By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday January, 2223
Carlos Alcaraz's draw will officially get tough on Day 11 in Melbourne. Find out why...
Photo Source: Getty
Wednesday marks the completion of the quarterfinals in Melbourne, with the top half of the women’s draw and the bottom half of the men’s draw set to decide their semifinalists.
Here’s what we’ll be keeping tabs on…
SEE THE FULL DAY 11 ORDER OF PLAY HERE
Chaos Reigns Supreme
A pair of first-time Grand Slam semifinalists will get through on Wednesday, as the wide open top half of the women’s singles draw contests its quarterfinal action. The average ranking of the four remaining players in action in the top half? 55.75! And the highest-ranked player remaining is No.15-ranked Zheng Qinwen of China.
Zheng, who faces World No.75 Anna Kalinskaya in the night session, is the only player remaining in the top half who has contested a Grand Slam quarterfinal before.
Qualifier Dayana Yastremska, ranked 83, is the lowest-ranked of the bunch – the Ukrainian faces World No.50 Linda Noskova in Wednesday’s first match on Rod Laver Arena.
Any way you slice it the semifinalists – and eventual finalist - that emerge from this section will be a surprise.
Who will step up and seize this amazing opportunity?
Zverev the Disruptor?
When the draws came out on the Thursday before the main draw began, many a pundit singled out Carlos Alcaraz as the Top-4 talent who had the toughest draw. The main reason? If the seeds held, he’d be facing sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev, the most dangerous player outside of the top four, and one that has done well against Alcaraz in the past, winning four of their seven previous clashes.
Now that it’s time for the showdown, we see that Zverev is at a disadvantage, having spent 13:47 on court through four rounds, and gone over four hours in two grueling five-setters. It’s similar to the scenario he encountered last year at the US Open, when he battled past Grigor Dimitrov and Jannik Sinner to reach the quarterfinals, and had very little left against Alcaraz when he got there.
Will it be different this time around for the German? When he’s fit, Zverev has demonstrated an ability to ruffle the feathers of Alcaraz, with his booming serve and his heavy, grinding baseline game.
Hubi and the Hot Serve
The player who has had the most success on first serve at this year’s Australian Open is Hubert Hurkacz. The Pole has been hammering his first offering, winning 84 percent of points played behind it, and if he can keep up that rate against No.3-seeded Daniil Medvedev in Wednesday's second match on Rod Laver, he may have a shot at upsetting the two-time finalist.
Hurkacz is the tournament’s ace leader, with 71 through four rounds, and he’s also won 57 percent of his second-serve points, and been broken just four times through four rounds.
Hurkacz has won his last two clashes with Medvedev, and three of five overall, and the Pole has taken their only meeting at a Slam, way back at Wimbledon in 2021.
Additionally, Medvedev’s two victories over Hurkacz came in three sets, which indicates that Medvedev v Hurkacz episode six should be full of tension and drama.
Working in favor of Medvedev is the fact that he is much more experienced at this stage of majors. He’s 7-1 lifetime in major quarterfinals, and 6-0 in Grand Slam quarterfinals played on hard courts. That’s impeccable.
Hurkacz, meanwhile, is playing just his second major quarterfinal, and his first on hard courts. Nerves will be in play.