The 4th round's now complete and I can't believe I predicted 7 out of 8 quarter finalists correctly at the beginning of the week! I only got Kerber wrong!
(Rank/Seed)
1/1 Azarenka got back on track, cruising past Hobart champion Vesnina 61 61.
3/3 Serena was equally ruthless against a tense (15/14) Kirilenko, winning 62 60.
Kuznetsova emulated her 3 set win over (10/10) Wozniacki in Sydney with a 62 26 75 win. After cruising through the 1st set, Kuznetsova became undone in the 2nd as Wozniacki stepped it up on the backhand and she struggled with blistered feet. She was 2 points from losing in the 3rd too, serving at 4-5 30-30, but each time the pressure was on she calmly hit a winner, usually on a volley. In the end, she was consistently too strong, pressuring the Dane's erratic forehand. It's Kuznetsova's 1st GS quarter final since the FO 2011 and only her 3rd in Oz, whilst its Wozniacki's earliest exit here since 2010.
(25/29) Stephens made her 1st GS quarter final, edging unseeded Serb Jovanovski 61 36 75 to become the 1st American outside of the Williams sisters to go this far at a slam since Melanie Oudin back in 2009 at the US Open.
So, Azarenka will play the only unseeded quarter finalist, Kuznetsova ranked 75. The Russian won 4 of their 1st 5 meetings, but these were all in and before 2009, with Victoria winning both meetings in 2012. I favour Azarenka to win, but it will be close. Williams and Stephens will meet in a repeat of their Brisbane quarter final 2 weeks ago. It's the 1st all American clash this deep in the AO draw since 2005 and I feel Serena will win, but if there's going to be an upset, it will be right here!
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