Thaindian News

Melbourne, Jan 22 (IANS) Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal marched into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open tennis tournament here Sunday while Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters made it to the last eight of the women’s singles.

The Swiss, a 16-time Grand Slam winner, defeated host-favourite Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in the fourth round while rival Spaniard Rafael Nadal beat compatriot Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to become the first man to reach the last eight.

Federer and Nadal will meet in the semifinals if they clear the next hurdle. Third-seed Federer takes on Argentine Juan Martin Del-Potro while second-seed Nadal meets Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic.

Potro, seeded 11th, eased past Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 whereas seventh seed Berdych had to fight hard for a 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 win against Spain’s Nicolas Almagro.

In the women’s draw, defending champion Kim Clijsters saved four match points in the second set and overcame an ankle injury to register a 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 over last year’s runner-up Li Na in another fourth round contest.

Clijsters, seeded 11th, sprained her left ankle in the seventh game of the first set. Li, who won the 2011 French Open, failed to close out the match after leading 5-4 in the second set and 6-2 in the tiebreaker.

The Belgian then won six straight points to equal the match and also won the first four games of the deciding set. The fifth seed broke Clijsters’s serve in the eighth game but still could not reverse the momentum that her opponent had. Clijsters clinched the issue on her second match point.

“I don’t want to give Li anything for free (at the tiebreaker). If she was going to come up with an ace or with a winner, I was okay with it,” Clijsters was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

“I think she was a little bit lost or confused at that time and she made two easy mistakes when we changed sides.”

“I can’t believe I won. I knew before the match it was going to be a tough match, both physically and mentally.”

She next plays World Number One Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals. The Dane beat Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic 6-0, 7-5 in a late night match at Melbourne Park.

Third seed Victoria Azarenka beat Czech Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-2 to reach the last eight stage and will play against eighth-seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who comfortably beat German Julia Goerges 6-1, 6-1.