LEARNING

Simona Halep holds a 2-0 career head-to-head record against Anett Kontaveit. Their first meeting was back in 2017, when Halep won 6-3, 6-0 in Key Biscayne, a result she followed up with a 6-2, 6-4 win on the clay of Rome six weeks later.

The WTA World No.3 will be taking part in her fourth Melbourne quarterfinal. She posts a 1-2 record at this point in Australia.

Halep has won seven of her previous 13 Grand Slam quarters, with four wins in her last six visits to this juncture.

Kontaveit had not been past the fourth round of a major prior to her run in Melbourne. Indeed, she posted a modest 4-4 record at the first Grand Slam of the year before 2020.

Garbiñe Muguruza holds a 4-1 career head-to-head advantage over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, improving to 3-0 on hard courts.

The most recent match between the pair finished in an emphatic 6-1, 6-2 victory for the Spaniard in Birmingham in 2018, though that was on grass.

Only one of their previous meetings has gone the distance. That was the first time they played, in Key Biscayne, where Muguruza recovered from losing the first set 6-4 to win the next two 6-2.

Muguruza is seeking passage to her third career Grand Slam final, having won each of the last two she has played. The 26-year-old won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017, defeating Serena and Venus Williams respectively.

She has won three of her seven previous trips to this stage of the tournament.

Her last trip to a semi in a major came at Roland-Garros in 2018, where she was defeated by Halep, a potential opponent at this stage in Melbourne.

Pavlyuchenkova has been to five previous Grand Slam quarterfinals and has lost them all. This will be her third visit to the last eight in Melbourne, where she lost to Venus in 2017 and Danielle Collins 12 months ago.

The Russian was Girls’ champion here in 2006 and 2007.

TRENDING

ORDER OF PLAY

Click here to view the order of play for Day 10 at the Australian Open.

READING

There is more to come from the game of the consistent Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Alex Sharp writes for ausopen.com.

Garbiñe Muguruza’s coach Conchita Martínez says that her return to working with the former WTA World No.1 was almost inevitable and has explained why the Spaniard has enjoyed a resurgence in her game.

Australians are revelling in the Barty Party and everyone is invited, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Greg Baum has written.

Ons Jabeur’s run to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open sparked great interest back in Tunisia, she has explained.

WATCHING

2020 Australian Open press conference: Kenin ‘I think I played really well’