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Zverev is cooking with gas now, hitting more on his first serve than he has in any of the previous three sets. He holds serve once more, just one more break or hold of serve now required to move into the final four of the men’s draw.
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The finish to this one looks like it’s rapidly approaching, as Zverev breaks Paul once again to take a 4-0 lead in the fourth.
He opens his next serve with a powerful ace.
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Top seed Yui Kamiji is making quick work of things in her round one women’s wheelchair clash on Court Five, the two-time Australian Open winner not dropping a game on the way to taking the first set against Shiori Funamizu.
On Court Six, men’s second seed Alfie Hewett has taken out the first set of his men’s wheelchair opening round meeting with Frenchman Stephane Houdet.
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Updated at 01.18 EST
Zverev spots Paul creeping up to the net at 15-30 and wellies a shot right at him to tie things up. It goes to deuce where the German takes it, riding 216 and 219 km/h serves to a hold and a 3-0 lead in the fourth.
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Updated at 01.15 EST
Despite being up two sets to one, Zverev hadn’t been ahead a break in this match entering the fourth set. He has now, though, breaking Paul’s opening service of the fourth to seize the initiative.
Paul has fired in more aces and winners than Zverev by almost twofold throughout this contest but unforced errors — especially during the two tiebreaks — are costing him, making 47 compared with the German’s 32
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Zverev ensures that it won’t be three sets in a row in which Paul gets an early break, holding serve to open the fourth set.
Out on Court Five on the Australian Open’s All Abilities Day, women’s wheelchair top seed Yui Kamiji is up an early break on wildcard Shiori Funamizu in her opening round match, while on Court 6 Stephane Houdet has got a break back against men’s wheelchair second seed Alfie Hewett in the opening set of their encounter.
On Court Seven, men’s wheelchair third seed Martin De la Puente has wrapped up his match with Zhenxu Ji, winning 6-1 6-1
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There’s fight left in Paul yet, as the American takes out the third set.
A huge shot from the 12th seed to bring up 30-0 sets the tone, a big forearm winner driven behind Zverev. After a backhand brings up three set points, the German’s attempt to drop a deft shot over the net falls short and gives Paul the set.
We’re off to a fourth set, Zverev leading Paul 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-0) 2-6; obviously the easiest way to avoid the second seed’s dominance in tie breaks is to simply not play them
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Updated at 01.06 EST
After both hold serve, a potentially huge moment for Paul arrives when he breaks Zverev again, going up 5-2 in this third set and giving him hope, no matter how faint, of forcing his way back into this contest.
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We’ve got a pretty big upset out on Kia Arena, as the men’s doubles top seeds and No 1 ranked team in the world Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic have been eliminated by Andre Goransson and Sem Verbeek!
The Swede and Dutchman broke their Salvadorian and Croatian opponents in the third set to put them on course for the boilover, setting up a semi-final with Italian third seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori.
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A big jump smash from Paul sees him hold serve. We’re seeing some level of improvement in his first serve across his opening two services after it fell off in the second set.
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We have another feather on the court! This time it slowly floats down before Zverev can serve to make it 40-0, causing him to pause briefly and stare it down on its way to the court.
He gets the point and while Paul starts to make things interesting by winning the next two points, Zverev takes the game with an ace fired down the T.
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It’s deja vu all over again, as Paul gets the early break in Zverev’s opening service of this third set and then gets the hold, pinning his opponent behind the baseline and inducing a forehand into the net.
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There’s been an early break for Andre Goransson and Sem Verbeek out on Kia Arena as they attempt to upset the top-seeded men’s pairing of Mate Pavic and Marcelo Arevalo, serving at 3-1 in the third and decisive set.
On Court Three, men’s wheelchair third seed Martin De la Puente is up a set over Chinese qualifier Zhenxu Ji, while second seed Alfie Hewett has an early break in the first set of his match with Stephane Houdet on Court Six.
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Updated at 24.28 EST
Zverev takes the second set in a dominant tie break. A powerful winner from the German makes it 6-0 and brings up six set points as the two change ends, Paul briefly pausing for a drink while the German moves straight to the baseline in preparation for his serve.
Paul is only just able to keep his return of the 215 km/h serve in and Zverev pounces, using his powerful backhand to take the point and the second set.
Just as he did in the first set, Paul got the break and had the chance to serve out for the set only for Zverev to fight back and force a tie break. Once there, there was only going to be one winner – the second seed now leading by a combined 14-1 in those tie breaks.
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Updated at 24.33 EST
The tiebreak begins and it quickly starts to resemble the one that decided the first set, Zverev bursting out of the blocks to take a 5-0 lead – he’s now leading Paul 12-1 across the two played in this match.
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A slight delay after Zverev races to a 40-0 lead, the German needing to fix his man bun up before he can look to serve the game out. Suitably coiffed, he sends a powerful serve down the middle that Paul can’t return.
We’re off to another tie break at Rod Laver Arena, this quarter-final clash having just gone past the two-hour mark.
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Updated at 24.38 EST
Paul holds serve, making it 6-5 in this second set and throwing the onus back on Zverev.
Out on Kia Arena, the top-seeded men’s doubles team of Mate Pavic and Marcelo Arevalo have taken out the second set against Andre Goransson and Sem Verbeek, the latter duo holding serve to start the decisive third.
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Paul is able to bring up a break and set point but Zverev rallies back to force a deuce and then move into the advantage with a special drop shot that the American can’t return inbound.
A third double fault of the match brings it back to deuce but Paul’s attempt to charge the net and give himself another opportunity at a set point backfires, putting his shot out and handing advantage to Zverev, which he uses to hold.
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Not so fast my friend! Zverev races out of the blocks to bring up three break points and only needs one of them, an attempted backhand from Paul sailing long and bringing the match back on serve in the second.
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Updated at 24.03 EST
Zverev will make Paul serve to win this set, re-directing his frustrations and quickly producing a hold.
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Updated at 23.54 EST
Embedding this for no reason in particular …
Of course, those familiar with Melbourne will now that it has a rather long history with avian involvement in sports, the MCG having previously used a wedge-tailed eagle to scare pesky birdlife from events and AAMI Park at times looking more like a seagull sanctuary than a stadium.
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Updated at 23.53 EST
Zverev drops the opening point of his service but then roars back, winning the next four to hold serve.
He subsequently brings up two break points on Paul but the American rallies back to force deuce, Zverev immediately remonstrating with a chair official that a rowdy spectator had put him off.
The duo exchange advantages before Zverev again arks up, this time furious that a let was called when a feather dropped on to the court mid-point – gifting Paul another first serve. Two points later, Paul holds serve and is now just one game away from tying this game up at a set apiece.
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Tumaini Carayol was on hand to watch Paula Badosa upset Coco Gauff earlier today and has penned this reaction.
It has been 10 months since Paula Badosa was informed by her doctors that her career might be over. During the 2023 tennis season, not long after she had stood as the No 2 player in the world, Badosa suffered a debilitating stress fracture in her back that had left her in significant pain and forced her to withdraw from every grand slam tournament that year. By last March, the 27 year-old was fighting for her career.
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It’s all over out on court six, as men’s wheelchair top seed Tokito Oda has wrapped up the second set of his opening round match against local Anderson Parker, winning 6-0 6-3.
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Updated at 24.08 EST
Zverev gets on the board in this second set as he holds to love. Paul, though, has an instant reply, not dropping a point himself as he holds serve and takes a 4-1 lead in this second set.
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We’ve got a potential upset brewing out on Kia Arena, as Sem Verbeek and Andre Goransson have taken out the opening set against top seeded men’s duo Mate Pavic and Marcelo Arevalo.
Paul’s hot start to the second set has continued, holding serve to make it 3-0 in this second set.
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Updated at 23.35 EST
Paul keeps the momentum from that first game going, kissing a backhand winner past his opponent to break Zverev’s serve. It’s just what the American needed after losing that opening set, a stat flashing up on the host broadcaster showing that he wins 87% of sets after getting an early break.
Second serve continues to hamper the men’s second seed, he’s winning just 42% of points when he can’t land his serve at the first time of asking.
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A serve to love from Paul as this second set begins at Rod Laver Arena.
The men’s 12th seed exchanged a further few words with the chair umpire between sets, still not happy about that non-let call during the first set tie-break, but he’s going to need to get his head in the game: Zverev has a record of 25 wins against two losses when winning the first set at grand slams.
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On some of the other action already under way, the top seeded men’s team of Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic have just begun their quarter-final meeting with Andre Goransson and Sem Verbeek out on Kia Arena, while men’s wheelchair No 1 one seed Tokito Oda didn’t drop a game on the way to taking out the first set of his opening round match against Australian wildcard Anderson Parker.
We’ve also just concluded a bit of a barnburner out on Margaret Court Arena, with the third seeded team of Su-Wei Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko getting past Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the third set of their women’s doubles quarter-final, winning 6-2 5-7 7-5.
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Updated at 23.29 EST
If you’re just logging on to check in on the status of this men’s quarter-final, you’ll have missed women’s eleventh seed Paula Badosa advancing to her first ever grand slam semi-final after upsetting American third seed Coco Gauff in straight sets, winning 7-5 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena.
In some of the other results already logged today, the second seeded duo of Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe advanced to the women’s doubles semi-finals with a straight set win over Miyu Kato and Renata Zarazua, while the third-seeded Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori moved into the final four of the men’s doubles after a straight sets win over Portuguese pair Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral.
Tuesday marking All Abilities Day at the Australian Open, quad Wheelchair world No 1 Sam Schroder beat Ymanitu Silva in their opening round match, with wins also recorded by second seed Niels Vink, third seed Guy Sasson, and fourth seed Ahmet Kaplan. In the men’s wheelchair singles, Argentine fourth seed Gustavo Fernandez won his first round match 7-6 (9-7) 6-1 over Japan’s Takuya Miki.
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The first set goes to Zverev. A cheeky lob from the third seed is too high for Paul to reach and all he can do is tip it backward off the top off his racquet.
There’s some disagreement from the American in the aftermath, making it was clear he thought it was a let and didn’t go all out as a result. There are no net machines here at the Australian Open, it’s the umpires making the calls.
The German then makes it 6-6 (6-1) with a well-placed forehand beyond Paul and into the corner to bring up set point, which he quickly converts.
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Updated at 23.30 EST
Thanks Martin and hello everyone, Joey Lynch here to take you through the rest of Paul and Zverev on Rod Laver, plus keeping you up to date on what else is happening around Melbourne Park.
Zverev has taken an early advantage in this tiebreak, earning a mini-break and now set to serve with a 6-6 (4-1) lead.
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Updated at 23.45 EST
Paul* v Zverev 6-6: Zverev breaks back and they’re off to a tiebreaker. The German finally piles some pressure on a Paul service game as he comes to the net and smashes an overhead forehand for 0-30. Paul then loops a forehand chip into the corner to stay alive in the next point and eventually outlasts Zverev in a testing rally. An ace takes Paul to set point but the No 12 seed tightens up – a long backhand, a double fault and then another error on the backhand gives Zverev his first break of the match.
Thanks for following along as the quarter-finals get under way at Melbourne Park. Joey Lynch will steer us through the tiebreaker on RLA. Enjoy …
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Updated at 23.30 EST
Paul v Zverev* 6-5: Tommy Paul breaks and will serve for the set! Zverev misses his first serve three times in a row as Paul pulls away to 0-40. The American tests Zverev with his slicing backhand and finishes him off with a forehand down the line for 30, then sets up three break points with an exquisite backhand that spins on a dime. Zverev drags himself back to 30-40 despite missing two more first serves, but Paul forces an error to seal the first break of serve in the match.
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Paul* v Zverev 5-5: Paul starts with a pair of aces then breezes through the rest of his service game to love. Zverev is yet to challenge his opponent’s serve as we close in on a tiebreaker.
Tommy Paul serves to Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open. Photograph: Ng Han Guan/APShare
Updated at 22.55 EST
Paul v Zverev* 4-5: Zverev’s first serve isn’t quite at its usual high standard and consistency with 63% landed today, while a double fault takes the game to 30-30. But an ace then another powerful serve brush aside those concerns and leaves Paul serving to stay in the set.
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Paul* v Zverev 4-4: Paul attacks the T with consecutive serves and Zverev fails to make enough contact to return either for 40-0. The German gets the next serve back over the net but a lack of penetration allows Paul to come forward and hold in little more than a minute.
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Paul v Zverev* 3-4: Zverev sends Paul dashing around the court for 30-15 then sends down a bomb for his first ace of the match. The American nets a forehand off a 220km/h serve as Zverev holds with his simplest service game so far.
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Updated at 22.46 EST
Paul* v Zverev 3-3: Paul holds serve again without being truly tested as he has only dropped five points across three service games. The American is pushing Zverev well back behind the baseline with his powerful forehand without making too many errors.
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Paul v Zverev* 2-3: Paul sets up the first break point of the match and faces an uncommon Zverev second serve but is unable to seal the deal as he sends a forehand long early in a rally. The American was too impatient with a break on the line. Zverev holds from deuce as he hammers a forehand winner to close out the game.
Alexander Zverev serves against Tommy Paul at the Australian Open. Photograph: Martin Keep/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Paul* v Zverev 2-2: Paul fires in the first of what will likely be many aces in this match-up with a 214 km/h rocket for 30-15. The American is opening up the court off his forehand as he nails a winner then sets the next point on the same side and finishes it off overhead closer to the net.
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Paul v Zverev* 1-2: Zverev holds easier this time off the back of errors from Paul even as the American is able to return effectively and work his way into a series of rallies.
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Paul* v Zverev 1-1: Paul double faults early for 15-15 but punishes Zverev’s returns to hold comfortably.
Tommy Paul serves against Alexander Zverev during their men’s singles quarter-final at the Australian Open. Photograph: Martin Keep/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Paul v Zverev* 0-1: A fast start for Zverev as a trio of errors from Paul take the German to 40-0. Paul tidies up his returns to climb back for deuce but Zverev’s second serve is too hot to handle as he twice attacks off a fault.
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Updated at 22.21 EST
Tommy Paul started slowly at Melbourne Park with a five-setter in the opening round against Australia’s Chris O’Connell, then dropping a set against Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the following round. But the No 12 seed has found form with a pair of straight sets victories since then including a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 thumping of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the round of 16.
The players are in place on RLA with No 2 seed Alexander Zverev to serve first.
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Alexander Zverev and Tommy Paul are on RLA warming up under the scorching sun after the German has been open about preferring to play at night and away from the heat.
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The first men’s singles quarter-final is up next on Rod Laver Arena with Alexander Zverev (2) taking on Tommy Paul (12). The duo have faced off twice before, with Zverev taking out both clashes away from the spotlight of the grand slams. But those hard-court matches were back in 2020 and 2022 and both players have been on the rise since the first of those meetings in particular. Zverev will be out to match his semi-final appearance at Melbourne Park last year as well as in 2020, while Paul reached the last four here two years ago.
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