Australian Open 2022: Daniil Medvedev Wins, Aryna Sabalenka Upset in Monday's Play

The 2022 Australian Open field continued to narrow Monday with players filling up the final spots in the quarterfinal.

Several top seeds were in action on Day 8 in Melbourne, although it's clear there were no guarantees to advance. Women's No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a surprising loss while men's No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas narrowly avoided an upset.

Here is the latest from the first Grand Slam of the year.

Results

Men's Singles

No. 2 Daniil Medvedev def. Maxime Cressy; 6-2, 7-6(4), 6(4)-7, 7-5

No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas def. No. 20 Taylor Fritz; 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime def. No. 27 Marin Cilic; 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-2, 7-6(4)

No. 11 Jannik Sinner def. Alex de Minaur; 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-4

Women's Singles

Kaia Kanepi def. No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka; 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(7)

No. 7 Iga Swiatek def. Sorana Cirstea; 4-7, 6-3, 6-3

Alize Cornet def. No. 14 Simona Halep; 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 

No. 27 Danielle Collins def. No. 19 Elise Mertens; 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

Full results and statistics available at AusOpen.com.

Recap

There are three unseeded players still alive in the women's draw, none of them lower ranked than No. 115 in the world Kaia Kanepi.

The 36-year-old had never advanced beyond the third round of the Australian Open, but she has kept her dream run going with an upset over No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka. She even admitted afterward that it surprised even her.

"Actually, I thought I was going to lose it after the match points I had on my serve," Kanepi told reporters after the match. "It was really difficult to come back. I don't know how I managed to do it."

Sabalenka won the opening set, but left the door open for a comeback with 15 double faults and 46 unforced errors in the match. Kanepi took advantage and clinched her spot in the quarterfinal.

She will face Iga Swiatek, who also dropped the first set but bounced back thanks to her 8-of-9 performance at the net in the win over Sorana Cirstea.

Alize Cornet and Simona Halep battled in one of the best matches of the day, with Cornet simply coming through on more key points:

The 32-year-old did enough to punch a ticket to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal after 63 tries.

Her next match will be against Danielle Collins, who joined fellow Americans Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula in the next round.

In the men's draw, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Taylor Fritz stole the show with a five-set battle that featured impressive work from both competitors. Tsitsipas had 19 aces with only one double fault, although he truly turned heads with his winners to end long rallies:

The No. 4 seed only had three breaks across five sets, but it was enough to pull out the win.

No. 2 Daniil Medvedev also had his hands full in the fourth round with Maxime Cressy forcing two tiebreaks in the four sets. Medvedev still remained efficient, winning 82 percent of service points while tallying 60 winners and just 11 unforced errors.

It made the Russian extremely difficult to beat as he seeks his second straight Grand Slam title.

Felix Auger-Aliassime will try to match up with Medvedev in the next round after he took out Marin Cilic with a four-set victory. 

Jannik Sinner earned the only straight-set win in either singles bracket on Monday with a dominant showing against Alex de Minaur. Sinner saved 7-of-8 break points to stay ahead and avoid a possible upset.

The 20-year-old will now compete in his second Grand Slam quarterfinal, with many more likely to come.