Australian Open 2015: Twitter Reacts to Day 8 Bracket Results, Scores, Winners

The quarterfinals at the 2015 Australian Open are set. Monday's action in Melbourne finally crystallized the field that will compete for the year's first major championship on the men's and women's side, where both brackets are filled with high-profile names and one surprising outlier.

Top seeds Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic each moved on Monday as expected, the former mounting a comeback after a disappointing first set and the latter continuing his rampage to a fifth title Down Under. Williams completed her 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Garbine Muguruza despite making 35 unforced errors and double-faulting five times.

Winner	Loser	Score
(1) Serena Williams	(24) Garbine Muguruza	2-6, 6-3, 6-2
(18) Venus Williams	(6) Agnieszka Radwanska	6-3, 2-6, 6-1
(11) Dominika Cibulkova	Victoria Azarenka	6-2, 3-6, 6-3
Madison Keys	Madison Brengle	6-2, 6-4

The world No. 1 especially struggled in the first set. Unable to consistently place her serve, Williams was constantly on the defensive as Muguruza mounted her upset bid on return points. The Spaniard won 52 percent of her return points during the set, including an incredible 11-of-12 mark on Williams' second serves. 

“I didn’t start out so well and she did everything she needed to do in the first set, so I just decided to do my best, stay focused and relax,” Williams told reporters.

Ben Rothenberg of The New York Times noted second serves bothered Williams throughout the match:

Williams righted herself over the final two sets, dropping only five games and getting stronger as the match went along. She forced Muguruza to convert one of her eight break opportunities over those final two sets and was at least somewhat better controlling her second serve. Hitting 41 winners compared to her opponent's 29 also helps.

Williams moves on to face Dominika Cibulkova, to whom she has lost one set strewn across four matches. The No. 11 seed dispatched of a returning Victoria Azarenka in three sets and will try to make her second straight Australian final. Bill Connelly of SB Nation was a little disappointed fans weren't offered an Azarenka-Williams rivalry rekindling:

Waiting for Williams in the semifinals could be sister Venus. The elder Williams clinched her first quarterfinals run in a Grand Slam since 2010 on Monday with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 toppling of sixth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska. 

Like her sister, Venus advanced despite a bevy (36 to be exact) of unforced errors. She managed to thwart Radwanska on second-serve opportunities throughout and turned in a near-flawless third set. Radwanska dropped 12 of her 14 serve points in the 35-minute closer. Patrick McEnroe was understandably complementary of the seven-time Slam winner:

Williams will face unseeded American Madison Keys in the quarters. The 19-year-old earned her first major championship quarterfinal berth with a straight-sets triumph over countrywoman Madison Brengle.

"I'm just really excited. It's a huge opportunity for me," Keys told reporters. "I think Venus has helped the sport, especially the women's side with equal prize money. She was a huge part of that. Just watching her is inspirational."

Rothenberg had insight on one major factor that may help Keys pull the upset:

On the men's side, things continued to go almost exactly as expected. Seven of the top eight seeds still remain heading into the quarterfinals, with the lone exception being second-seeded Roger Federer. He's been replaced by 19-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios, who has the unfortunate distinction of having countrywide and underdog pressure on his back.

Winner	Loser	Score
(1) Novak Djokovic	Gilles Muller	6-4, 7-5, 7-5
(4) Stan Wawrinka	Guillermo Garcia-Lopez	7-6 (2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (8)
(5) Kei Nishikori	(9) David Ferrer	6-3, 6-3, 6-3
(8) Milos Raonic	(12) Feliciano Lopez	6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-3

The remainder of the chalk-filled bracket was filled out Monday, all with some fits and starts along the way. Djokovic's 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 win over Gilles Muller featured far more hard-fought battles than most expected. Muller hit 37 winners and aggressively crashed the net throughout, but he couldn't overcome the steadiness of the world's best player.

Djokovic faced only four break points throughout the match, overcoming them all while playing nearly flawless tennis. He made 16 unforced errors and hit 47 winners, including 21 in a scintillating third set. ESPN Tennis noted this is the eighth time Djokovic has reached a quarterfinal without losing a set:

"

It's 8th time in his career that Djokovic has reached a Slam QF without dropping a set, and 3rd time here in Melbourne.

— ESPNTennis (@ESPNTennis) January 26, 2015"

Djokovic's next opponent is Milos Raonic, who was part of undoubtedly the best match of Monday's action. Raonic and Feliciano Lopez turned in a five-set thriller that lasted more than three hours, closing out when the Canadian took the deciding frame 6-3. Lopez faced seven match points and battled gamely despite barely winning more than a quarter of his return points.

Raonic hit 30 aces and had 81 winners. Djokovic pointed out their upcoming quarterfinals clash will be between two people who know each other well, per the Australian Open Twitter feed:

The day's other matches saw fourth-seeded Stan Wawrinka and fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori set up their upcoming head-to-head clash. Wawrinka needed two different tiebreakers—including a 10-8 battle in the fourth and final set—but got past Guillermo Garcia-Lopez with a 7-6 (2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (8) triumph. The defending champion hit a ghastly 61 unforced errors but managed to keep his repeat hopes alive with 70 winners.

Tennis Inside Out's Twitter feed captured Wawrinka's post-match reaction:

Nishikori's win was far less panic-inducing. He picked apart David Ferrer with three straight 6-3 wins, earning his second Australian Open quarters appearance. Ferrer made 44 errors against 14 winners in a match that rarely felt close. Peter Schrager of Fox Sports was impressed:

"He's a great shot maker. He can make winners. He's always taking the ball really early. It's always tough to play against him," Wawrinka told reporters of Nishikori. "We'll see how I'm going to deal with that."

With so many ranked players remaining in both brackets, it'll be interesting to see what happens. While it makes the underdogs almost nonexistent, having the world's best stick around means we should be getting world-class matches down the stretch.

Tuesday's first set of quarterfinal contests should help provide the answer.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter