Monday's males matches in Australian Open brought a delightful spectacle of tennis, with ton of emotions, two exciting five-setters and fresh faces earning their first Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances.
Andrey Rublev and Holger Rune were considered as one of the greatest Round of 16 matchups, and this duel delivered a huge tennis thriller, ended up with an epic and emotional super tie-break of deciding sets. Rublev was on a front foot in the opening phases of the match, moving into the lead after first and third set. Rune was able to level the set score twice, moving the settlement into fifth set. Deciding set started well for the Dane, who earned the first break in fourth game. Rune faced an opportunity to serve out the victory, but got broken by Rublev to love in 9th game. Another chances for younger of players came in 12th game. Rublev was 15-40 down on his own serve, but managed to came out of trouble and gave himself a chance to win this match in super-tiebreak. This was a third big chance for Rune in this deciding set, as he started brilliantly, with 5-0 lead, including double mini-break. His advantage was continued even with a 7-4 score, but then he blew up his great chance being so close to the win, allowing the Russian to win 5 points in a row. Rublev also needed a couple of points to close the match, as he did not convert two match points and the score leveled to 9-9, but Rune lost another point on his serve, bottling all his chances as Rublev crossed the line with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6 (11-9) victory.
Ben Shelton makes his dreams come true, as he advances to the maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal after another exciting five-setter of the day, defeating his fellowcountry J J Wolf. It was the biggest match of career for both players, who are big sensations of this tournament. Wolf had his chances, as he was leading 2-1 in sets and fourth set was settled in tie-break, but Shelton won it without a trouble and was a dominant player in deciding set, winning it 6-7 6-2 6-7 7-6 6-2 at the end. His QF opponent will be another American, Tommy Paul. More experienced and recognised player who is placed #35 in ATP ranking defeated Roberto Bautista Agut. Paul was on a front foot in all sets, giving away the lead only once in second set, but showing a solid and mature performance in two remaining sets, the player from US earned maiden Grand Slam QF same as his further opponent.
No surprise in the contest between Novak Djokovic and Alex De Minaur. The latest Aussie in the singles tournament managed to score just 5 games against 9 times AO champion, who showed a stunning performance, not allowing his opponent to create any single breakpoint throughout whole the match. Quite a cold shower for De Minaur, who suggested, that Djokovic simulates his harmstring injury issues. No better response could be stated by the Serbian, who will face Andrey Rublev in the most interesting match-up of males quarterfinals.
