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Arthur Cazaux and Nuno Borges will look to continue their fairytale runs in Melbourne as the Australian Open enters its second week.
Cazaux, the French reciprocal wildcard, had never won a match at a grand slam prior to this year’s Australian Open.
However, the world No.122 now faces the daunting prospect of Polish star Hubert Hurkacz with a spot in the quarter finals on the line.
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Ruthless Rublev ruins Aussie hopes | 00:48
Cazaux will go into the match full of confidence having already dispatched No.27 Laslo Djere (first round) and world No.8 Holger Rune (second round).
The 21-year-old from Montpellier will play No.9 seed Hurkacz on John Cain Arena in the afternoon.
Borges has already made history by becoming the first Portuguese player to reach the fourth round of the singles draw at the Australian Open by ousting No. 13 seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (6).
It is the deepest he has gone at any grand slam, having previously only made it as far as the second round at the French Open last year and at the US Open in 2022.
Borges will have to produce his best tennis if he is to progress as he takes on No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev.
Also featuring on Day Nine is two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka as she faces Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska.
With the women’s draw blown wide open after the shock exit of No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek, Azarenka will look to take full advantage as she seeks her first grand slam title since 2013.
Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz is in action too, taking on Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in Rod Laver Arena to kick off the night session.
‘WORST TECHNIQUE I’VE EVER SEEN’: KYRGIOS’ HILARIOUS REVEAL ON MEDVEDEV’S JUNIOR DAYS
While Medvedev may be in the running to return to the Australian Open final after his crushing loss to Rafael Nadal in 2022, the fact he is even playing at this level in the first place is a surprise to Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios.
Kyrgios, who is working in commentary for Eurosport during the Australian Open, revealed he played Medvedev in juniors and that the Russian superstar was a very different player to the one that lifted the US Open title in 2021.
In fact, Kyrgios said that Medvedev had the “worst technique” he had “ever seen” in those early stages of his career.
“It’s crazy to see all these guys I played juniors with doing so well now, it’s awesome,” Kyrgios said.
“One guy I thought was going to be horrific, actually, was Medvedev. I played him in juniors at Roehampton and I beat him like maybe 6-3 6-3.
“I was the dominant junior and I was like ‘this guy is terrible, the worst technique I’ve ever seen’. I honestly said this guy should just give it up, there’s no way he’s going to make it work with those hits.
“And now a No. 1 in the world and a Grand Slam champion, so funny though. And he was a nutter as well, I was like ‘this guy’s crazy’.”
The ‘Scary Movie’ inside Rublev’s mind | 01:23
‘YOU’RE GOING TO DIE TODAY’: RUBLEV’S PEP TALK BEHIND EPIC WIN
With his frustrations starting to boil over, Andrey Rublev threatened to unravel on Sunday night as Alex de Minaur took back-to-back tiebreakers to go up 2-1 in their fourth round match.
But the World No.5 rallied to take the second set and then wrap up the five-set epic with a bagel, booking a quarter-final date with the in-form Jannik Sinner.
During his post-match interview with Jim Courier on Nine, Rublev gave an insight into how he won the mental battle against the relentless Australian.
“I started to tell to myself ‘you’re going to die today but you will do everything’ and somehow I started to play better and better,” Rublev said.
“I found more energy and I was able to win
“He’s one of the fastest players, the way he moves with the legs, and takes the speed, it’s crazy. You could see it was super tough to play.
“I start to feel a bit of pain there, but it’s normal after four hours with intensity like this.
“[I told myself] don’t cry, don’t start to feel sorry for yourself.”
While de Minaur ended up losing the final set 6-0 fellow Australian Kyrgios said on Eurosport that it didn’t reflect just how much of a fight he put up against an opponent who was just on another level in the end.
“What a match, I mean four hours and 20 minutes of high-intensity tennis, the level was insane,” Kyrgios said.
“I knew one of them was going to struggle physically in the fifth and it wasn’t Alex, but the start Rublev had in that fifth set was insane.
“The ball striking was incredible, the level just raised. Look it was a hell of an effort from both these guys, bitter sweet from Alex – 6-0 in the fifth doesn’t really reflect how much of a fighter he is because he didn’t just give up, he was fighting to the very end.
“But that was an insane match, not going to lie.”
DAY 9 ORDER OF PLAY (all times AEDT)
ROD LAVER ARENA
From 12pm: No.18 Victoria Azarenka (BLR) vs Dayana Yastremska (UKR)
Not before 1:30pm: Nuno Borges (POR) vs No.3 Daniil Medvedev (RUS)
From 7pm: Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) vs No.2 Carlos Alcaraz (ESP)
Followed by: No.12 Qinwen Zheng (CHN) vs Oceane Dodin (FRA)
MARGARET COURT ARENA
Not before 1:30pm: Linda Noskova (CZE) vs No.19 Elina Svitolina (UKR)
Not before 4pm: No.6 Alexander Zverev (GER) vs No.19 Cameron Norrie (GBR)
JOHN CAIN ARENA
Not before 3pm: Arthur Cazaux (FRA) vs No.9 Hubert Hurkacz (POL)
Followed by: No.26 Jasmine Paolini (ITA) vs Anna Kalinskaya (RUS)
Follow all the action from Day Nine of the Australian Open in our LIVE BLOG below!
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