The 2024 Australian Open marks the first time in nearly 12 years that the top 6 seeds have progressed to the quarterfinal.
It has been an enthralling tournament so far in Melbourne, and there have been many notable upsets at the opening Grand Slam of the season in the men's and women's draw.
On the men's side, Stefanos Tsitsipas exited to Taylor Fritz in the fourth round. Fritz is an excellent player, but the Greek seventh seed is the highest seed to exit. Eighth seed Holger Rune suffered a bigger shock in the second round to Arthur Cazaux.
On the women's side, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek was stunned by Linda Noskova in the third round, while last year's runner-up Elena Rybakina lost to Anna Blinkova, despite holding six match points, after one of the greatest tiebreaks ever.
However, the top-seeded men's players have managed to avoid suffering the fate of those players, as the latest statistic about the top 6 seeds at this year's Australian Open proves.
The top six seeds have all reached the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2012 French Open. Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev, and Alexander Zverev have achieved this.
At the 2012 French Open, the top six seeds who all reached the quarterfinals were Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and David Ferrer.
In addition, the 2024 Australian Open is the first time since the 2012 US Open that none of the players in the quarterfinals are seeded lower than 12th. Hubert Hurkacz is the ninth seed, and Taylor Fritz is the 12th seed.
The eight quarterfinalists at the 2012 US Open were Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Juan Martin Del Potro, Janko Tipsarevic, and Marin Cilic.
Those two feats are a testament to the growing consistency of the top players in men's tennis.
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