Dominant Djokovic rolls on at Australian Open, will face No. 5 Rublev in quarterfinals

Novak Djokovic's bid for a 10th Australian Open crown shifted up a gear on Monday as he raced into the quarterfinals with a centre court masterclass and left his hamstring troubles behind.

A year after being deported from the country on the eve of the Grand Slam, Djokovic sent the last Australian packing with a 6-2 6-1 6-2 demolition of Alex de Minaur at a floodlit Rod Laver Arena.

The Serbian great set up a quarterfinal against Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev and was thrilled to report the hamstring strain on his left leg was no longer bothering him.

"I cannot say I'm sorry that you haven't watched a longer match," Djokovic joked to the crowd.

"I really wanted to win in straight sets.

"Tonight it wasn't obvious that I was dealing with an injury, I didn't feel anything today, so today was great."

Meanwhile, Rublev kept coming back, kept coming back — from down 5-2 in the fifth set, from facing a pair of match points while trailing 6-5, from deficits of 5-0 and 7-2 in the first-to-10 concluding tiebreaker — before finally putting away No. 9 Holger Rune 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (11-9) at Rod Laver Arena.

With young gun Ben Shelton winning a five-set battle against compatriot J.J. Wolf, and Sebastian Korda advancing on Sunday, Tommy Paul ensured three American men will contest the quarterfinals for the first time since 2000.

The unseeded Paul beat 24th seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2 4-6 6-2 7-5 in the evening at Margaret Court Arena to book a matchup with 20-year-old Shelton, whose dream run continued with a 6-7(5) 6-2 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 6-2 win over Wolf.

Linette upsets Garcia

Magda Linette came from two breaks down in the first set en route to beating No. 4 Caroline Garcia 7-6 (3), 6-4 on Monday to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

She will face Karolina Pliskova, who defeated Zhang Shuai 6-0, 6-4 in another fourth-round match on Monday.

Linette was lost for words in the on-court interview after the match.

"I don't really believe it," she said. "I can't believe it, really. I don't know what happened. I'm speechless really. I don't know what to say."

Fifth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka defeated Belinda Bencic 7-5, 6-2 on Monday to reach the quarterfinals for the first time. Bencic double-faulted to drop the first set, which put Sabalenka in control from that point.

"I'm super happy with the win today," Sabalenka said. "She [Bencic] is an unbelievable player. She played so good. I'm really happy with the level today."

Sabalenka faces Donna Vekic, who defeated Linda Fruhvirtova 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.

Two other quarterfinal matchups were already set, with Elena Rybakina facing Jelena Ostapenko, and Jessica Pegula playing Victoria Azarkena.

Sabalenka said she had worked hard on controlling her emotions during matches.

"It takes me a little while to understand that negative emotions are not going to help me on court," she said. "You just have to stay strong and believe no matter what."

Sablenka also said her fitness has improved.

"We did a lot of work in the preseason and I'm super happy that everything is working right now," she said.