The 2016 champion finally got a succession of breaks to take the second set and dominate the third in a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory on Monday afternoon.
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Although Hsieh was up in the first set and troubled the for former Australian Open victor, the crafty left hander was able to fight back and win the next two sets in a gripping 3-set thriller.
“I don’t know if this is a dream or not – all you guys are here, so maybe it’s not”, he said in an on-court TV interview after his 3-hour, 54-minute fourth-round win.
Hsieh of Chinese Taipei has punched above her weight at this year’s Australian Open, beating Spain’s Garbine Muguruza and Pole Agnieszka Radwanska en route to her fourth-round match against German Kerber.
The 26-year-old Sandgren, who entered the season’s opening major ranked 97th, missed a match point in the fourth set but held on for a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 6-3 win over Thiem.
After holding it together to improve her winning streak to 13 matches, Kerber faces U.S. Open quarterfinalist Madison Keys in the quarterfinals.
Madison Keys is coming off a straight sets win over Caroline Garcia that took 17 games to decide.
Hsieh was three points away from a first ever slam quarterfinal in her 28th main draw appearance stretching back to the 2005 US Open. “I forgot to ask him what she plays so I actually had no plan to go on the court”. Either way, Kerber always has a shot with her serve being on point the way it has recently. Kerber is 5-2 in her career in grand slam quarterfinal matches.
She will play either sixth seed Karolina Pliskova or fellow Czech Barbora Strycova, seeded 20, for a semi-final spot. “I am feeling good”. Kerber is the only previous WTA major title victor to still be alive in the Australian Open, but that’s not why she is the favorite. Kerber said. “I had a tough off-season and right now I’m trying to enjoy it”. “I’m playing well, especially in tight moments”.
Romanian Halep came through a gruelling contest against Lauren Davis of the United States of America in the third round, with that match lasting three fours and forty-four minutes and the final set finishing 15-13 in Halep’s favour.
“More than that, it was realising that it was so unexpected, and I was so happy to even get there in the first place”. Azarenka is still going through a nasty child custody battle which has prevented her from playing in each of the last two major tournaments.
The move clearly didn’t do Barty any favours as she could not break the Japanese player at any stage during the match. A win would give Keys her second ever semifinals appearance at the Grand Slam event.
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Halep will face the victor of Monday night’s all-Czech affair between Barbora Strycova and sixth seed Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals in her quest to claim her maiden grand slam title in Melbourne. Djokovic, a six-time champion here, plays Hyeon Chung, who provided one of the big upsets of the tournament when he beat fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev.
