No sweat for champs!

Novak Djokovic was back to his ominous best Friday with a straightsets romp into the Australian Open last 16 as Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner emphatically stated their title credentials US Open champion Coco Gauff also signalled her intent in a 60 62 drubbing while 16yearold Mirra Andreeva kept her dream run going with a fightback against Francersquos Diane ParryTimofeeva stuns MaiaAnother young Russian qualifier Maria Timofeeva joined them in the fourth round by upsetting 10th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia and in doing so became the lowestranked woman since 2017 at 170 to get so far at Melbourne ParkAlso Read ldquoThe fans are tired The fans are angry The fans are upset Patrice EvraAryna Sabalenka serves to Lesia Tsurenko yesterday PicGetty ImagesTentime champion Djokovic has not been at his best until now dropping sets in both of his opening matches admitting he was feeling underthe weather But the Serbian superstarrsquos bid for a recordbreaking 25th Grand Slam crown got firmly back on track against 30th seed Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry with a routine 63 63 76 72 win on Rod Laver Arena ldquoI think the best performance I had during this tournamentrdquo he said after his 100th Australian Open match with only Roger Federer 117 and Serena Williams 105 playing moreldquoI am pleased with the way I played through the entire match particularly the first two setsrdquo The World No 1 will face journeyman French 20th seed Adrian Mannarino nextFellow defending champion Sabalenka was unstoppable in a crushing 60 60 canter over 28thseed Lesia Tsurenko Wearing vivid red she was in the zone against Ukrainersquos Tsurenko racing home in just 52 minutes ldquoLast year world number one Iga Swiatekwon so many sets 60 and this is one of the goalsrdquo she said ldquoIrsquom trying to get closer to her Irsquom super happy with the level Irsquom playing at so far and hopefully I can keep going like that or even betterrdquoFourthseed Sinner came into the opening Grand Slam of the year after ending 2023 in the best form of his life He won his first Masters title in Toronto and reached the championship match at the ATP Finals beating Djokovic in group play before leading Italy to the Davis Cup titleSinner yet to drop a setSo far he has lived up to expectations and is yet to drop a set unlike the trio of players ahead of him in the rankingsmdashdefending champion Djokovic Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev ldquoGenerally Irsquom playing really well and feeling great hererdquo said Sinner who will next play Russian 15th seed Karen Khachanov Timofeevarsquos stunning run continued with a 76 97 63 win over Brazilrsquos Haddad Maia having already beaten former champion Caroline Wozniacki