2025 Australian Open Day 8: Djokovic v Lehecka, Alcaraz v Draper; Sabalenka, Coco

by Staff | January 18th, 2025, 2:50 pm
  • 21 Comments

The Australian Open is winding down and the favorites remain in the hunt for the first Slam of the season. Sunday will see Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz one win from an a super showdown on Tuesday.

Djokovic played his best match by far of the tournament rolling Tomas Machac Friday night. He’ll now face another Machac’s countryman Jiri Lehecka who just won his second title in Brisbane earlier this month.

Lehecka lost to Djokovic in Australia last year but made the Melbourne quarters a few years ago and his big-hitting game could give the Serb some problems.


“There are some similarities between him and Machac, I think,” Djokovic Friday. “The Czech tennis school backhands are terrific.”

Carlos Alcaraz will test Jack Draper. Th Brit beat Alcaraz on the grass last year however after three consecutive five-set matches, how much will Draper have left in the tank for a fit and rested Alcaraz.

Alexander Zverev takes on of the three lefties in the final 16, Ugo Humbert and after two 0-2 comebacks, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina taks on Tommy Paul.

In the women’s draw, Aryna Sabelenka faces the teen Mirra Andreeva. Andreeva stunned Sabalenka at the French Open before the world No. 1 had her revenge in Brisbane. She roars in having won her last 17 matches at the Australian Open.

“Playing her on a clay court is, I would say, a bit easier,” Andreeva said of Sabalenka. “Of course on the hard courts, like here in Melbourne, I would say that for me is one of the fastest hard courts.

“Of course, this is not going to be easy. We’re just gonna see if I can handle the pressure and everything that’s gonna happen.”

Coco Gauff is the midst of another one of her streaks. The 20-year-old has won 21 of her last 23 matches and is a perfect 8-0 this season. She’ll be a big favorite against Belinda Bencic who is playing her first Slam after taking a year off to give birth to her new daughter.

Paula Badosa looks to reach his second straight Slam quarterfinals against the one of the surprises of the women’s draw, Olga Danilovic. And silver medalist Donna Vekic duels the woman who beat her last year in Melbourne Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

SUNDAY AUSTRALIAN OPEN SCHEDULE
Rod Laver Arena – 11:30 AM
SABALENKA, Aryna [1] vs. ANDREEVA, Mirra [14]
Not before: 1:00 PM
GAUFF, Coco (USA) [3] vs. BENCIC, Belinda (SUI)
Not before: 3:30 PM
DRAPER, Jack (GBR) [15] vs. ALCARAZ, Carlos (ESP) [3]

7:00 PM
1. MS405 DJOKOVIC, Novak (SRB) [7] vs. LEHECKA, Jiri (CZE) [24]
followed by
GORANSSON, Andre (SWE) /VERBEEK, Sem (NED) vs. SAVILLE, Luke (AUS) /TU, Li (AUS)

Margaret Court Arena – 11:30 AM
BOLELLI, Simone (ITA) /VAVASSORI, Andrea (ITA) [3] vs. MARTINEZ, Pedro (ESP) /MUNAR, Jaume (ESP)
Not before: 1:00 PM
BADOSA, Paula (ESP) [11] vs. DANILOVIC, Olga (SRB)
Not before: 3:00 PM
DAVIDOVICH FOKINA, Alejandro (ESP) vs. PAUL, Tommy (USA) [12]

John Cain Arena – 11:00 AM
GRIEKSPOOR, Tallon (NED) /VAN DE ZANDSCHULP, Botic (NED) vs. BORGES, Nuno (POR) /CABRAL, Francisco (POR)
Not before: 12:30 PM
VEKIC, Donna (CRO) [18] vs. PAVLYUCHENKOVA, Anastasia [27]
Not before: 3:00 PM
ERRANI, Sara (ITA) /PAOLINI, Jasmine (ITA) [4] vs. ANDREEVA, Mirra /SHNAIDER, Diana
Not before: 6:00 PM
HUMBERT, Ugo (FRA) [14] vs. ZVEREV, Alexander (GER) [2]


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21 Comments for 2025 Australian Open Day 8: Djokovic v Lehecka, Alcaraz v Draper; Sabalenka, Coco

chrisford1 Says:

Djokovic was in good form commenting on American Danielle Collins absolutely owning and taunting a hostile and drunk Aussie crowd into a frenzy – going at them with taunts and gestures all through her interview.
Worth seeing Collins rule them – for the fun!

From CNN excerpt, in brackets:

[[Novak Djokovic, a 10-time Australian Open champion, told reporters he was a “big fan” of how Collins responded after getting into his own back-and-forth with one particularly loud member of the crowd during his third-round win over Tomáš Macháč on Friday.

“I loved her response. I loved it. Everything she said on the court, off the court. Big fan of Danielle Collins after that. I was before. But now? Big fan. I love it,” the 37-year-old said.

“I heard some comments (from) people that she shouldn’t have said (this) or that. I think she handled it really well. I don’t think I would be that polite, and I know exactly the feeling. So I think she was funny, smart.

“Just a big fan of what she did. Big fan.” ]]


Zed Says:

Hi All, it’s been some time since I have been here but just had to comment on last night’s match between Novak and Carlos.

I keep thinking that age will take effect but I am proven wrong each time. Of course it will happen but it seems not quite yet.

I’m pretty sure Novak will see 2025 to the end but will he play in 2026? I’m guessing that even he himself is not sure at this stage.

I’m old enough to remember when Novak used to beat another Spaniard. That guy is now retired and Carlos is the new Spanish hope.

Carlos has achieved so much in such a short time and I’m sure that in the next 15 to 20 years he will remain at the top or near the top of the rankings.

Last night however belonged to the GOAT. He showed yet again why he is worthy of that title and why history will remember him that way.


chrisford1 Says:

Hello Zed. Good to see you posting again. As Djokovic plays on, he still is piling up impressive stats even if not winning Slams, And the only Slam record he doesn’t own, it seems is appearances. Most championships, finals, semis, Slams, # of matches won.

Federer and Feliciano are tied with 81 Slam appearances. Djokovic has 77. He sticks around another year + 1 extra Slam he shows up for, he beats that record, too.

By getting his 50th Slam semi, and standing alone – one thing even more impressive is his remarkable consistency, mostly after Nole 2.0 as it is called, came to life in 2011.

To an even greater degree than Federer, who is remarkable in consistent excellence in his playing days.
***This is his 12th Australian Open semi-final, matching his haul of 12 semi-final appearances at Roland Garros. That is just one away from his records at Wimbledon and the US Open, having reached 13 semi-finals in both London and New York.


zed Says:

Hi Chris,

Speaking of stats, a friend told me (and I have not had time to check this) that if Novak wins the AO this year it will be the first time in tennis history that a player has beaten the world number#3, world number#2 and world number#1 on his way to the title.

If true, I expect it is a function of how seedings and the two halves of the draw work. Plus, the winner would have to be a lower ranked player just as Novak currently is at number #7.

Having said all that, after watching Sinner play last night I’m not confident Novak can beat that young man. This is if he can beat Sasha which I must admit I am not confident he can do.

I’ll be watching tomorrow and of course be cheering Novak on but even if he loses I will see it as the inevitable result of being the old man of the tour. I will see it as the twilight phase of a long and unprecedented career. The most successful of all careers in this game.


Wog Boy Says:

Hi Zed, your friend is partially correct, nobody has done it in GSs, Nole has already done it in 2007 Montreal winning Rogers cup buy beating top 3 ranked players and that in order from #3 (Rodick), #2 (Nadal) and #1(Federer)
Alcaraz has done it in Madrid 2022 but not in that order (Nadal, Nole, Zverev).
Becker has done it in 1994. Stockholm but not in that order either.
So, so far Nole is the only one in open era to beat top 3 ranked players in order from #3 to #1.

Here is nice clip about that achievement, pay attention on Federer failing to serve for the set snd waisting 40:0 just to lose the set in TB, later became habit 😉Nole was smacking that forehand then:

https://youtu.be/1ufeFlJFhvw?si=aYwCF0i0bqksjhVw


Wog Boy Says:

Forgot, pay attention on how many people actually cheered Nole in those three matches, they didn’t realise what was coming 😂


zed Says:

Thanks WB, you have an amazing knowledge of these things!

I hope you and your family are well and everyone is happy. If you are in Melbourne at the moment please contact me.

I have not been to the AO this year, too many competing demands and not enough motivation. Maybe I will get there next year.


Wog Boy Says:

Hi Zed,
🙏

No, I am not in Melbourne, otherwise I would certainly already contact you, this is only second AO since 2008 that I missed.
I have too much on my plate, downsizing atm (empty nesters) bought another place last year, just finishing renovation of that place (it was completely gutted and redone my way) and fixing old one so I can put it on the market (to pay debts 😉) and I am behind schedule.

I have to properly service my body this year, certain body parts are worn out and need to be replaced (or removed) so I have to sort out this house moving thing ASAP, since I will be out of action for some time, nothing life threatening but can be very debilitating and make my old days miserable if not attended sooner rather than later.

PS
Btw, you still owe me Sydney visit.


skeezer Says:

And…..another retirement by Djoker.


Tennispompom Says:

Heartfelt words by Zverev. There can’t be many who would disagree with him.


chrisford1 Says:

Agree so much Tennispompom. Something in Australia, once the friendliest venue, seems to be seeing more nasty announcers and crowds. So players need to step up and stick up for one another and Sasha was magnificent doing so. Perfect, heartfelt words not lecturing the crowd, but reminding them who Djokovic is. And how if anyone could play with pain and injury as Djokovic did in recent AOs – Novak would only stop if he just couldn’t battle through the injury and pain.

I would like to see the big Russian-German win a Slam. He is a comeback story.


Tennispompom Says:

Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that, too. It’s not just Australian audiences, they’re just the latest to follow the trend sent by US, then by UK. I still remember how shocked I was when Wimbledon crowds started showing jeering and aggressive behaviour. When I first started going to Wimbledon, civility and empathy were the order of the day. Not any more.

It’s not as if there are now more aggressive, unpleasant loud-mouths around; it’s just that they are getting louder, and the powers that be seem to encourage it, instead of suppressing it. It’s not just tennis, everything seems to be affected, there’s a paradigm shift going on. Sad. Fewer people go to church on Sundays, or Synagogues, or Mosques, and I can’t tell whether that’s the cause or the effect!

The word “liberal” became a dirty word in US a couple of decades ago, now “Christian” is becoming a dirty word too. Tolerance is no longer valued, empathy is frowned upon, they’re seen as signs of weakness.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. Zverev has come so close, but just hasn’t managed to cross the threshold to lift a major trophy. I think Sinner will probably win in straight sets. I like both guys, but Sinner has the edge. Can’t be easy for him though, he must have some forebodings about upcoming WADA hearing.


zed Says:

No society has survived for ever. Some have longer “lives” than others but all societies eventually collapse or change into something else.

Over something like 10,000 years of history that we know something about, the average is about 10 generations or around 250 years before some form of collapse (and sometimes rebirth) of a society takes place.

Of course it’s not always sudden. The things that make societies strong and cohesive can be observed to be degrading well before the final collapse.

We can see things degrading right now. Things like shared values, shared beliefs, trust of the legal system, a leadership that upholds laws, citizen’s confidence that their rights are protected, confidence that there is justice, confidence that not everything is corrupted. All of these things are less now than they were decades ago.

For example, when you see more people than not believing that there are rules for one group and different rules for another group that is one sign that the society is degrading. If only a tiny percentage of the population believes that you are a long way from collapse. If a great number of people believe that you are getting close to collapse.

There is a sort of road map called “The Tytler Cycle” which breaks down the life cycle of societies into nine stages. The sequence of the stages is pretty much the same for all societies. The stages overlap one another to some extent as a society transitions from one stage to another but as a society advances through the stages it clearly changes from what it once was.

The duration of each stage varies from society to society and the overall duration of all nine stages is different each time but as I said earlier the average life of a society is roughly 10 generations or around 250 years.

Here is a graphical representation of the nine stages:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tytler_cycle.png

By my reckoning the USA (and it’s subordinate countries such as Australia, the UK, Western Europe etc) are currently in transition from stage 8 “Apathy” to stage 9 “Dependence”. That transition is well advanced and irreversible.

It can, and will, be slowed down by one election result or another only to be accelerated by a different election result years later.

Unfortunately it takes a period of great suffering under the final stage of “Bondage” before sufficient numbers of citizens take a stand. The good thing is that they eventually do but the bad news is that it takes a lot of pain and suffering before they are sufficiently fed up and sufficiently motivated in sufficient numbers.

It is in that bad stage that “Hard Men” are bred. Hard times breed hard men and only hard men will fight hard enough to effect change. For a long time we in the West have lived through the stages of “Abundance”, “Selfishness”, “Complacency” and “Apathy” and those stages have bred soft men and, sadly, soft men breed hard times.

The break down of the family unit, the general acceptance of deviancy into the mainstream, the embrace (and in fact encouragement) of cultures that are clearly and obviously hostile to the prevailing culture, these are clear signs of how far down this road we have come. We have bred too many soft men and those soft men are destroying what our forefathers built through pain and suffering.

I cannot see that the West in its current form can survive another 50 years.


chrisford1 Says:

I am of similar sentiment that Europe is under threat of collapse and disintegration and it is a problem of soft women in power and in control of institutions even more so than “soft men” like Scholz.
Or the softer Marxist Pope Francis.
Note the Pakistani groomer gang defenders in the UK, primarily “soft women” that have law degrees to tell soft men what is permissible under progressivism and “anti-racism” law under parts of the UK controlled by Labour. Who criminalized or threaten to criminalize white families who went to authorities about the greatest atrocity in the UK in the last 100 years.
Now the nation under the same man who let the child rapes happen as head of Crown Prosecution Service – royally knighted Sir Keir Starmer.
Soft female lawyers in charge of EU, telling nations to cow down before the Eurocrats and their “International Rules Based Order”

To others, maybe Zed and myself digress – but this political view applies to the growing boorishness at tennis events. With Western Civ in steep decline, if it is all going down, if al;l things “white” are evil and oppressive – why bother to persist in civilized conduct? People like Merkel, Ursula von der Leyden, The Davos Elites, Mette Fredericksen, Starmer know it is in steep decline, just as Cultural Marxists want it to be. To tear it all down and build it back up better. Including forces that would like to tear down Wimbledon and Rod Laver Arena as “symbols” of the Oppressor Race.


chrisford1 Says:

Zed is right. And the saving of Europe in particular will require mass revolt and ending the reign of soft men in the Ruling Elites and the even more destructive “soft-headed” but power hungry females like Ursula von der Leyen, Frau Merkel, Jess (the ginger jackal) Phillips.
In the meantime expect more decay in social mores and values. If civilization is collapsing, why act civilized?


chrisford1 Says:

I want to back what Zed said but Sean has a censor in place that rejects my posts.


chrisford1 Says:

The media seems to join with those bringing down western civilization by blocking comments detailing why western civ is collapsing and what can be done to fight it.
Suffice it to say there are many reasons why civilization in the west is slowly collapsing, and many at tennis events think if it is all going away thanks to the likes of Starmer, Jess Phillips, Marxist Pope Francis, Frau Merkel, and Ursula von der Leyen – why act civilized??


chrisford1 Says:

Zed is right. And the saving of Europe in particular will require mass revolt and ending the reign of soft men & women in the Ruling Elites.

In the meantime expect more decay in social mores and values. If civilization is collapsing, why act civilized anymore since all those norms and ethics and institutions like Wimbledon came from the Oppressor Race?


zed Says:

Hi Chris, yes we are agreed.

The only difference I can see between yourself and myself is that you use phrases like “will require” which suggests that you still hold some faint hope of the West changing course.

I have no such faint hope and I hold zero expectation that we will save ourselves.

We have many examples of previous societies which went through the same metamorphosis and all failed to prevent their own demise. On the other side of the coin, we have zero examples of societies that never died.

I have accepted the inevitability of our fate and will watch with interest in the few remaining years of life I have. Of course I am not happy that my children will have to suffer the difficult times ahead, and even worse will be the times that their children will have to live through.

But it’s going to happen no matter what my feelings on the matter are because it has always happened and will always happen. The recurring cycle is the result of something fundamental to us, it is the nature of humanity.


Wog Boy Says:

I am a bit slow, it took me few readings to get to the point of your posts, but finally got there and fully agree, “Up shit creek without a paddle” is where we are atm.


chrisford1 Says:

Sorry to all about my multiple posts! Several didn’t take and I thought there was some word that triggered a censor, so I repeated the reply to Zed, with tweaks!
It is an explanation why people are acting up in crowds, events, that I never hear others bring up. Western Civ is falling. Asia is ascendant. So why should Westerners who grew up being lecyurted that they were evil and oppressive care how they act? Why act civilized when the powers that be seek to alienate the people from their 2,000 year old civilization. Why honor norms and customs anymore??
This of course horrifies the soft men and women that helped bring it down that hard rough men will take power soon, and their “International Rules Based Order” is collapsing and will not protect them from what is to come. Trump is gentle compared to what is to come!

And back to pure tennis focus – congrats to Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys, who had better days behind her and at age 29 didn’t seem likely to ever get a Slam title worth millions in sponsor contracts. Jannik is the deserved #1 and he and Carlos are already locks for being Hall of Famers!

So maybe that late success of Madison’s is encouragement for Sasha. I do think his sex accusations derailed his focus and his Type 1 diabetes . He’s 27, and there is more time for a Holy, sacred Slam title. But given his lifetime diabetes, he has already pushed through severe hindrance to achieve extraordinary success in sport.
OLympic gold medal, 2 ATP Championship titles, 3 Slam finals, 7 Masters titles. 23 ATP titles overall.


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