Key events
Ruud consolidates comfortably for 4-1 and, so far, he’s maintaining the form of the previous rounds. This is some of the best tennis I’ve seen him play on a hard court – he’s added pace to his forehand and is doing a good job of getting it into the match.
Ruud holds to 15, and these two look really well matched, both of them whacking the cover off it. The Norwegian is working his forehand into the match and, at 15-30, he finds an amazing angle to lash a winner which breaks the sideline, raising two break points. Shelton, though, responds with a big second serve and an inside-out forehand winner; in comms, Henman notes that he tends to open up when behind, when really he should play like that all the time. Problem being he then serves a double, and Ruud leads 3-1 in the first.
Shelton’s vest somehow looks itchy, like it’s a woollen tank top. But he seems comfy out there, though a long forehands gives Ruud a sniff at 40-30 … and a double takes us to deuce. We then learn that he’s only beaten one top-20 player on a har court at a major – Mario Berrettini – which isn’t that surprising, as he doesn’t quite have the weapons. A point emphasised when a second-serve ace gives Shelton advantage, after which he closes out the hold for 1-1 in the first.
Big hitting followed by a deft drop earns Shelton a second break point in game one, but he misses with a forehand down the line, having opened up the space and connected nicely. Ruud, though, responds well, securing the hold, and he’s hitting it harder these days – a necessary improvement given the game’s direction of travel.
I said earlier that the top six seeds are into the last eight of the women’s competition; well, that’s also the case in the men’s. We’ve never had that happen in the open era, and it does feel like the best players are now pretty well established – though the talent pool is deeper than ever before.
I watched Ruud in round one and he was superb against a difficult opponent. I didn’t catch his matches with Munar and Cilic, but dispatching those for the loss of just one set is impressive. Anyway, off we go…
So how will this match go? Shelton has the bigger game and is really good on the big occasion; if it’s firing, his forehand will decide this match, but if it’s off, Ruud’s consistency in the longer rallies will make the difference.
Shelton and Ruud are making their way on to Laver.
Next on Laver: Ben Shelton (8) v Casper Ruud (12).
Now on to Iga, she says she felt confident from the beginning. The pace of the ball was different ot he last round so she had to adjust the position of her legs.
Otherwise, she doesn’t know what she’ll do tomorrow but knows it’s going to be 42 degrees – Jelena Dokic corrects her, it’s 44 – and that’s pretty much it. I’m not sure why we didn’t get a proper interview, perhaps they want the next match on as soon as possible.
Sinner says he and Darderi are good friends off the court, which adds an extra layer to things. He missed his chances to break in set three, then got “very very tight”, so he’s happy to close the match in three.
Told he’s just broken his own record, set last week, for aces in a match, and asked if that’s work in the off-season, he laughs that he wishes it was as easy as that. They did change the motion and it’s a bit more stable, but there’s other stuff to get better at, principally coming to the net and being more unpredictable – or even less predictable. Today that went well.
He knows Ruud and Shelton well, but they’ve worked a lot and everyone is improving. He’ll check some of the match, but the main thing is to recover and he’s very happy to be in the last eight again.
Iga Swiatek (2) beats Maddison Inglis 6-0 6-3
A fine performance means the career slam is still on, but Rybakina, who Swiatek meets next, will have some thoughts as regards that situation.
We’ll do his interview shortly; first, let’s focus on Swiatek, serving for the match against Inglis at 6-0 5-3. If she sees it out, it’ll be the first time since 1998 that the top six seeds have reached the last eight of a women’s slam. That echoes what we’ve been discussing since the summer: after some iffy years when all sorts were winning all sorts, the level and depth at the top of the game now is obscene.
Jannik Sinner (2) beats Luciano Darderi 6-1 6-3 7-6(2)
Brilliant from Sinner, who’ll be the better for the contest, but is he struggling for fitness? He’s not playing tomorrow, when it’ll be even hotter, but that’s one to keep an eye on. Next for him, Shelton or Ruud.
Seconds later, it’s 6-2, meaning Sinner has four match points, and this is big dog behaviour par excellence.
Swiatek holds through deuce for 6-0 5-2, moving a game away, while three points in a row for Sinner, upping his level because he’s been asked to, means he’s suddenly in command of the breaker at 4-2.
Up 2-0, Darderi tosses and a baby cries, then again; can he keep focus? He can, but Sinner does really well to keep in a long rally, eventually finishing it with an overhead. We’re back on serve at 2-1, but this is a different match now … so of course, as soon as I say that, the champ annihilates his first ace in three games for 2-2.
A love hold and Darderi has his breaker, an immediate mini-break making things interesting.
I’m starting to think about the next round now. Swiatek is seeking a career grand slam, and it’s possible the pressure, along with her intensity, gets to her when facing Rybakina’s freewheeling thwacking. Forehand to forehand will be key to that match, I think, and I fancy the Kazakh, who ended last year in terrific form and has carried it on this. Back on court, though, Swiatek leads 6-0 4-2.
Swiatek breaks Inglis for 3-1, holds for 4-1, and she’s nearly home; Sinner holds too, leading 2-0 6-5 and Darderi must once again serve to stay in the match. So let’s hope he does, because this set deserves a breaker.
Hold tight Luciano Darderi! More excellent serving secures the hold, and he trails 2-0 5-5. Sinner doesn’t look that fresh, perhaps still affected by his cramps of the previous round; he’ll be desperate to get this done in three.
…which Darderi saves, but a double means he now faces another … saved with a big serve and clean-up forehand. Well played, old mate, well played.
Serving to stay in the match, Darderi is forced to deuce while Swiatek holds comfortably; she’s even making her second serve work for her, while doing a decent job of hiding her forehand, her other weakness – relatively speaking. Oh, and a fantastic backhand return from Sinner, deep on to the baseline, takes him to match point…
Back on Laver, Inglis has a point for 0-6 2-0, but is broken back for 1-1 and Swiatek, having had her chin checked, is back looking good, nailing a forehand winner at the start of the next game.
Darderi makes advantage as suddenly, Sinner looks fatigued. And when he picks the next serve, he has a chance, but thwacks a return long; no matter. He’s starting to win the longer rallies, gets to advantage again, and though he’s again hauled back, the hold eventually secured, this is a contest, at least for now. Sinner leads 6-1 6-3 5-4, and it’d be just like him to break for the match when they return after change of ends.
Darderi and Inglis force two break points each at the same time and Inglis is millimetres away from converting her first, straying long, before stepping to receive a second serve. And when Swiatek nets, she’s raising her arms to salute the crowd, no longer in fear of a double bagel at 0-6 1-0; Sinner, meanwhile, fights back to deuce.
I’m really excited to see how Jovic goes against Sabalenka and what Tien does with Zverev – we’re going to be seeing a lot of those guys over the next decade or so, but will they be week two staples or serious contenders? Tomorrow might offer a clue.
On which point, get a load of tomorrow!
Swiatek hammers a backhand return, confirming a bagel first set. Inglis is doing her best and taking various games, including that last one, to deuce, but there’s not much she can do about this. We can start looking forward to Swiatek v Rybakina on Wednesday.
And now Sinner silently holds to love, Darderi having to fight for everything he’s getting – or mainly not getting – while for the champ, it’s all coming naturally. He leads 2-0 4-3.
Swiatek is playing nicely, it must be said, and it’s soon 5-0 while, on Court, Darderi is sort of enjoying himself now, a succession of big forehands helping him hold for 0-2 3-3 amid a lot of noise.
A fine backhand to the corner has the home crowd ahhing, but Swiatek retrieves well if a little floatily, Inglis hammers into the net, and at 4-0, that’s the double break. I’m afraid this isn’t close nor is it showing signs of becoming so.
Down break point at 0-2 1-2, Darderi locates an ace, but he must soon handle another, Sinner dashing in to put away a volley having cracked a forehand to the corner. But a netted return restores deuce and from there he closes out the game before celebrating by petulantly throwing down a towel next to his coach. Meantime, Swiatek is doing all she can to prevent Inglis getting on the board, an overhead dispatched with prejudice saving game point at 3-0.
Swiatek breaks Inglis immediately for 2-0 and though, as she seeks to consolidate, she’s taken to deuce, she eventually prevails. She can play a lot better than this – and if she wins, against Rybakina, she’ll have to.
Otherwise, Musetti, now firmly established at the top of the game, whacked Fritz while, in the men’s doubles, the champs are out, Henry Patten and Harri Heloivaara beaten by Patrik Rikl and Petr Nouza 6 and 6, spurning five break points without facing any. Regular reader will know Patten is coached by Calvin Betton, a great friend of the blog who’s been furnishing us with pro angles and insights for years now; well, Luke Johnson, Calv’s other charge, is still in, with his partner Jan Zielinski, and they’re looking very good.
To recap what went down overnight, the champ is out of the women’s competition, Our Maddy losing in straights to her good mate, Jess Pegula, who’ll now meet Amanda Anisimova in an enticing quarter-final – the others are tasty too, Gauff meeting Svitolina, Sabalenka facing the surging Jovic and Rybakina the winner of Swiatek v Inglis.
They’re away now, Swiatek holding, while on Court, Sinner breaks again to lead a ticking Darderi 6-1 6-3.
Inglis, passed over for a wildcard, saved a match point in the first round of qualifying, then played a decider in the last, and this is an amazing occasion for her: an Australia Day headline slot against a great in the making. Having struggled on tour for years, she now receives £243,000 – great stuff, though she did get lucky with Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal. I can’t say I wasn’t looking forward to seeing her against Swiatek, but Inglis changing her life is a pleasant consolation.
A quick, er, comfort break, and our players are out on Laver.
At Wimbledon, Sinner looked like losing to Dimitrov, flummoxed by him at two sets down, then poor old Griggzy hurt his pec and had to quit; in the last round here, he was craping at 1-1 and a break down to Elliot Spizzirri, only for the officials to call a heat break which allowed him to recover. Which is to say that, like the best sportsfolk, he has a goldfish memory, able to accept and absorb fortune, ill or good, and move on remorselessly. He leads 6-1 3-1.
Sinner leads Darderi 6-1 1-1, though there was minor controversy earlier: yesterday, Carlos Alcaraz was ordered to take off a health tracker worn around his wrist, so today, the champ tried hiding it under his sweatband – to no avail. he too was told to get it off, but so far appears to be surviving. And as I type, Darderi misses a forehand to be broken, at 1-6 1-2 so leathers a ball into the crowd, receiving a code violation for his trouble, and also hammers his racket into the surface. That’ll learn it.
Preamble
G’day all and welcome to the Australian Open 2026 – day nine!
We’ve not, it’s fair to say, been over-furnished with close matches so far in this tournament and, with Jannik Sinner already all over Luciano Darderi, another looks likely to go by without giving us what we want.
But we can hope and, starting on Laver shortly we have Maddison Inglis, an Australian qualifier, taking on Iga Swiatek. The no 2 seed is, of course, a heavy favourite, but she’s looked less than impregnable hitherto, struggling against Yue Yuan and losing a set to Anna Kalinskaya.
Then, following them on to court, a contest with the potential to consume a significant chunk of our working days, as Ben Shelton takes on Casper Ruud. This slot was meant to be filled by Novak Djokovic v Jakub Mensik, but the Czech found he could no longer battle a stomach injury – a shame for him, as he may not get another chance to meet his hero in such circumstances, and a shame for us because as a ruckus it had serious potential; what can you do?
So, though Shelton v Ruud was an ideal bonus match, if both players are at it – and they have been so far, the former yet to drop a set and latter very clean in binning Mattia Bellucci, Jaume Munar and Marin Cilic – we’re in for a treat.
Let’s go!
.png?w=3800&h=2000&w=238&resize=238,178&ssl=1 "Cuadro actualizado de la Copa Mundial 2026, probabilidades y calendario de dieciseisavos de final después de los resultados del jueves")
