By John Pye / The Associated Press
MELBOURNE, Australia—Victoria Azarenka couldn’t get off court quickly enough to check the score after reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals.
To her elation, it was a Broncos win.
The two-time Australian Open champion had just beaten Barbaro Strycova, 6-2, 6-4, in the fourth round on Monday—continuing a three-year sequence of wins against the Czech player that started in the second round in 2014 and included the third round last year—when she wanted to know the result of the American Football Conference title game.
“Can somebody please tell me, did Broncos win?” she said, taking over her on-court TV interview. When she heard the Denver Broncos had beaten the New England Patriots, 20-18, she shouted “Yesss!!”—stepping back and raising both arms, “I’m so happy now.”
“I was so nervous the whole morning, I didn’t watch. I didn’t want to know the result,” she said. “As you can see I’m a crazy sports fanatic, so I understand you guys when you get all nervous and stuff, because I felt that.”
Peyton Manning’s Broncos will face Cam Newton’s Carolina Panthers in the 50th Super Bowl. Azarenka has already shown some allegiance to Newton and the Panthers, doing her version of the “dab” in her victory celebrations.
Told the Panthers were well ahead of the Cardinals in the National Football Conference decider, Azarenka said, “Well then, it’s going to be my dream final, I can’t wait to see that.”
Azarenka is coming off two injury-interrupted seasons, but is returning to the kind of form that took her to the No. 1-ranked and back-to-back Australian Open titles in 2012 and 2013.
She won the Brisbane International leading into the first major of the season and dropped only five games in her first three rounds at Melbourne Park. Strycova, who beat third-ranked Garbine Muguruza in the third round, took six games off Azarenka.
“She’s such a tough opponent. I’m just so happy I went through,” she said. “I played smart, I played aggressive, I took my opportunities and I really kept my composure.”
Next up she faces No. 7 Angelique Kerber, who beat fellow German Annika Beck, 6-4, 6-0, in the preceding match on Rod Laver Arena.
Kerber, who saved a match point in her first-round win over Misaki Doi, is into the quarterfinals for the first time in Australia.
“Maybe it’s a good omen. But, yeah, I was in the first match, match-point down. I was with one foot in the plane back to Germany,” she said.
Gael Monfils had a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Andrei Kuznetsov to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in 11 trips to Melbourne Park, thrilling the Margaret Court Arena crowd with his acrobatic tumbles and dives.
He will play the winner of the later match between fourth-seeded Stan Wawrinka, the French Open and 2014 Australian Open champion, and No. 13 Milos Raonic.
In the night match, No. 2 Andy Murray, a four-time finalist at Melbourne Park, was set to face No. 16 Bernard Tomic.
Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, was looking everywhere for answers, even in the crowd.
The top player in tennis, who won 27 of a possible 28 matches in Grand Slam matches in 2015, had the number 100 in the unforced errors column after his 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over Gilles Simon late on Sunday.
The win secured his spot in the quarterfinals for the 27th consecutive major, equaling Jimmy Connors at No. 2 in that streak and trailing only Roger Federer’s record of 36.
Yet Djokovic still thought it was a forgettable day. He was dissecting the match in an on-court interview on Sunday when a burst of laughter from the crowd caught his attention.
“Sorry, everybody is laughing. I just want to hear, what did you say?” Djokovic said, looking into the stands. The answer came back loud and clear: “No more drop shots.”
“OK, thanks buddy,” Djokovic deadpanned. “I hate to say, but you are absolutely right.”
A handful of ill-advised and poorly executed backhand drop shots by Djokovic made up the most glaring of his unforced errors.
“I don’t think I’ve had any number close to 100,” he said. “In terms of the level that I’ve played, it’s the match to forget for me.”
He hit 62 winners, and won 100 of the 176 rallies of four shots or fewer, but only 48 of the 101 featuring nine shots or more.
“Sometimes you have a brain freeze, if I can call it that,” Djokovic said, explaining how he wasn’t in rhythm and was trying to finish off points quickly. “Again, I won it, so it’s pretty good. When you’re playing that bad and still manage to win—hopefully it’s going to get better next one.”
Image credits: AP