A handful of big names have advanced at the 2019 Australian Open, but two of the biggest ones have been knocked out. The Open is inching closer to finals territory with the Round of 16 in the books and quarterfinal matches set for the coming days. While major favorites like Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic are still alive, Melbourne saw Roger Federer and Simona Halep depart on back-to-back days, marking the loss of both the Women's Tennis Association's No. 1 and the two-time defending men's champion. Djokovic had little trouble with No. 15 Daniil Medvedev. Ditto for No. 2 Rafael Nadal with Tomas Berdych. But Federer, the oldest man left in the field, saw his hopes of a third straight Australian Open title go down the drain after failing to convert any of his 12 break-point opportunities against No. 14 Stefanos Tsitsipas, who's advanced to take on No. 22 Roberto Bautista Agut at Rod Laver Arena. The 20-year-old Tsitsipas became the first player from Greece to reach a major quarterfinal, but perhaps even more prominently, he becomes the first player to knock out the 37-year-old Federer in Melbourne since 2016. Halep, meanwhile, entered her anticipated match with No. 16 Serena Williams, the reigning US Open runner-up and seven-time Australian Open champ, in full acknowledgment that her No. 1 seeding didn't necessarily equate to Williams' lifelong resume. And despite strong play on her end, the reigning French Open champion ended up proving herself right, falling to Serena after Williams saved three break points to hold for 3-all in their match's third set. With Halep knocked out, Williams is still positioned to pursue her 24th Grand Slam title, which would tie an all-time record. Here's a complete rundown of all Round of 16 results, compiled from our breakdown of the entire 2019 Australian Open field: Men's singles No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeats No. 15 Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 No. 14 Stefanos Tsitsipas defeats No. 3 Roger Federer 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 No. 2 Rafael Nadal defeats Tomas Berdych 6-0, 6-1, 7-6 No. 16 Milos Raonic defeats No. 4 Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-1, 7-6 No. 28 Lucas Pouille defeats No. 11 Borna Coric 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 No. 22 Roberto Bautista Agut defeats No. 6 Marin Cilic 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 No. 8 Kei Nishikori defeats No. 23 Pablo Carreno Busta 6-7, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 Women's singles<doc-sep>Big win for Collins over Pavlyuchenkova There were wins for Danielle Collins and Petra Kvitova on Tuesday in Melbourne, with Collins recording a comeback victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Kvitova extending her head to head lead to 4-0 over Ash Barty. Collins' win means that she will improve her ranking to just outside the top 20 even if she loses to Kvitova in the semi-finals and this completely takes the pressure off her to defend her semi-final points from Miami in March. It will certainly be interesting to see how she is priced in smaller events, and on clay, in the not too distant future. Market accurate for Osaka and Svitolina match Looking at Wednesday's matches, first up, at around midnight UK time, is Naomi Osaka against our outright pick, Elina Svitolina. With Serena Williams, and the aforementioned Kvitova, looking ominous, Svitolina's tournament winner price hasn't shortened as much as I anticipated, but she is certainly not without a chance against Osaka, who has got to this stage despite not looking her best against Su-Wei Hsieh and Anastasija Sevastova in the last two rounds. My model goes 1.728/11 on Osaka, making the current 1.695/7 market price extremely accurate, and it will be interesting to see how the match progresses given the differences in playing styles. Osaka has better service numbers, but Svitolina does have a slight edge on return, and also boasts strong break deficit recovery figures as well. On the flip side though, Osaka is one of the most solid front-runners in sets on tour, so appears to cope well with the pressure when leading generally. I don't see any value here at all for either player, so I'll happily move on to the second match on the schedule between Serena Williams and Karolina Pliskova. Serena price justifiable for serve-orientated encounter Serena is now looking ominous in the outright market, with her win over Simona Halep yesterday shortening her outright price to around the 2.56/4 mark, before settling at a current 2.8415/8. She matches up tomorrow against Pliskova, who has won one of their three head to head meetings, at the US Open in 2016 - Serena got revenge at the same venue in 2018. It's worth noting that the head to head meetings so far have been very serve-orientated, with Serena holding in excess of 80%, and Pliskova more than 70% of the time as well. It wouldn't be a shock at all if this serve-orientated theme continues tomorrow, and a tight matches with few breaks looks likely. Serena is 1.392/5 to get the win, which my model largely agreed with, so again, it doesn't look like there is much in the way of value on tomorrow's women's card. As I've mentioned in the past, the dwindling of value opportunities later in Slams is not a huge surprise - player levels are well exposed, and the market simply doesn't make that many mistakes in matches featuring two big names or tour regulars. I'll be returning tomorrow though, to discuss the semi-finals in detail, and hopefully there will be a pre-match value opportunity then. *** Follow Dan on Twitter @TennisRatings<doc-sep>Kin Cheung/Associated Press The Australian Open women's semifinal matchups are set after quarterfinal play concluded with Karolina Pliskova's three-set win over Serena Williams on Tuesday (ET). Here's a look at the semifinal schedule, television and live-stream information, as well as a quick rundown on all four competitors. Australian Open Semifinal Information No. 8 Petra Kvitova vs. Danielle Collins: Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET No. 4 Naomi Osaka vs. No. 7 Karolina Pliskova: After the conclusion of the Kvitova-Collins match (no earlier than 11:30 p.m. ET) TV and Live Stream: ESPN2 and WatchESPN No. 8 Petra Kvitova vs. Danielle Collins No tennis player in this year's Australian Open has looked more dominant than two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, who is making her second career appearance in the Australian Open semifinals and first since 2012. Video Play Button Videos you might like The No. 8 seed has cruised to the semifinals off five straight-sets wins. None of her opponents have taken more than four games off her within a single set, and Kvitova has only lost 22 games overall. That means Kvitova will be well-rested going into her semifinal match, as John Pye of the Associated Press (h/t Washington Post) wrote that her Australian Open wins have come in an average time of one hour and six minutes. She faces unseeded 25-year-old American Danielle Collins, who had participated in eight majors leading into the 2019 Australian Open and only advanced past the first round once. However, she's beaten three top-20 seeds in this major, including No. 2 Angelique Kerber 6-0, 6-2 in the round of 16. Collins' performances at non-major tournaments in 2018 may have foreshadowed her Australian Open success, as she rose from No. 167 in the rankings to No. 36 by year's end. She's looked like one of the very best players in the world at times this month, however. Kvitova is a heavy -450 favorite (bet $450 to win $100) at most sportsbooks, according to Oddschecker. That may be an ambitious line, however, as Kvitova fought through three sets and two tiebreakers in three hours to beat Collins at the Brisbane International this year. No. 4 Naomi Osaka vs. No. 7 Karolina Pliskova No. 7 Pliskova just faced Williams in one of the best matches of the entire Australian Open, as she came back from 5-1 down in the third set to defeat the 23-time major winner. She faced four match points but was able to pull out the victory. As noted on the ESPN broadcast, Williams suffered a twisted ankle in the third set, which seemed to hamper her down the stretch. Still, Pliskova played well en route to her third straight win against a seeded opponent in the Australian Open. She's also taken a trio of three-set victories as well. The Czech player's best major result occurred in 2016, when she finished as the tournament runner-up to Kerber. The 21-year-old Osaka, who won the 2018 U.S. Open as a No. 20 seed, has continued her major dominance into the 2019 season. After cruising to straight-sets wins over her first two opponents, Osaka had to fight back in her third- and fourth-round matches after losing the opening set. However, she ended up winning both matches in three sets before a 6-4, 6-1 win over No. 6 Elina Svitolina. Svitlolina played hurt throughout the quarterfinal match, as she battled neck and shoulder injuries. However, Osaka deserves credit for her stellar quarterfinal performance and could rattle off two straight major victories here. Pliskova leads their career series, two matches to one. Chris Evert of ESPN said this was a "50-50" match during her post-match commentary of the Pliskova vs. Williams quarterfinal.<doc-sep>Samantha Stosur has lapped up a moment in the Melbourne Park spotlight, winning through to the Australian Open women’s doubles final. The much-loved Queenslander paired with China’s Zhang Shuai for an epic 7-5 4-6 7-5 semi-final triumph over Czech duo Barbora Strycova and Marketa Vondrousova on Wednesday night. In a sweet antidote to Stosur’s years of singles pain at her home slam, the 34-year-old did so in front of thousands of fans. Rod Laver Arena was packed to the rafters for the normally low-profile encounter after Kei Nishikori’s retirement in his semi-final with Novak Djokovic left the crowd wanting more. The four women delivered bumper entertainment in their two-and-a-half hour classic, one of the longest doubles matches of the tournament. “There’s nothing better than playing a match like that,” Stosur said. “You could feel the ride of the emotions from everyone in the crowd, the players, it was exciting tennis. We loved it out there. “We played really well when it really counted and that last game was amazing.” Stosur and Zhang rattled off seven consecutive games to claim the first set, recovering a 5-1 deficit. They were pegged back in the second set before Stosur’s clutch serving and Zhang’s net play won the day. “My heart rate is so high ... it was amazing. Such a good match,” Stosur said. “Shuai picked it up at the end, she won it for us. “We’re on a bit of a roll and hopefully we can keep it going in the final.” Zhang was overcome to triumph, exclaiming “I still can’t believe we’ve made the final Sam!” Stosur and Zhang will play Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, the second seeds, in the final on Friday afternoon. Stosur, a former doubles world No.1, has won each of the majors in either women’s or mixed doubles. She won the 2005 US Open and 2006 French Open with Lisa Raymond, and has three mixed crowns including the 2005 Australian Open with Scott Draper. Three other Australians have the chance to follow in Stosur’s footsteps in reaching a doubles final at the 2019 tournament. John Peers pairs with Henri Kontinen in a men’s doubles final on Thursday morning before Astra Sharma and John-Patrick Smith play their mixed semi-final as the closing match on Rod Laver Arena. All locals have been eliminated from the boys and girls events, with no Australian entries in wheelchair singles or doubles. Great mates and sparring partners Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson return to action in the quad singles on Thursday. Experience the best of international tennis LIVE. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP NOW!<doc-sep>
Naomi Osaka has made it back-to-back slam finals after defeating Serena slayer Karolina Pliskova to move into the Australian Open final. Osaka defeated Pliskova 6-2 4-6 6-4, making it 59 straight matches in which she has not lost after winning the opening set. Osaka, the 2018 US Open champion, will face Petra Kvitova on Saturday. The winner will become the new women’s world No.1. Tonight, Rafael Nadal will battle Stefanos Tsitsipas for the first spot in the men’s final. FOLLOW THAT LIVE HERE Kvitova booked her spot in the final by defeating unheralded American Danielle Collins, 7-6(2) 6-0. Kvitova took the opener in a tie-break, after the Rod Laver roof was closed at 4-4 because of extreme heat in Melbourne. The Czech was particularly affected by the heat. But under the roof in the second set, Kvitova looked like another player, as the gulf between the two-time grand slam champion and Collins was exposed. Kvitova, a dual Wimbledon winner, is on the comeback trail, after she was stabbed by an intruder in her home in late 2016. It will be the first time since 2014 Kvitova has made the final of a major. MORE TENNIS NEWS ‘NEVER SEEN THAT’: SERENA’S SECRET TEARS AFTER HEART-BREAKING LOSS POUILLE: GROUNDBREAKING SECRET BEHIND SHOCK AUS OPEN SEMI-FINALIST’S SUCCESS ‘I HATE CALLING THE TRAINER’: BEATEN SERENA’S CLASSY ADMISSION WATCH: HUSBAND LOSES THE PLOT AFTER EPIC OPEN COMEBACK FASHION ICON’S CALL TO RENAME MARGARET COURT ARENA Anna Wintour may be best known as Vogue America’s editor in chief. But the fashion icon is also a massive tennis fan. Spotted courtside almost every day at this year’s Australian Open, Wintour was invited to give the keynote address for the Australian Open Inspirational Series. And she didn’t hold back when addressing whether or not Margaret Court Arena should be renamed. “Margaret Court was a champion on the court but a meeting point for players of all nations preferences and backgrounds should celebrate somebody that was a champion off it as well,” Wintour said. “It is inconsistent for the sport for Margaret Court’s name to be on the stadium that does so much to bring all people together across their differences. “This much I think is clear to anyone who understands the spirit and joy of the game. Intolerance has no place in tennis. “What we love in the stands is watching these remarkable men and women exceed themselves while being themselves in many different forms.” MORE TENNIS NEWS DISAPPOINTMENT: HEARTBREAKING SCENES AS NISHIKORI RETIRES HURT AGAINST DJOKOVIC CHAMP CHOKES: SERENA SENT PACKING IN ASTONISHING OPEN MELTDOWN ‘WHITEWASHING’: RACISM STORM ERUPTS AT AUSTRALIAN OPEN OVER CONTROVERSIAL CARTOON MCENROE WEIGHS IN ON SERENA’S SLIP UP Serena Williams was adamant she didn’t “choke”, after being up 5-1 in the deciding set against Karolina Pliskova. But US tennis legend John McEnroe has a different theory to Williams, suggesting it wasn’t just Pliskova’s strong striking that influenced the result. The big serving Czech saved a staggering four match points to stage the comeback of the tournament, eliminating the seven-time Australian Open champion. “I think she just played lights out on match point, literally, hitting lines,” Williams said of Pliskova. “She just played unbelievable on match point.” McEnroe, however, had a different take. “As you get older, you realise you have less opportunity to maybe pull this off. So you put more pressure on yourself,” he said. “It looked like at the end, the pressure, which is -very rare – I didn’t think I would be saying this – but the pressure of the moment got to her a bit. “(It’s) a little bit of choking, yeah. Let’s face it, they’re all human beings.” In the night session, it’s a clash between the present and the future as Stefanos Tsitsipas faces Rafael Nadal in the first men’s semi-final. Tsitsipas has already made history by becoming the first Greek player into the semi-finals of a slam. The 20-year-old stunned Roger Federer in the fourth round; he has a chance to complete a stunning feat if results go a certain way, as no player has ever beaten Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the same tournament. Tsitsipas could face Djokovic in the final if the Serb gets past Lucas Pouille on Friday night. However beating Nadal is easier said than done, especially as the Spaniard has breezed through his five matches so far all in straight sets.