MELBOURNE: Serena Williams kept up her pursuit of a record Grand Slam title and a return to world number one on Monday as she reached the Australian Open quarterfinals without dropping a set. The American great would gain much from winning in Melbourne, as she would overtake Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22 Grand Slam titles and end Kerber’s short reign as world number one. Tough little cookieMeanwhile Mirjana Lucic-Baroni wrote another chapter in her fairytale career revival when she beat American qualifier Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinals in 18 years. In the men’s draw, David Goffin put away Austria’s Dominic Thiem 5-7, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-2 to become the first Belgian man ever to reach the men’s quarter-finals. Glasses-wearing Istomin won the first set but injury problems set in and he went down 2-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, 6-1 to the in-form Bulgarian.

Source: Manila Times January 23, 2017 14:26 UTC