In the darker moments, when the medical needs of his family were becoming more urgent, Andy Murray thought about leaving the Australian Open before the fourth round.
The stress was obvious on Monday, when an agitated Murray yelled and berated himself repeatedly and had trouble dealing with Bernard Tomic’s unusual style before advancing to the quarterfinals with a scrappy 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (4) win.
“The last few days were very, very tough. A lot of emotions, things sort of changing all of the time in my head,” Murray said. “It’s been a stressful few days, but I’ll try to rest up the next few days to get ready for the next one.”
Murray’s wife, Kim, is due to have their first baby next month and he promised he’d fly back to Britain at any time if she went into labor.
The two-time major winner was playing in the third round on Saturday when his father-in-law, Nick Sears, who was in Melbourne as Ana Ivanovic’s coach, needed sudden medical in a nearby stadium. Sears had to be taken from Rod laver Arena, where he was watching Ivanovic play, to a nearby hospital by ambulance and was admitted overnight.
“I just can’t believe something like that happened a few days ago. It’s shocking,” Murray said. “Nige is an unbelievably fit guy. Very, very scary.”
Murray reported that his father-in-law had been released from the hospital, was feeling OK and was heading home.
Next up for Murray will be No. 8 David Ferrer, a two-time semifinalist, who held off No. 10-seeded John Isner 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.
In the other quarter of the draw, Milos Raonic persevered with his serve-and-volley game plan and withstood a strong comeback from 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka for a 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-3 win.
Raonic’s win was the biggest upset of the day. He said he felt fitter, faster and more confident going to the net more frequently, and all that combined to produce his first win in five matches against No. 4-ranked Wawrinka.
He will be facing No. 23 Gael Monfils, who reached the last eight in Australia for the first time in 11 trips with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Andrei Kuznetsov.
In women’s side, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Barbora Strycova. She next faces No. 7 Angelique Kerber, who beat Annika Beck 6-4, 6-0.
Zhang’s run continues
Nine days ago, Zhang Shuai was nearly on a plane back to China before the Australian Open began. The French veteran Virginie Razzano was serving for the match against her in the final round of qualifying, but Zhang was able to break back and win the third set 8-6.
Now, the No. 133-ranked Zhang, who considered retiring from tennis after a dismal 2015 season, is into quarterfinals of the season’s first major after defeating an injured Madison Keys 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
After winning the first set, Keys began to feel pain in her left leg early in second set and, after taking a medical timeout to have her upper thigh wrapped, had difficulty putting any weight on her leg to serve and looked increasingly in pain. She said she kept playing because “One, I hate retiring. Two, you don’t want to do that to someone who is trying to get into the quarters.”
Sania, Bopanna win
Indian tennis stars Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna advanced to the quarterfinals of the women’s and mixed doubles events respectively after notching up contrasting victories with their partners.
On a record winning streak, Sania and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis continued to rule the roost as they brushed aside Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova and Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-3 in a contest that lasted an hour and 21 minutes.
The top-seeded pair will next take on the 12th seeded Anna-lena Groenefeld and Coco Vandeweghe next.
Bopanna and Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei also continued their winning run, edging out Andrea Hlavackova and lukasz Kubot 4-6, 6-3 (10-6), in mixed doubles match.
On Tuesday, in mixed doubles, top seeds Sania and Ivan Dodig will face Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan, while leander Paes and Hingis will take on Jean-Julien Rojer and Sloane Stephens.