LIVE: TV host roasts legend over ‘mood lifter’

There couldn’t be more contrasting men’s quarter-finals at the Australian Open.

Novak Djokovic is still on track for his 10th title at Melbourne Park and now faces fifth seed Andrey Rublev — who is 0-6 in Grand Slam quarter-finals.

The other men’s match today features a pair of unseeded 20-something Americans: Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul.

Neither has ever been this far at a major tournament and the matchup between the 89th-ranked Shelton, a 20-year-old from Florida, and the 35th-ranked Paul, a 25-year-old from New Jersey, will be the first grand slam quarter-final between two men from the US since 2007, when Andy Roddick beat Mardy Fish in Melbourne.

Roddick’s title at the US Open 20 years ago remains the last major singles championship for an American man.

There is also a fresh face among the women: Magda Linette is playing in her first quarter-final in 30 Grand Slam appearances at age 31.

She faces Karolina Pliskova, a two-time runner-up at majors.

The other quarter-finalists are appearing for the first time in the last eight at Melbourne Park: No.5 Aryna Sabalenka and unseeded Donna Vekic.

Sabalenka is 8-0 in 2023.

Partly cloudy with a high of 28 degrees Celsius.

35 — Tournament-leading ace count for Elena Rybakina, including 11 against Jelena Ostapenko.

“I was at the point where I couldn’t find anything that I feel good about myself. Not like even one sentence.” — Victoria Azarenka, discussing her anxiety.