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Posted: 2019-01-21 10:09:43

Updated January 22, 2019 01:19:46

Serena Williams has once again proven her credentials as one of the best on the planet, beating current world number one Simona Halep in three sets to move into the Australian Open quarter-finals.

Key points:

  • Williams defeated top-ranked Halep in a "really intense" match
  • The American champion sat out the last Australian Open after giving birth to her daughter
  • Djokovic will move on to the quarter-finals after a three-hour, 15-minute slog against Medvedev

Williams prevailed 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to earn a place in her 50th grand slam quarter-final.

Williams steamrolled Halep in the opening set, with her power game not allowing the Romanian any time on her shots.

But in the second set Halep took control, moving the American around the court and frustrating the 23-time grand-slam winner with her stubborn resistance.

An arm wrestle of a third set saw momentum swing both ways, but it was Williams who eventually came up with the break in the seventh game, before holding serve twice to claim a satisfying win.

"It was a really intense match and there were some incredible points," Williams said in her courtside interview.

"I really needed to elevate my game, she's the number one player in the world and there's a reason why.

"In order for me to stay out there, I just had to play a little bit like I knew I could, and I did."

The 37-year-old American is trying to win an eighth championship at Melbourne Park and record-tying 24th Grand Slam title overall.

Until facing Halep, Williams had dropped a total of only nine games through three matches in the tournament.

Not only did Halep exceed that total, she also snapped Williams' 21-set Australian Open winning streak.

That dated to the start of Williams' run to the 2017 title, which she won while pregnant.

She gave birth to a daughter in September 2017, then sat out last year's Australian Open.

"It's really cool to be back out and playing again on this court," Williams said.

She next meets 2016 US Open runner-up Karolina Pliskova.

Djokovic claims another victory

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic overcame a couple of tumbles to the court to get back to the Australian Open quarter-finals, beating number 15 Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3.

The night after Roger Federer was stunned by Greek tyro Stefanos Tsitsipas, there was another sniff of an upset at Rod Laver Arena as 22-year-old Medvedev rocked the Serb with a furious assault of power hitting.

The three-hour, 15-minute struggle saw a series of energy-sapping baseline exchanges, with one point lasting 42 strokes.

Djokovic's next opponent is number eight Kei Nishikori, whose own fourth-rounder was even more gruelling, going to a fifth-set tiebreaker and lasting 5 hours and 5 minutes.

After besting Medvedev, Djokovic joked during an on-court interview that he was ready for the challenge.

"Since I guess my next opponent is watching, I'm feeling fantastic," he said.

"I've never felt fresher in my life."

Djokovic has won six of his 14 Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park and is into his 10th quarter-final at the hard-court tournament.

However, he exited in the fourth round last year and the second round in 2017.

ABC/wires

Topics: australian-open, tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted January 21, 2019 21:09:43

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