Australian Open Day 6: Keys beats Ivanovic after scare; Muguruza exits

Australian Open Day 6 results: Madison Keys defeats Ana Ivanovic, Victoria Azarenka, Stan Wawrinka, John Isner advance; Garbine Muguruza loses.

Author:
Jamie Lisanti
Publish date:
Jan 23, 2016

Catch up on all of the action, news and results from Day 6 at the 2016 Australian Open on Saturday that you may have missed while you were sleeping.

Azarenka continues to cruise

No. 14-seed Victoria Azarenka stormed into the Round of 16 on Saturday, ending 18-year-old Naomi Osaka’s run with a 6–1, 6–1 victory. Azarenka has now dropped just five games through three matches in Melbourne.

Osaka, who was making her Grand Slam main draw debut, broke Azarenka in the opening game but was unable to find an answer to Azarenka's shots for the remainder of the match and struggled with a left abdominal injury she suffered in her previous match. Azarenka finished with 24 winners to only four for Osaka.

After the match, Azarenka went to the practice courts for 20-25 minutes to “work on a couple things.”

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During her post match press conference, Azarenka was asked if this was the best she’s ever played at the Australian Open, where she’s won two titles.

Competitive desire was the difference in Federer's win over Dimitrov

“I'm not sure,” she replied. “I just try to focus on my execution more. I mean, the score doesn't really tell—say pretty much the whole story sometimes. But I'm pretty happy with the way I'm playing. I just, you know, I want to still keep improving from match to match, because it's only getting harder from here.”

In the fourth round Azarenka will play Barbora Strycova, who upset No. 3-seed Garbine Muguruza in the first match of the day 6–3, 6–2. Muguruza couldn’t find her form in the match, hitting 32 unforced errors to Strycova’s 16.

“Clearly not my best, for sure,” Muguruza said after the match. “I think I just couldn't find the court, my shots…I felt with not so much energy, that's for sure. I felt a little bit, I don't know, not moving very well. I guess also Barbora was making me move. She was being smart.”

Scary moment on Rod Laver during Keys-Ivanovic

During the first night session match between Ana Ivanovic and Madison Keys, play was stopped at 1–0 in the second set for a spectator who needed medical attention in the stands. It was later confirmed that the individual was Nigel Sears, coach of Ivanovic and father-in-law of Andy Murray. Play was suspended and Ivanovic and Keys left the court while Sears, 58, received medical attention. He was later removed from the arena on a stretcher and taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

Ana Ivanovic's coach Nigel Sears collapses at Australian Open

Murray was simultaneously playing his third round match against Joao Sousa on Margaret Court Arena when the incident occurred. After he closed out the match in four sets, defeating Sousa 6–2, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2, he did not do a post-match on-court interview and also skipped press to go be with his father-in-law at the hospital.

The tournament gave Ivanovic and Keys the option to resume play or postpone their match, but both agreed to continue. The match resumed at 8:40 p.m. local time after a 50-minute break. After a big forehand return off a second serve, an impassioned Ivanovic broke Keys to go up 4–2 in the second set. But Keys broke back and used her power to win four straight games and force a third set. Ivanovic came out strong and took a quick 3-0 lead but Keys fought back again, wining five straight games and eventually closing out the match to win 4–6, 6–4, 6–4 and advance to the fourth round.

Wawrinka, Raonic win to set up fourth round clash

Despite a sore throat, No. 4-seed Stan Wawrinka had no trouble with Czech Lukas Rosol on Saturday, rolling to a 6–2, 6–3, 7–6(3) victory in one hour and 55 minutes to set up a fourth round clash with Milos Raonic.

The win marked Wawrinka’s 400th career victory.

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No. 13-seed Raonic defeated Viktor Troicki 6–2, 6–3, 6–4 and dedicated his win to the victims of a shooting in Canada.

“It was something that I thought about and that I was glad that I had the opportunity to mention something,” Raonic said in a post-match press conference. “Stuff like this doesn't happen much back home. I'm sure not just in that small community but throughout Canada it was a lot of people that were sort of heartbroken over it.”

Konta and Makarova win in straights

Australian Open Day 5 recap: Sharapova, Federer reach milestones

Johanna Konta is on her way to making British history after a 6–2, 6–2 win over Denisa Allertova on Saturday. The 25-year-old is the first British woman to reach the fourth round since Jo Durie and Anne Hobbs in 1987 and she is one win away from reaching the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, something a British woman hasn’t done in 33 years.

Konta did not face a single break point for the match and will next play 2015 Australian Open semifinalist Ekaterina Makarova, who defeated No. 9-seed Karolina Pliskova 6–3, 6–2.

Isner serves his way into the next round

No. 10-seed John Isner is into the Round of 16 at the Australian Open for the first time since 2010 after defeating Feliciano Lopez 6–7(8), 7–6(5), 6–2, 6–4 on Saturday. After two tough opening sets, Isner took control and closed out the match in four sets, finishing with 44 aces. The American now leads the tournament in aces with 101 through three matches.

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Isner will face No. 8-seed David Ferrer in the next round after the Spaniard took down American Steve Johnson 6–1, 6–4, 6–4.

More notable results: Angelique Kerber d. Madison Brengle 6–1, 6–3; Annika Beck d. Laura Siegemund 6–0, 6–4; Gael Monfils d. Stephane Robert 7–5, 6–3, 6–2; Andrey Kuznetsov d. Dudi Sela 7–5, 3–6, 6–1, 7–6; Shuai Zhang d. Varvara Lepchenko 6–1, 6–3