Icon: enlarge
Rafael Nadal
Photo:
DAVID GRAY / AFP
The Spanish tennis professional Rafael Nadal is in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the 13th time.
The world number two from Mallorca defeated the number 16 Italian Fabio Fognini after another strong performance 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 2.
Nadal remains at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year without losing a set.
In the fight for a place in the semi-finals, the 34-year-old meets the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas or Fognini's compatriot Matteo Berrettini in Melbourne.
Nadal is aiming for his 21st title in a Grand Slam tournament.
That would make him the sole record holder ahead of the Swiss Roger Federer.
For Nadal, the Italian was something of a feared opponent.
Nadal's third round defeat after a 2-0 set lead at the 2015 US Open will be remembered. Fognini also beat Nadal in 2019 in Monte Carlo and then won the tournament.
This time, however, the Spaniard had the better end for himself.
Switolina loses to Pegula - Brady is through
The world number five Jelina Switolina was surprisingly eliminated in the second round.
The 26-year-old from Ukraine lost 4-6, 6-3, 3-6 against the unseeded American Jessica Pegula.
Pegula is number 61 in the world rankings and is in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career.
There she will meet her US colleague Jennifer Brady on Wednesday, who won against Croatian Donna Vekic 6-1, 7-5.
Meanwhile, there will be a Russian duel between the ATP Cup winners Daniil Medvedev and Andrei Rublev in the quarter-finals.
World number four and ATP finals champion Medvedev won against American Mackenzie McDonald 6: 4, 6: 2, 6: 3.
A little later Rublyov benefited from the abandonment of his opponent in the match against the Norwegian Casper Ruud.
Rublev led 6: 2, 7: 6 (7: 3) when Ruud could not continue playing.
At first nothing was known about the reasons.
Since the qualifier Aslan Karazew had progressed the day before, four Russian men are in the quarter-finals for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament.
Karazew will then face the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday, who prevailed against the Austrian Dominic Thiem.
Zverev in Night Session against Djokovic
Alexander Zverev competes in his quarter-finals against defending champion and world number one Novak Djokovic in the night session.
As expected, the match was scheduled by the organizers of the Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne as the last game of the day on Tuesday (around 11.00 a.m. CET / Eurosport) in the Rod Laver Arena.
Before that (9 a.m.), Serena Williams from the USA and the number two seeded Romanian Simona Halep face each other in the women's quarter-finals.
Icon: The mirror
ara / dpa