TENNIS in DEPTH.

Andy Murray coasted into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open with a straight-sets defeat of 11th seed Jurgen Melzer. Melzer was expected to provide Murray with his first serious test of the tournament, but proved no match for the Scot, who has yet to drop a set in Melbourne as he bids to land his first grand slam title. Murray produced a mature, controlled performance to win 6-3 6-1 6-1 in one hour and 44 minutes, contrasting sharply with that offered by Melzer, the Austrian spraying the ball all over Rod Laver Arena as his all-or-nothing game was woefully exposed. Murray, the world number five, will meet Alexandr Dolgopolov in the last eight after the Ukrainian stunned fourth seed Robin Soderling in a five-set thriller. And the 23-year-old admitted he was surprised by the ease of his win. “Yeah, he had a good year on tour last year, I was surprised but I played a great match,” Murray said. However, Murray accepts it is likely to get tougher against emerging star Dolgopolov.

“I have known him quite a while and played him when we were young in Davis Cup. He is unorthodox but is a tough player,” added Murray, who was watched by mum Judy after she missed the clash with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Saturday.

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RogerFederer was given a scare by Tommy Robredo before stumbling through 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2 after 40 unforced errors. Third seed Djokovic had an easier day with a crushing 6-3 6-4 6-0 triumph over Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. Djokovic will play Tomas Berdych who beat Fernando Verdasco 6-4 6-2 6-3. Federer will next face Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka after he disposed of American Andy Roddick in straight sets.

Wawrinka, 25, comfortably defeated the former Grand Slam winner 3-6 4-6 4-6 with a superb performance, playing excellent tennis, to set up a last-eight clash with Federer. “I played an unbelievable match, I was ready for a big fight and I’m very happy with how I played tonight,” said Wawrinka. “I wanted to play aggressively, especially on my serve, and it worked. I am excited about the possibility of playing Roger. There was a great atmosphere in here tonight and I hope it will be the same on Tuesday.” In seven matches Wawrinka – who has known Federer since he was 16 – has only beaten his compatriot once. “We know each other pretty well, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Earlier Federer survived a loss of form in a scrappy second set before finally coming through in four sets against Robredo, world number 52 and a quarter-finalist in this tournament four years ago. “I was able to get off to a good start but it was always going to be tough,” said Federer, who secured his 27th consecutive last-eight spot in a Grand Slam to equal Jimmy Connors’ record. I have the game to win a Grand Slam, I just have to believe in myself and be mentally strong. “Robredo makes you work. He moves extremely well and it was extremely hard. I’m sweating bullets and happy the match is over and really excited to be in the next round.” The last time the 29-year-old, eyeing a fifth title in Melbourne, failed to reach the quarter-finals in a Grand Slam was at the 2004 French Open, and all went to plan with a comfortable first set, starting in blistering style with three aces. But with the 28-year-old Spaniard breaking to lead 5-3 in the second set, Federer looked stunned and as his uncharacteristic errors showed no sign of stopping, the match was soon level at one set all. The Swiss admitted afterwards he had struggled with his return and lacked rhythm but despite facing a number of break points his back-hand and deft touch at the net remained his most potent weapons as he edged a nervy third set.

Still the mistakes continued, with several returns flying off his racquet frame, but Federer stayed calm in sweltering conditions to wrap up his 10th win in 10 matches against his opponent as a weary Robredo flicked a forehand well wide. In complete contrast, it was a devastating performance by Djokovic who has now reached the last eight at 13 of his last 15 Grand Slam events.

With the 2008 champion losing at the quarter-final stage in the last two years at Melbourne Park, the Serb looked in determined mood and broke as early as the fourth game against Almagro to set him on the way to taking the opening set in 31 minutes. Desperate to progress beyond the fourth round in this tournament for the first time, Almagro did his best but rarely threatened as he was decimated by an opponent dictating from the baseline and serving up 12 aces. He was broken again in the fourth game of the second set and soon had to watch Djokovic dish up a pair of aces to open up a two-set advantage. The demolition continued and after another break immediately at the start of the third set, the Serb raced away to secure his spot in the last eight. “That was a higher standard than my previous matches and it’s a big positive for me heading into the quarter-finals,” said Djokovic who reached the quarter-finals in all four Grand Slams last year.

“I have the game to win a Grand Slam, I just have to believe in myself and be mentally strong.” The sixth-seeded Berdych, runner-up at Wimbledon last year, was another in cruise-control in a straight-sets triumph over Spaniard Verdasco, ranked nine, in a match that last just under two hours. Verdasco racked up 39 unforced errors and struggled with his opponent’s serve throughout – his receiving points won stood at just 17% – as the Czech booked his place in the quarters for the first time at the Australian Open.

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Maria Sharapova was taken down by the red hot German Andrea Petkovic 6-2, 6-3 in the fourth round. of Australian Open 2011. While Petkovic has been a rising player for the past year and was given a real chance at an upset coming into the match, the way she thoroughly dismantled the 2008 Australian Open champion was shocking, as she took the ball early and consistently backed up the three-time Grand Slam champion. Petkovic played a very clean match, smoking 13 winners and committing only nine unforced errors ,while Sharapova committed 30 unforced errors and hit only 14 winners. “It’s probably the best match I played on such a big stage,” said the 23-year-old German, who reached the quarterfinals of a major for the first time. “I tried to mix it up a little bit. Normally my game is to play very flat and aggressively, but I tried to give it some spin on the forehand and play some slice and mix up my serve. I tried to keep up the percentage of my first serve and tried to return very aggressively. I think I played very well tactically‑wise.”

Sharapova rarely was able to cut loose on her serve, couldn’t find a way top penetrate the German’s service game with her vaunted return and was beaten off the ball time and time again from the backcourt. She joins former No.1s Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic, Justine Henin, Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic as players who have been sent out of the tournament in the first week. “There are many things that didn’t work today,” Sharapova said. “I didn’t get my first breakpoint until it was a set and 5‑1. That’s not the type of tennis I want to be playing, especially on the return. I mean, I didn’t put any pressure on her serve whatsoever. I wasn’t up Love‑30 or anything on her service games. That’s not the way to play a match.”

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Francesca Schiavone moved into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after edging out Svetlana Kuznetsova in the longest women’s grand slam match in the open era. The Italian saved six match points along the way as she triumphed 6-4 1-6 16-14 in four hours and 44 minutes. By way of comparison, her last-eight opponent Caroline Wozniacki has spent just five hours and 31 minutes on court in total in her four matches at Melbourne Park.

French Open champion Schiavone won the first set before Kuznetsova, who beat Justine Henin in the previous round, stormed back to set up a decider which took exactly three hours to complete. Both players were struggling physically, especially Schiavone, who had a lengthy medical time-out at 11-10. The match swung one way and then the other before the Italian broke for 15-14 and then served it out at the third attempt after Kuznetsova had bravely threatened a comeback. “It is a fantastic moment for me,” said the sixth seed afterwards.

“It is one of the most emotional moments of my life.

“I just told myself to keep going, do it with the heart and go for it.”

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Jurgen Melzer’s late career surge continued in fine fashion on Saturday, when he knocked Marcos Baghdatis around until the popular Cypriot retired with a 6-7 (5) 6-2, 6-1 4-3 with a right finger injury. Before Baghdatis retired, Melzer managed to rip 39 winners and won 26 of 45 points at the net. It’s the first time that the 29-year-old Austrian has reached the fourth round of the Australian Open. The popular Baghdatis said that the he suffered a right pinkie injury and “felt electricity going through my hand” to the point where he could no longer play. “I’m very disappointed,” said Australian Open 2006 finalist Baghdatis. “I was playing really good, thought I could win this match and wanted to get into the second week and play Andy Murray.” However, Melzer was pleased with the way he stayed on top of the ball in the final three sets, dictating his big forehand, serving well and taking over the net. “Well, the first set was probably one of the worst sets I’ve played in a while. I think the level wasn’t really high. Felt like I made millions of unforced errors,” he said. “He played well in the beginning of the second, then it felt like he — I mean, at that time I felt like he wasn’t hurt. But he let loose for two games actually and let me back into that set. From that point on, I felt like, okay, my game is getting better, I can go closer to the lines, go with more speed without making too many errors. I felt like I was in control of the match from that point on. ”

Melzer has had the best year of his up and down career in 2010, reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal at Roland Garros when he came back from a two-sets-to-love and 0-2 deficit and took out Novak Djokovic 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3), 6-4 in quarters before falling to Rafa Nadal in the semis. He reached the fourth round of the US Open for the fist time and at the ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai, the powerful lefthander upset No.1 Rafa Nadal. Then, as the top seed and defending champion in Vienna, he held on to his trophy.

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Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters both came through tough encounters to reach round four of the Australian Open. Second seed Zvonareva was twice broken when serving for the match against Lucie Safarova but won 6-3 7-6 (11-9). Clijsters, seeded third, battled to a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 victory over Alize Cornet after a tense opening set. Zvonareva was matched stroke for stroke by Safarova in the early stages before breaking serve for a 4-2 lead and soon serving out the opening set. Czech 31st seed Safarova hinted at a swift riposte when she engineered two break points in the game two of the second set, but Zvonareva saved both before holding serve with a stunning backhand pass. The world number two maintained her momentum by breaking for a 2-1 lead and at that stage it seemed as though she would ease home. Safarova continued to battle hard and levelled at 4-4, only to spoil all her hard work when she immediately dropped serve once more as Zvonareva edged to within a game of victory. But she could not see it out, a further three breaks of serve taking the set to a tie-break in which Safarova wasted set points at 6-5 and 9-8. In between, Zvonareva squandered two match points. The key point came at 9-9 when a Zvonareva backhand was initially called out, only to be ruled in after a Hawkeye challenge. And there was no slip-up third time round as the Wimbledon and US Open runner-up induced an error from Safarova to seal her win. “Lucie is a great player and I had to hang in there and fight for every point,” said Zvonareva of her former doubles partner. “It was a very good match for me and I am happy to be through to the next round.” Standing between Zvonareva and a place in the quarter-finals is another Czech, Iveta Benesova, who shocked 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Clijsters made hard work of her meeting with Cornet, committing 41 unforced errors, including six double faults, in a match featuring seven breaks of serve. The first of those came in the opening game and helped Clijsters into a 3-1 lead, but the Belgian was broken in the fifth game and also let slip a 5-3 lead. However, Cornet was unable to take advantage of the situation and crumbled in the tie-break, losing the first five points as Clijsters eventually took the opening set after 54 minutes. Cornet showed some fighting spirit in the second set and saved two match points in the eighth game, but Clijsters then served out to complete an unconvincing win.

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The world No.6 was out-foxed and out-played by young Czech and 25th seed Petra Kvitova 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 in the third round. Her opponent’s talent was shown in the fact the 20-year-old hit 41 winners to Stosur’s 12. The evening on Rod Laver Arena didn’t go well from the start with Stosur having to save four break points on her opening serve before holding. But not converting two on Kvitova’s serve while leading 4-3 in the first set, hurt Stosur. A break there would have allowed her to serve for the set. Instead she became locked in a tiebreak and came out on the wrong side.

In the second set Stosur again had three break points on the Czech’s serve in the fifth game and failed to convert and then dropped her own serve in the sixth. They are the chances she will rue when she sits down to dissect the match, that would have propelled Stosur into the fourth round at her home slam for the third time. Instead it is Kvitova – who won the Brisbane International two weeks ago – who will meet Italian Flavia Pennetta on Monday for a sport in the quarter-finals. So much was riding on Stosur’s shoulders for the clash tonight. She had been in devastating form in her first two rounds. But her coach Dave Taylor had warned about the danger the left-handed European would pose since her serve and groundstrokes were the equal of the Australian’s power. Poor execution by Stosur let Kvitova’s light shine a little brighter. The Australian scored no aces; the Czech five; Stosur won fewer points at the net and converted far less break points.

From the eight Australian women that entered the main draw of 128, none are now left.

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Alexandr Dolgopolov avenged his five-set loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Wimbledon last year with a 3-6 6-3 3-6 6-1 6-1 win. The latter opened the match with a regulation first set but cracks began to appear mid-way through the second with Tsonga spraying a series of balls off line and Dolgopolov was ready to take advantage. “I could see he’s pretty tired,” he said. “His physical form is not probably the best now… I had to hold on and play consistent, try to make him more tired. On the baseline he’s really solid; today it paid off that I played more consistently and made less unforced errors.” Tsonga said: “He was better than me, that’s it. He played a better match and was more consistent than me.”

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