At 1:24 am in Melbourne, it was tempting to suggest that the Australian Open had narrowly escaped an embarrassing night. As Jannik Sinner defeated Andrey Rublev in straight-sets to advance to the semi-finals, perhaps the tournament organisers breathed a sigh of relief that the day’s play finished at ‘only’ half one in the morning rather than an even later hour. That, however, would only confirm just how ridiculous it is that tennis continues to do this to itself and how these absurd late-night finishes have become part of the game. It is a habit that no one wants, no one benefits from, and a problem the grand slams are seemingly unwilling to kick.

But will tennis learn its lesson? This is what the sport has become, at the request and enjoyment of no one.

*Qinwen Zheng 6-7(4) 1-1 Anna Kalinskaya

The unseeded Russian has taken the first set on Rod Laver Arena.

Work to do for the 12th seed here then!

He wrote on Wednesday in Australian newspaper The Age that he is now seriously considering retirement.

“I’m at a crossroads in my career and have reached a point where life after tennis is a prospect that excites me,” he wrote.

Qinwen Zheng 3-3 Anna Kalinskaya*

The first night match on Rod Laver Arena is between 12th seed Qinwen Zheng – the only seed left on this half of the women’s draw – and the unseeded Russian Anna Kalinskaya.

It’s currently three games all in the first set.

Raducanu is the only qualifier ever to win a grand slam title but Yastremska increased her tally of wins in Melbourne to eight with a 6-3 6-4 victory on Rod Laver Arena.

The stories are not exactly comparable, given Yastremska was ranked 21 in the world as a 19-year-old before serving a six-month provisional suspension for a failed doping test, for which she was later deemed to bear no fault.

Ninth seed Hurkacz, who was looking to make the last four at a grand slam for only the second time, twice fought back from a set down but Medvedev came out on top 7-6 (4) 2-6 6-3 5-7 6-4 after three hours and 59 minutes.

The Russian finished it off with a drop shot before blowing kisses towards his box.

Good morning and welcome to live coverage of the Australian Open on the second quarter-final day at Melbourne Park!

Second seed Alcaraz stormed through his fourth-round match in straight-sets, while Zverev was pushed to a fifth-set tie-break against British No 1 Cameron Norrie before prevailing. They face each other in the second match of the night session, so can be expected around 10am (GMT).