MELBOURNE, Australia — Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray held off two of the tallest men and biggest servers in tennis today to set up a quarterfinal meeting at the Australian Open.
Defending champion Nadal had a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, the tallest man on the tour.
In the previous match at Rod Laver Arena, No. 5 Murray overcame 6-9 American John Isner 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2. Murray hasn’t dropped a set in four matches.
Over at Hisense Arena, Nadia Petrova advanced with another upset, beating third-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals.
In the other section of Petrova’s half of the draw, Zheng Jie became the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over Alona Bondarenko.
Nadal, who beat Roger Federer in the final here last year to capture his first major on hard courts after four titles at the French and one at Wimbledon, said the strategy against Karlovic was just not to blink.
“Just be focused all the time, move the legs, because you are going to have a lot of points only with one shot,” said Nadal, who was already looking ahead to a different style of match against Murray.
“Being in the quarterfinals is a very good news for me. . . . I’m going to have a very difficult match against Andy,” Nadal said. “It’s completely different. He’s one of the more talented players on the tour. He can play aggressive, play offensive. I want to play my game. If not, maybe I will have a good flight home.”
Murray is into the Australian Open quarterfinals for the first time. He lost the U.S. Open final to Federer in 2008, his only trip to a Grand Slam final, and knows he’ll probably have to beat both Nadal and Federer to claim his first major.
The 22-year-old Scot rated Isner’s serve among the best in the game, so he was delighted to wear down the American after a crucial service break in the eighth game of the second set. He fended off break-point chances in the next game to serve out the set.
