ZCZC
BSP-05
TENNIS-AUS-OPEN
Federer, Coco target Australian Open quarter-finals
MELBOURNE, Jan 26, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Roger Federer will hope to put his
five-set nailbiter behind him and 15-year-old Coco Gauff is attempting to
extend her sensational debut in the Australian Open last 16 on Sunday.
Federer was taken the distance by John Millman late on Friday, when he was
two points from defeat in a fifth-set tie-breaker, and will want an easier
ride against Marton Fucsovics.
Third seed Federer beat Hungary’s Fucsovics in straight sets at the same
stage in 2018 and another win would put the 20-time Grand Slam winner into
the quarter-finals for a record 15th time.
The winner will play 12th seed Fabio Fognini or world number 100 Tennys
Sandgren, who enjoyed a run to the Melbourne quarter-finals in 2018.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic plays Diego Schwartzman, the Argentine
who took him to five sets in their last Grand Slam meeting, at the 2017
French Open.
Djokovic and Schwartzman are playing for a quarter-final against big-
serving Milos Raonic or Marin Cilic, the former US Open champion and 2018
Australian Open finalist.
Gauff, who has already beaten seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams
and defending champion Naomi Osaka on her tournament debut, goes into an all-
American clash with 15th seed Sofia Kenin.
The teenager, the youngest player in the Open era to beat the defending
champion at the Australian Open, can now become the youngest to reach a Major
quarter-final since Sesil Karatantcheva at Roland Garros 2005.
Gauff or Kenin will next play China’s Wang Qiang, who shocked 23-time Grand
Slam winner Serena Williams in the last round, or Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, the
top-ranked player from Africa.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0919 hrs