Greg Garber joined ESPN in 1991 and provides reports for NFL Countdown and SportsCenter.
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Third seed Garbine Muguruza was bundled out of the Australian Open third round 6-3 6-2 by Barbora Strycova on Saturday.
Zhang had lost in 14 consecutive grand slam first rounds coming into the tournament but now finds herself on the brink of the last eight after following up wins over Simona Halep and Alize Cornet with a 6-1 6-3 victory against American Varvara Lepchenko.
World number one Serena Williams returns to action on Sunday in a fourth-round contest against Margarita Gasparyan. His ranking has climbed from just outside the top 20 to No. 11, and he’s now reached the round of 16 at back-to-back majors. That hasn’t happened on the men’s side since 2004. The Czech won in straight sets, dropping just five games in her 76 minute win. But Azarenka believes the big-hitting Osaka, who upset 18th-seeded Elina Svitolina in her Grand Slam main draw debut, has a bright future. “It was my first time (to play her)”, said Azarenka. I called him one time, I said, “I don’t want to do this anymore”.
But the experienced Czech kept the pressure on Muguruza’s wobbly serve and she got another break and then held for a 4-1 lead.
“I’m pretty happy with the way I’m playing”.
“For sure I expected a tough match but the plan was just to play my best tennis and hang on in there”, said Strycova. She was unpredictable and surprised me with her game. I always had pressure. “Today’s victory was for that community, and a quick recovery and all of Canada, and I’m sure the world is behind you”.
At the end of her surprising rally to the third round, Osaka was upbeat and ambitious about her goals.
Strycova has only been past the third round once before in 38 Grand Slams, made a decision to stay in the moment after beating Mugurza, knowing her next rival was likely Azarenka.
The early matches on Saturday in Melbourne, Australia saw No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, No. 8 David Ferrer, No. 10 John Isner and No. 13 Milos Raonic all roll into the fourth round with relative ease.
Makarova, seeded 21st, has a decent record in Melbourne, having reached the quarter-finals in 2012 and 2013, as well as the semi-finals previous year. Muguruza, who it seems had been dealing with an injury to her foot struggled against her opponent. “I guess also Barbora was making me move”. I think Barbora played good, very good. “I played too defensively and the score was bad. Didn’t really find my game”. She is performing even better here, including her double-bagel win over Alison Van Uytvanck in the first round.
“It’s been a little while since I’ve been in the round of 16 at this tournament”, he said.
“Because right now I already win six matches, six great player”.
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“Victoria is very, very good”. As she’s quite capable of attacking the net, slicing the ball and hitting drop shots, it’s within her repertoire. “But we don’t know how it goes”. Kerber beat Madison Brengle 6-1, 6-3 to move into a fourth-round match against fellow German Annika Beck and a potential quarterfinal with Azarenka.
