By Howard Fendrich Jan. 21, 2019 Updated: Jan. 21, 2019 10:41 p.m.
Cheered by a loud, flag-waving contingent of Greek fans inside and outside Rod Laver Arena, Tsitsipas again displayed his varied skill set, with 22 aces, 30 more winners than unforced errors (68-38) and a nose for getting to the net.
He was down a break in both the first and third sets before turning them around against Bautista Agut, whose run to the quarterfinals included victories over Andy Murray, a three-time major champion, and Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion and the runner-up to Federer in Melbourne a year ago.
Now Tsitsipas, the 14th seed, gets to continue the best showing of his career, one that marks him as perhaps the sport’s next big thing.
“It all feels like a fairy tale, almost. I’m just living the dream, living what I’ve been working hard for,” said Tsitsipas, who dropped his racket, fell on his back and covered his face with his hands at match’s end.
Seated in his courtside guest box were his parents and two siblings, along with Patrick Mouratoglou, who is Serena Williams’ coach and mentors Tsitsipas.
Now they’ll turn their attention to his next opponent, either 17-time major champion Rafael Nadal or another up-and-coming member of the sport’s new generation, 21-year-old American Frances Tiafoe.
In a match late Monday, Serena Williams faced her first real test at this year’s Australian Open and emerged with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory over top-ranked Simona Halep to reach the quarterfinals.
Williams and Halep traded jittery breaks of serve in the opening two games, as each double-faulted and flubbed shots. Williams settled down first, compiling a 10-3 advantage in winners to grab the opening set.
Halep then fell behind by a break in the second, before suddenly awakening to display her own brand of baseline talent that carried her to the Australian Open final and French Open title in 2018.
Williams next meets 2016 U.S. Open runner-up Karolina Pliskova. Pliskova advanced earlier Monday with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over two-time major champion Garbiñe Muguruza.
The other quarterfinal on that side of the women’s bracket features No. 4 Naomi Osaka against No. 6 Elina Svitolina. Osaka, who beat Williams in last year’s U.S. Open final, edged No. 13 Anastasija Sevastova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the fourth round. Svitolina got past 2017 U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.
In men’s matches, 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic knocked off fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-1, 7-6 (5), and next takes on No. 28 Lucas Pouille, a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (2) winner over No. 11 Borna Coric. No. 23 Pablo Carreno Busta left the court yelling at the chair umpire after a disagreement in the concluding tiebreaker of his 6-7 (8), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (8) loss to eighth-seeded Kei Nishikori in a 5-hour, 5-minute marathon that was the longest match of the tournament. Nishikori’s quarterfinal foe will be Djokovic, the top seed and six-time champion who overcame a couple of tumbles to beat No. 15 Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3.