Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Japanese partner Eri Hozumi yesterday dominated eighth seeds Ellen Perez of Australia and the Netherlands’ Demi Schuurs to advance to the Australian Open quarter-finals, the furthest the Taiwanese has made it since her first appearance in Melbourne in 2020.
Wu and Hozumi overpowered world No. 21 Perez and world No. 20 Schuurs 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour, 11 minutes at 1573 Arena in much cooled temperatures since Saturday’s blazing 40°C disrupted play.
World No. 34 Wu has now made it further in the Australian Open since she was knocked out in the third round in 2024.
Photo: Screen grab from Wu Fang-hsien’s Facebook
The Taiwanese-Japanese duo are to play the winners of today’s third-round match of Americans Hailey Baptiste and Peyton Stearns against fourth seeds Elise Mertens of Belgium and China’s Zhang Shuai, who yesterday defeated teenagers Iva Jovic of the US and Victoria Mboko of Canada 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (12/10).
On Saturday, former Australian Open mixed doubles champions Hsieh Su-wei and Poland’s Jan Zielinski were knocked out of the first round at ANZ Arena 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) to Irina Khromacheva of Russia and Christian Harrison of the US.
Last year’s women’s doubles runners-up Hsieh and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko, seeded third, are today to play their third round-match against 13th seeds Sofia Kenin of the US and Laura Siegemund of Germany.
Photo: Reuters
In other Taiwanese competition, 11th seed Chen Kuan-shou, 17, yesterday beat Brazil’s Leonardo Storck Franca 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of junior boys’ singles. On Saturday, Lin Yu-chen, 16, defeated American Carrie-Anne Hoo 7-6, 7-6 (12/10) in their junior girls’ singles opener.
In men’s singles, top seed Carlos Alcaraz has Novak Djokovic demanding payment after powering into the quarter-finals, dismissing American Tommy Paul 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 7-5 in a masterclass.
The 22-year-old Spaniard plays home hope and sixth seed Alex de Minaur or 10th seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan next.
Alcaraz, who is yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament, has never gone beyond the quarter-finals in Melbourne. If he can finally break his Australian duck he would become the youngest man in history to win a career Grand Slam of all four majors.
Alcaraz has in the past struggled with precision and a lack of consistency in his serving technique, but is now sporting a new-look serve that has become a handy weapon — and been compared to Djokovic’s serve.
“I had a Djokovic message saying: ‘You have to pay me,’” he said after making light work of 19th seed Paul, to laughter from an adoring crowd.
Learner Tien became the youngest man to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals in 11 years, and the youngest American man to go so far in a Grand Slam event since 2002, after the 20-year-old dispatched three-time runner-up Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-0, 6-3.
Tien’s breakthrough run at a major ended in the fourth round in Australia last year. He has already gone one better, becoming the youngest man since Nick Kyrgios in 2015 to make it to the last eight at Melbourne Park and the youngest American to do so since Andy Roddick at the 2002 US Open.
He had the bulk of the crowd on Margaret Court Arena on his side, including dozens of fans wearing what are known locally as L Plates — signs that are mandatory for learner drivers, which have a black L printed on a yellow background.
“Every year since I’ve been coming here, the crowd support is amazing,” he said. “I don’t know why.”
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is next to face impressive 18-year-old Jovic in a tasty last-eight encounter, after the Belarusian top seed, a two-time Melbourne champion, opened the day on Rod Laver Arena by seeing off the brave challenge of 19-year-old Mboko.
Sabalenka won 6-1, 7-6 (7/1), while Jovic destroyed unseeded Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 6-1 in just 53 dominant minutes.
“What an incredible player for such a young age,” Sabalenka said of the 17th-seeded Mboko, who has emerged as a serious threat in the past year. “I feel like I am a kid still. She pushed me really hard today and played incredible tennis.”
Third-seed American Coco Gauff dropped a set for the second consecutive match before clawing her way past Karolina Muchova 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Additional reporting by AP
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