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These two men were playing nice when speaking to the press on Saturday, but make no mistake: they do not get along. Kyrgios’ coming out party occurred at the expense of Nadal at the 2014 Wimbledon, when the then-wild card upset Rafa in the fourth round on Centre Court. More recently, they split two meetings in 2019. After Kyrgios defeated Nadal in Acapulco last year, Rafa presented Nick with a less-than-thrilled handshake. A few months later on the “No Challenges Remaining” podcast, Kyrgios described Nadal as acting “salty” whenever Nick defeats him. Rafa, like many, respects Nick’s talent, though not all his on-court antics, or the all-too-common lack of effort. Kyrgios certainly gave full effort on Saturday, in his fifth-set tiebreak win over Karen Khachanov. But what will Nick have left after the longest match of his career? He spent a total of nine-and-a-half hours on court in the first week, compared to just five-and-a-half for Nadal, who has steamrolled the competition without the loss of a set. If Nick were 100%, I’d give him a considerable shot at winning in front of a raucous Australian crowd. But a depleted Kyrgios won’t have much chance of keep up with the 19-time Major champion.
Daniil Medvedev (4) vs. Stan Wawrinka (15)
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When these two met four months ago in the US Open quarterfinals, Wawrinka had no answers for Medvedev’s unique style of play. Stan’s offense was muffled by Daniil’s movement and variety on that day. Their only other encounter was at Wimbledon in 2017, when Medvedev upset an injured Wawrinka in Stan’s last match before undergoing knee surgery. The 23-year-old Russian has certainly been the better player over the last six months. Daniil has a lot of confidence coming off his run of six straight hard courts finals last season. Wawrinka has struggled at tour events of late, while at the Majors he’s shown he still has some magic left in him. The US Open was his second Slam quarterfinal of 2019. He reached the same round at the French Open, thanks to his epic, five-hour victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas. And despite playing nine sets in his first two rounds, he should be relatively fresh after receiving a second-set retirement from John Isner on Saturday. That was certainly welcome after Wawrinka revealed he was battling illness earlier in the week, and even vomited multiple times during his five-setter against Andreas Seppi. I expect Stan to arrive on court with some better tactics this time out, but still give Medvedev the slight edge in what could easily become an extended affair.
Simona Halep (4) vs. Elise Mertens (16)
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Halep leads their head-to-head 2-1, though Mertens prevailed when they last played a year ago in Doha. That was on Elise’s way to her first WTA Premier title. Mertens’ best results in her career have been on hard courts. She was a quarterfinalist in New York last year, and a semifinalist here two years ago. Other than a tiebreak set she lost to Cici Bellis in the last round, she was dominant in week one, losing only six games in her other six sets. Simona has also looked sharp thus far, having yet to drop a set. The slower conditions this year in Australia should favor the defense and movement of Halep. I suspect this will be a tight matchup, but favor Halep to advance.
Dominic Thiem (5) vs. Gael Monfils (10)
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This is a fourth round battle between two top 10 players, and two of the sport’s most impressive athletes. But they have a rather unique and one-sided history. Thiem is 5-0 against Monfils, having taken 11 of 13 sets played. They were due to meet on three other occasions, but withdrawals by both players prevented those matches from happening. Monfils had less troubling advancing to this stage than Thiem, who played a total of nine sets in his last two matches. In both those rounds, Thiem held significant leads, but let his opponent back into the match. Neither Thiem nor Monfils has historically been a strong performer at this Major, though Dominic is much-improved on hard courts since 2018. And with such a lopsided head-to-head, Thiem should possess the necessary confidence and fire power to reach his first Australian Open quarterfinal.
Sascha Zverev (7) vs. Andrey Rublev (17)
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Rublev has been on fire since the Davis Cup last November, and is currently on a 15-match winning streak. Meanwhile Zverev has not been at his best, suffering with service issues and battling off-court distractions. 2019 was not his best year, but it also wasn’t all that ugly. Zverev still managed to qualify for the ATP Finals despite struggles both on and off the court. But Sascha should be feeling good about his tennis coming off week one, where he didn’t drop a set through three rounds. And he owns a 3-0 record against Rublev, who has never taken a set off him. While Andrey may be a bit worn down from playing so much tennis this month, he just has so much more momentum than Zverev. And the 22-year-old Russian will be the first real test for Zverev in this tournament, so we’ll see how the German’s serve holds up under pressure. I foresee Rublev’s groundstrokes proving too much for Zverev, leading Andrey to his second Major quarterfinal.
Other notable matches on Day 8:
- 2016 champion Angelique Kerber (17) vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (30). The 28-year-old Russian has a slight 7-6 edge in their head-to-head, and claimed their most recent encounter last September. Pavlyuchenkova is 5-1 in the fourth round at Majors, having not lost at this stage in 10 years.
- Kiki Bertens (9) vs. Garbine Muguruza. Reuniting with Conchita Martinez has already paid dividends for Muguruza, who just destroyed Elina Svitolina on Saturday, hitting 31 winners and only 9 unforced errors. Garbine is 2-0 against Kiki in both of their recent hard court meetings, and Bertens had a losing record in Melbourne prior to this fortnight.
- Anett Kontaveit (28) vs. 18-year-old Iga Swiatek of Poland. Kontaveit dominated Belinda Benic two days ago, losing only one game in a 49-minute match. Swiatek is one of the WTA’s most talented and fastest-rising stars, set to debut inside the top 50 next week. Kontaveit won their only previous encounter last summer in Cincinnati.
