Defending champion Roger Federer matched a Grand Slam record which magnifies his extraordinary consistency over eight years, while Francesca Schiavone established a record for endurance in a women’s singles match.
Day 7 at Melbourne Park was a day of records.
Federer equaled Jimmy Connors’ mark for consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals appearances when he beat Tommy Robredo 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 yesterday. The 16-time Grand Slam winner has now reached the quarter-finals at 27 Grand Slams in a row since 2004.
Photo: EPA
He will next play Stanislas Wawrinka in the first all-Swiss Grand Slam quarter-final in the Open era. Wawrinka had a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Andy Roddick in the last match yesterday, meaning there will be no Americans in the men’s or women’s quarter-finals.
On the women’s side, French Open champion Schiavone established a Grand Slam record, needing 4 hours, 44 minutes for her 6-4, 1-6, 16-14 fourth-round win over Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Schiavone saved six match points, then converted on her third match point in the longest women’s match at a Grand Slam in terms of time in the Open era. The previous record was set in Melbourne last year when Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova beat Regina Kulikova 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (8/10), 6-3 in a match lasting 4 hours, 19 minutes.
Photo: Reuters
The 30-year-old Italian battled exhaustion but, “at the end, you have something more, always.”
“Was for me, fantastic,” she said. “When you’re in a situation like this, every point is like a match point. You have to keep going. You know that physically you’re tired. Mentally just keep going.”
Kuznetsova said the match was so long she was forgetting the score or who should serve.
Schiavone said it wasn’t quite that bad for her, “but I was watching the clock, and I say: ‘Bravo, Francesca, you are tough.’”
Schiavone will meet top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals.
Shortly after, 2008 champion Maria Sharapova lost 6-2, 6-3 to Andrea Petkovic.
Sharapova attributed her loss to just a “bad day in the office.”
She took one positive — it was better than her first-round exit last year.
Petkovic will now take on China’s Li Na, a semi-finalist last year, in the quarter-finals.
Federer didn’t concede a point on his serve in the first set, but had a lapse in the second when Robredo’s serve was dominant and he took a set off Federer for only the third time in 10 matches.
Federer, seeking a fifth Australian title, regained control in the third set and dominated after getting an early break to lead 2-0.
No. 3-ranked Novak Djokovic is aiming for his second Australian crown. The 2008 champion advanced to the quarter-finals for the 13th time in the last 15 Grand Slams with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 win over No. 14 Nicolas Almagro and he will next play last year’s Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych, who beat Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.
Wozniacki moved into the Australian Open quarter-finals for the first time with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Anastasija Sevastova and is just one victory from ensuring she will retain the top ranking.
Wozniacki lost three of the first four games of the match, before reeling off six in a row to take control.
She also steered herself in and out of trouble after telling a false story in a post-match press conference about being scratched by a kangaroo.
After her match, she described an up-close encounter with a baby kangaroo that had scarred her.
She said she tried to pet the kangaroo and it scratched her. She said that she had seen a doctor and rejected advice to get stitches, but she later Tweeted: “Round 2 with the media :) hope you enjoyed my kangaroo story, hope you know I was just kidding :) see you on Tuesday for round 3!”
She later returned to Melbourne Park to clarify she had made up the story and to apologize, saying she didn’t think anyone would believe it.
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