Carlos Alcarz has shown his class in defeat, offering nice words to Jack Draper who retired following the second set of their fourth round battle.

“I’m pretty sure he is going to come back stronger, as he always does,” Alcaraz says.

The third seed Spanaird, who is trying to win his first Australian Open and complete the career grand slam, will face either Novak Djokovic or Jiri Lehecka. That match will be played from 7pm AEDT.

Jack Draper has walked over to Carlos Alcaraz and offered his hand in resignation.

Draper struggled in that second set and he has had to retire.

The Brit had battled a hip issue coming into this year’s tournament, and then had a trio of five-set matches to make the fourth round.

You could see in Draper’s face he didn’t want to quit — but his body just could not keep going.

That was dominant from Carlos Alcarz.

Jack Draper had no answer for the imposing Spaniard who now takes a 7-5, 6-1 lead in the match.

Draper looks very laboured out there. The Brit was in a major battle two nights ago and it appears to be taking its toll.

Australian wildcard pair Kim Birrell and John-Patrick Smith are walking onto Margaret Court Arena.

They will be underdogs against the seventh-seed pairing of Demi Schuurs (NED) and Tim Puetz (GER).

But with one win already under their belt, Birrell and Smith will have plenty of reasons to believe they can do it again.

American 12th seed Tommy Paul has trotted past a hampered Alejandro Davidovich Fokina who, like Donna Vekic, refused to retire despite his injury.

But, ultimately, Paul refused to be distracted or let up at all and powers past with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 victory propelling him into the quarterfinals at the Australian Open for the second time in three years.

Paul won 85 points to ADF’s 43, which is an absolute drubbing when you consider most matches, even in straight-sets wins have something close to a 50/50 split.

Carlos Alcaraz recovers from an apparent loss of focus after his argument with umpire Fergus Murphy to take the first set 7-5 against 15th seed Jack Draper.

Alcaraz appeared to drop his bundle for a whopping two points, before rattling off six straight and ultimately winning the set with a service break.

Looked like Draper pulled up lame as he lunged for a late forehand winner and has left the court for a medical timeout, clutching at his hip.

Third seed Carlos Alcaraz has taken issue with umpire Fergus Murphy for starting the shot clock too soon after points are finished.

Umpire’s start a 25-second countdown after announcing the score following a point, and Alcaraz wasn’t best pleased after he got his towel and saw 10 of his seconds had already elapsed while serving for the set at 5-3 against Jack Draper.

“You are the only one; my fourth match, you are the only one,” Alcaraz says to Murphy after losing the game.

“It’s crazy. I finished the point, I went to the towel and didn’t take too much time, and then when I asked for the balls it’s 15 seconds [left]? This is crazy.”

Murphy is renowned for being a little quick to start the shot clock. Just ask Nick Kyrgios.

It looked like it might have rattled Alcaraz as he slipped behind 0-30 on his serve at 5-5, but he won four straight points to avoid going behind.

Spanish world number 66 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is coming off two straight five-set matches where he came back from two sets to love down twice and it seems his body is finally packing it in.

He slips and his right leg jammed under him awkwardly early in the first set, which he lost 6-1 to American 12th seed Tommy Paul in just 22 minutes.

Davidovich Fokina took a medical timeout for treatment on his right hip/groin and has had tears in his eyes throughout this second set.

At the first change of ends, he eschewed sitting in his chair and went straight over to his coaches’ box for a chat.

He’s played on, but seems all but retired here.

Roger Rasheed, who coached Lleyton Hewitt when the Aussie star battled through countless injuries, says Davidovich Fokina’s box gave him absolutely “nothing” when he looked to them for guidance after losing the second set 6-1.

“Very strange to me,” Rasheed says as the Spaniard leaves the court between sets.

The relentless Paul is the last man you want to be facing when you’re battling physically.

It looks like Davidovich Fokina is going to play on in this third set. He’s just swinging for the fences on every shot, trying to keep points short.

Third-seeded Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz is up on Rod Laver Arena for his fourth-round clash with Britain’s Jack Draper.

American 12th seed Tommy Paul is one of the fastest players on tour, and he’s converted that to his time on court, barrelling to a 6-1 win in the first set in just 22 minutes.

World number 66 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina slipped awkwardly early in the set and he’s been feeling at his right hip and groin ever since.

The Spaniard was on court for just an hour and 50 minutes before his opponent retired in the first round, but he had to come back from two sets down in his next two matches, for a grand total of 10 hours and 12 minutes on court heading into this match.

His body is probably battling a bit.

American 12th seed Tommy Paul had his best major outing here when he reached the semifinals in 2023, while Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is currently enjoying his first trip past the second round at the Australian Open.

Paul is already up a break and leading 3-0 after just eight minutes on Margaret Court Arena.

Things were looking dicey early on for world number three Coco Gauff after she dropped the opening set to much lower-ranked Belinda Bencic.

While putting away clever shots and hitting powerful forehands, Gauff continuously made unforced errors and had a slew of costly double faults.

She was seemingly getting under her own skin as she looked frustrated and fed up at her own mistakes.

But then the former US Open champion composed herself in the break after the first set and came out to take the second set 6-2 and the deciding one 6-1.

Bencic, however, can leave the Australian Open with her head incredibly high after an impressive run this year. She started the tournament ranked world number 294 – after taking time away from tennis to have a baby – but has already surged to 156th after making the fourth round of the Open.

Gauff will next play Paula Badosa, who beat Olga Danilovic in straight sets.

Full credit to Donna Vekic for playing through the pain, but the 18th seed was never able to truly strike a blow in the second set against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The knee injury brought her to tears and Pavlyuchenkova did well to maintain her focus to carry on through a 7-0 tiebreak in the first set and a 6-0 second set.

“It’s tough to say something; obviously that’s not the way you want a match to finish. I hope she will be OK and it’s nothing serious. I’m happy I managed to keep putting the ball in the court.”

Pavlyuchenkova will be playing her fourth quarterfinal at the Australian Open, and first since 2020, when she faces top seed and two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the last eight.

After winning the first set in a canter, Spanish 11th seed Paula Badosa fell behind 5-2 in the second. Olga Danilovic served for the set at 5-3 but Badosa managed to break and get back into it.

She forced the tiebreak and raced to a 6-1 advantage before closing it out 7-1.

It is Badosa’s first trip beyond the fourth round in Melbourne, coming after a quarterfinal berth at last year’s US Open.

“I was always really sad because I always said this was my favourite slam and I never made it to the last rounds. Finally I’m here and finally I think I will play on Rod Laver Arena. I’m really looking forward to that.”

Eighteenth seed Donna Vekic is in clear pain as she struggles with a knee injury in her fourth-round match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Vekic hurt her knee in the first set before losing the tiebreak 7-0.

She’s started slow in this second frame, going down a break and 3-0, and she’s had a proper weep between points here.

The injury has somewhat distracted Pavlyuchenkova and led to Vekic swinging from the hip, garnering a couple of break points in the third game, but Pavlyuchenkova serves her way out of trouble.

After getting steamrolled by Paula Badosa in the opening set, Olga Danilovic has fought her way back into the second set, but surrendered a 5-2 lead as the mercury peaks above 30 degrees Celsius.

The first set of the fourth-round clash between 18th seed Donna Vekic and 27th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on John Cain Arena last an hour and seven minutes, which is five minutes longer than the entirety of Aryna Sabalenka’s win over Mirra Andreeva.

Russian veteran Pavlyuchenkova rounded into some nice form in the back half off the set and when it came to the tiebreak was simply untouchable, rattling off seven straight points to win it 7-0.

Vekic is struggling with an apparent right knee injury. We’ll see if she can run it off. She hasn’t got it strapped between sets, which is either a good sign that she can play on or a terrible sign that she’s resigned to retiring.

Coco Gauff recovered from an infuriating first set against Belinda Bencic to comprehensively take the second 6-2.

In the first, Gauff was visited by past demons as she hit multiple double faults and had twice as many unforced errors than Bencic, 20-10. She dropped the set 7-5.

Gauff then composed herself after the break between sets to come out and hit cleaner, more confident balls.

Fans now will be treated to a third set, with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.

Paula Badosa and Olga Danilovic are playing for a spot in the quarterfinal against the winner of the match between Coco Gauff and Belinda Bencic.

Badosa looks a lock for that last-eight spot as she rips through the opening set, winning the first five games and taking it 6-1 in just 27 minutes.