Rested Djokovic faces Musetti, Swiatek meets Rybakina in Australian Open quarters

27 Jan 2026, 11:55 · CNA · Join

Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning his third round match against Netherlands' Botic van de Zandschulp. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

Jan 26, 2026; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Lorenzo Musetti of Italy celebrate his victory over Taylor Fritz of United States in the fourth round of the men’s singles at the Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park. Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Jan 26, 2026; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Jannik Sinner of Italy in action against Luciano Darderi of Italy in the fourth round of the men’s singles at the Australian Open at Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne Park. Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 26, 2026 Poland's Iga Swiatek reacts during her fourth round match against Australia's Maddison Inglis REUTERS/Hollie Adams

Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 26, 2026 Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina in action during her fourth round match against Belgium's Elise Mertens REUTERS/Jaimi Joy

Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST

MELBOURNE, Jan 27 : The Australian Open quarter-finals will continue on Wednesday with defending champion Jannik Sinner facing American Ben Shelton, while world number two Iga Swiatek takes on Elena Rybakina.

TOP MEN'S MATCH: DJOKOVIC V MUSETTI

Novak Djokovic's pursuit of a record 25th Grand Slam title has been smooth sailing so far, with the Serbian yet to drop a set and benefiting from a fourth-round walkover when Jakub Mensik withdrew due to injury.

The 38-year-old faces Italian Lorenzo Musetti on Wednesday in what could be his toughest test yet at Melbourne Park, though history heavily favours Djokovic, who has nine wins from their 10 previous meetings.

Subscribe to CNA's Recommended Read
A single handpicked story that we think you shouldn't miss. Just one a day.

This service is not intended for persons residing in the E.U. By clicking subscribe, I agree to receive news updates and promotional material from Mediacorp and Mediacorp’s partners.
Loading

In their last match, Djokovic claimed his 101st ATP title with a three-set victory at the Hellenic Championship in Athens.

"I think it will be a tough match, for sure. Of course, he's feeling good. He never lost a set. He had the chance to rest for a few days," Musetti told reporters.

"At this age, I think he was happy about it, to try to be well-prepared and well-relaxed for this match. We know each other pretty well because we played a lot.

"Just won once against him. Hopefully I'll take my revenge, because last time in Athens we were really, really close. I feel like I have another chance now."

TOP WOMEN'S MATCH: RYBAKINA V SWIATEK

Second seed Swiatek faces Rybakina in a rematch of their WTA Finals clash in November, in which the Russian-born Kazakh claimed a 3-6 6-1 6-0 victory en route to winning the season-ending title.

Poland's Swiatek edges their head-to-head record at 6-5.

"It doesn't make sense to overanalyse who won the last ones or how it has been looking," Swiatek said.

"Every match is a different story. In every match she's been a tough opponent, and her tennis for sure is great. I need to be 100 per cent ready and go for it and use my experience and also the knowledge from previous matches."

SHELTON IN 'LOCKDOWN MODE' AHEAD OF SINNER TEST

The night session at Rod Laver Arena features two-times champion Sinner taking on Shelton, with the Italian world number two boasting an 8-1 record against the eighth seed.

Their meeting at the Australian Open comes one round earlier than when they met in last year's semi-final, which Sinner won in straight sets.

Shelton lost to Sinner three more times in 2025.

"I think my return game has improved a lot. A year ago today I wasn't comfortable hitting a forehand return. I didn't put a lot in play," added Shelton.

"I had to go to the chip a lot to put it in play. And now I'm getting to a point in the match where I feel like I'm lock-down mode, and I can't miss one."

AUSTRALIAN OPEN ORDER OF PLAY ON WEDNESDAY

Order of play on the 11th day of the Australian Open (prefix number denotes seeding):

ROD LAVER ARENA

Day session (0030 GMT/1130 AEDT)

5-Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) v 2-Iga Swiatek (Poland)

Day session (0200 GMT/1300 AEDT)

6-Jessica Pegula (U.S.) v Amanda Anisimova (U.S.)

Day session (0200 GMT/1300 AEDT)

5-Lorenzo Musetti (Italy) v 4-Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

Night session (0800 GMT/1900 AEDT)

8-Ben Shelton (U.S.) v 2-Jannik Sinner (Italy)

Ena Shibahara (Japan)/Vera Zvonareva (Russia) v Kimberly Birrell (Australia)/Talia Gibson (Australia)

Rested Djokovic faces Musetti, Swiatek meets Rybakina in Australian Open quarters

Recommended Read

Sign up for our newsletters

Get the CNA app