MELBOURNE (Reuters) – German sixth seed Alexander Zverev used his powerful serve to good effect to overcome 23rd seed Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-4 7-6(5) 6-3 on Sunday and reach the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Zverev needed five sets to beat Lajovic in each of their two previous meetings at the French Open, but the 23-year-old was in a more ruthless mood on Margaret Court Arena and sealed victory with his 15th ace.
The German got 72% of his first serves in and racked up 44 winners to dominate the 30-year-old Lajovic throughout the match.
Zverev will meet either world number one Novak Djokovic or Canadian 14th seed Milos Raonic for a place in the semi-finals.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Ed Osmond)
