Australian Open day four: British singles hopes over while Nadal marches on
The story of the fourth day of action at Melbourne Park.
British interest in singles at the Australian Open ended with defeats for Heather Watson and Harriet Dart.
Dart can take great encouragement from pushing Wimbledon champion Simona Halep but Watson succumbed meekly to 16th seed Elise Mertens.
Nick Kyrgios and Rafael Nadal stayed on course for a blockbuster fourth-round meeting while Daniil Medvedev and Karolina Pliskova also won.
Picture of the day
Scaling the heights
Asked about the experience, the Spaniard said: “It was incredible. I wanted a challenge outside of tennis and I’ve never done anything like it.
“I said, ‘all right, I’m going to Africa and I’m going to climb this mountain and we’ll see if I come back’. I do not recommend it unless you are stubborn like me but it was an incredible experience.”
Mixing it up
The other standout pairing is Nick Kyrgios teaming up with 18-year-old Amanda Anisimova. Kyrgios said: “I’ve been excited for this for like a month-and-a-half. I’m like a little kid at the moment.”
Fallen seeds
Women: Karolina Muchova (20), Danielle Collins (26)
Men: Nikoloz Basilashvili (26)
Who’s up next?
Roger Federer takes on popular Australian John Millman, who he lost to at the US Open in 2018, while Novak Djokovic meets Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
Top seed Ashleigh Barty could be tested by in-form Elena Rybakina, Serena Williams faces Wang Qiang and Caroline Wozniacki will hope to avoid being sent into retirement by Ons Jabeur.
