Women’s singles quarterfinals are set at the 2023 Australian Open, as the second half of fourth-round matches finished on Monday.
Late blooming has been an increasingly frequent occurrence on the WTA Tour in recent years. The latest player to achieve her career-best result at 30 years of age is Magda Linette. The Pole, who had never before made it past the third round at a major, reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a 7-6(3) 6-4 upset of fourth seed Caroline Garcia.
Garcia opened the match with a 3-0 lead and served for the first set at 5-4 when Linette took a crucial break back and cruised through the tiebreak. The second set went with serve until the ninth game when Linette recorded a vital break. The world No.45 hit 25 winners in the match, two less than her opponent, but her count of unforced errors was way superior, 14 to Garcia’s 33.
Linette’s quarterfinal opponent will be seed No.30 Karolina Pliskova, who increased her perfect career record against Zhang Shuai to 8-0 by defeating the Chinese player 6-0 6-4.
Fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka continues her immaculate 2023 season by progressing to the quarterfinals without dropping a set in Melbourne. In a clash of players who both started the year by winning titles in Australia, Sabalenka defeated Adelaide International 2 champion Belinda Bencic 7-5 6-2.
Sabalenka’s next opponent will be fellow first-time Australian Open quarterfinalist Donna Vekic, who stopped the run of 17-year-old Czech Linda Fruhvirtova 6-2 1-6 6-3.
The other two women’s singles quarterfinal pairs progressed on Sunday: Elena Rybakina vs. Jelena Ostapenko and Jessica Pegula vs. Victoria Azarenka.
