Aryna Sabalenka has extended her reign as tiebreak queen to book a fourth successive appearance in the Australian Open quarterfinals before Carlos Alcaraz reached the last eight with a Tommy Paul takedown.Third-seeded Coco Gauff also advanced to her third quarterfinals in a row on Sunday with a pulsating 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win over crafty Czech Karolina Muchova in a late-afternoon match at Margaret Court Arena.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe day’s biggest upset was veteran Daniil Medvedev’s straight-sets exit at the hands of Learner Tien.A day after blistering heat caused mayhem and meltdowns at Melbourne Park, normal service resumed as a cool change brought relief for players, fans and tournament schedulers.Two-time champion and title favourite Sabalenka was first out, seeing off Canada’s 19-year-old talent Victoria Mboko 6-1, 7-6(1) in a match of two halves.The Belarusian was at her irrepressible best as she crushed the teen in a 31-minute opening set and raced to a 4-1 lead in the second before Mboko produced a thrilling fightback.Breaking Sabalenka twice on the way to a 6-5 lead, Mboko then hit a brick wall as the Belarusian raised her game to notch a 20th successive tiebreak win at Grand Slams.“It’s incredible to see these kids coming up on tour,” said world number one Sabalenka, who has now booked 13 successive Grand Slam quarterfinals.“She pushed me really hard today.”Havin …
