Australian Open 2025 Day 8 Recap

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will face off in Tuesday’s quarter-final after both men made comfortable progress into the last eight on Sunday.

In the day session, both matches were cut short for the same reason: Jack Draper and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina couldn’t muster enough physical strength to compete after their earlier five-set exploits in the tournament.

Draper was forced to retire against Carlos Alcaraz on Rod Laver, with the Spaniard leading 7-5, 6-1. A hip issue prevented the Brit from continuing. Fokina completed his match, but he ultimately offered little resistance as he fell to Tommy Paul 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 in just 87 minutes.

Over at John Cain Arena, Sascha Zverev dropped his first set of the tournament but recovered nicely to take out the dangerous Ugo Humbert 6-1 2-6 6-3 6-2.

In the night session, Novak Djokovic faced 24th seed Jiri Lehecka, who, like his compatriot Tomas Machac, had been slated to be a tough test for the 10-time champion.

However, another straight-set blowout ensued as Djokovic controlled the match from start to finish, th eonly blip when he couldn’t consolidate a break at the start of set 3. 

Day Eight 2025 Australian Open Round of 16 Results

Alcaraz Moves Through After Draper Retirement

Given Jack Draper’s three five-setters in a row in Melbourne, there would always be significant question marks about whether he could last physically against 3rd seed Carlos Alcaraz.

The answer was no, as the Brit was forced to retire when behind 6-7 1-6 due to a hip injury, something he’d been dealing with in the off-season that prevented him from heading over to Spain to practice with Alcaraz. He revealed in the press conference that he has tendinitis. 

With just two sets played, there wasn’t much to see, but we again saw Alcaraz slip into his unforced error mode when leading 5-2, which allowed Draper to level at 5-5.

However, Alcaraz can typically regain focus quickly, and from there, he won eight of the next nine games, with Draper receiving medical attention off-court after the first set.

It’s not the way I want to win the match to get through to the next round. “I’m just happy to play in another quarter-final in Australia but a little bit sad for Jack, he’s a nice person. He doesn’t deserve to get injured. He couldn’t prepare the start of the season well because of an injury. We should have done a good week of preseason [together], but we couldn’t because of an injury as well. I’m just a little bit sad for him but I’m sure he’s going to come back stronger and I want to wish him a speedy recovery I am just happy with the level that I’m playing on the court. Off the court I’m feeling really comfortable here in Australia. I think it’s pretty good. Physically I’m feeling great so coming into the second week of a Grand Slam it’s really important to feel well physically because right now the matches are even tougher. I’m just ready. I think I’m doing great things off the court as well. I’m excited about playing my second quarter-final in Australia and hopefully getting further this year. Alcaraz on his win.

Djokovic Dominates Lehecka

Novak Djokovic produced another top-drawer performance on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday to set up a highly anticipated quarter-final clash with Carlos Alcaraz.

The Serbian cruised past 24th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4), securing a two-hour, 39-minute victory that equalled Roger Federer’s record of 15 men’s singles finals at Melbourne Park.

Djokovic displayed his trademark baseline dominance for the second consecutive match, overpowering the Czech, who many thought would offer a stiff challenge given Novak’s early-round performances against Basavareddy and Faria.

However, against Machac and now Lehecka, two Czech players with top-10 ambition, he essentially schooled them, committing just 21 unforced errors and never really looking troubled.

Djokovic can now look forward to his Grand Slam meeting with Alcaraz on a hard court. Novak leads their Head2Head 4-3, winning the last one at the Paris Olympics.

Other 4th Round Matches

Alexander Zverev dropped his first set of the tournament but rebounded quickly to defeat Ugo Humbert 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The Frenchman is a streaky player who can take the racket out of anyone’s hands, and he did that in set two to level things up.

However, Zverev, who has an impeccable record against left-handers, knuckled down and only dropped one point behind his first serve in sets 3 and 4. I also thought he hit his forehand convincingly, which is what he needs to do if he’s going to win the tournament.

The World No. 2 will next face Tommy Paul, who dominated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 in just 87 minutes.

Like Draper, Davidovich Fokina has spent an age on court in the first week, fighting back from two sets down in his previous rounds, so he pulled up rather lame against the 12th seed.

Australian Open Day 9 Round of 16 Matches