|
 Maria Sharapova inflicted another grand slam reality check on
Eugenie Bouchard and will play an all-Russian semi-final with plucky
lefthander Ekaterina Makaraova, who thrashed third seed Simona Halep
on a surprising day at Melbourne Park.
In the evening session, Murray struck back for the old guard,
slapping down local teenager Nick Kyrgios 6-3 7-6(5) 6-3 to deflate
home fans pumped up by the traditional sporting rivalry with former
colonial masters Britain.
But it was Nadal's 6-2 6-0 7-6(5) humbling on an unseasonably cold
summer's day that rocked Melbourne Park to its core and shook the
biggest monkey in the men's game off the back of Berdych.
The big-serving Czech's 17-match losing streak to the Spaniard was
the equal-longest in the professional era and snapping it was the
result of a perfectly executed plan.
"Oh, it feels great," Berdych told reporters. "Everything was
working. I was able to execute it really well."
In an intriguing twist, the man that helped Berdych create the
master plan was Dani Vallverdu, Murray's former hitting partner and
assistant coach, who parted ways with the Scot in November.
Now in Berdych's camp, Vallverdu will provide the intelligence for
preparations against Murray.
On the strength of Berdych's tournament, the Venezuelan has been a
roaring success, with the Czech not dropping a set.
The rangy 29-year-old was irresistible in the first two sets against
Nadal, wrapping them up in exactly an hour and giving the 14-times
grand slam champion his first grand slam bagel since the 2006
Wimbledon final against Roger Federer.
"It was just not my day. I didn't play with the right intensity, the
right rhythm," said a disappointed Nadal, who was nonetheless
content with his run after coming back from injury and illness.
Black-clad Murray was all business against brash 19-year-old Kyrgios
and needed to be for much of a high-quality encounter on a chilly,
windy evening.
Kyrgios lifted to bring the crowd into the equation, but Murray rose
with him, closing out the match with a barrage of scintillating
winners.
"I tried to start as quickly as possible because I know how
dangerous he is," Murray said courtside of his opponent, who dumped
Nadal from Wimbledon on the way to the last eight.
"I have seen his matches for the last 18 months... So I wasn't going
to underestimate him."
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DOMINATING RUSSIANS
It was a performance that Sharapova would have approved of after her
78-minute rout of another young upstart in Canadian Bouchard.
Bouchard claimed to have gleaned a lot from her gutting French Open
loss last year, overhauled by the Russian from a set down, but
nothing could have prepared her for the schooling that played out.
Completely dictated, Bouchard had nowhere to hide and the five-times
grand slam champion feasted upon her serve.
She swooped in for the kill with a string of smoking winners,
sealing it with a crunching inside-out forehand.
As Sharapova blew kisses, Bouchard headed straight for the exit,
biting her lip.
"Am I happy that I was able to lift my game after having a couple
matches where I wasn't satisfied? Yeah, absolutely," Sharapova told
reporters.
"But the toughest is what's to come. I hope that I'll be able to
take that and play even better."
Third seed Halep had cruised into the quarter-finals by smiting
lower-ranked opponents but ran head-first into a brick wall in the
form of lithe left-hander Makarova.
The 26-year-old Makarova, who describes herself as shy off-court,
blew the nerve-stricken Halep away and has not lost a set all
tournament. She heads into her clash with Sharapova fresh and in top
form.
"I'm not shy on the tennis court. It's a big stage," she said. "I
never beat (Sharapova), so it will be tough."
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly/John O'Brien)
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