Petra Kvitova v Ashleigh Barty: Australian Open quarter-finals – live!

The evening session was due to start at 7pm local/8am GMT, but the day session went on a bit late, hence the slight delay. Something should actually happen shortly.

Pat Cash is working for Eurosport, who unconventionally are doing without a studio and just chatting in the middle of a crowd outside the Rod Laver Arena. Here’s what he’s got to say about the sense of excitement in Australia for this match:

It’s been a long time since we could legitimately get excited about a player and get to a final, but I think she can do it, I really can. But also, her personality – people love her. After the controversy of the men’s players, to see a player like this, it’s just a really great story of someone who is doing great. That’s what you want, a great story.

Collins will play the winner of the Kvitova v Barty match in the semi-finals. She has a brief chat on-court:

My first time playing on Rod Laver, and I didn’t even practice on here before, so this was quite the experience. All the Australian fans have really made me at home here, it’s just an incredible atmosphere here.

And Collins wins! Although Pavlyuchenkova redoubles her efforts in the final minutes to make it a bit of a fight at the end, Collins takes it 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.

On the Rod Laver Arena at the moment, Danielle Collins is smashing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Having lost the first set 2-6, she’s now 5-0 up in the third. Collins is 25, the world No35, and before this tournament had never won a Grand Slam match in five attempts over three years.

Hello world!

For the first time in a decade there is an Australian woman in the second week of the singles at the Australian Open. Ashleigh Barty, the 22-year-old from Ipswich, Queensland, is in her first Grand Slam quarter-final, having only once previously made it past the round of 32. She faces Petra Kvitova, veteran of five Grand Slam semi-finals, 10 quarter-finals, winner of two Wimbledon titles, and winner also of the only three previous matches between these two players.

These matches have, though, been increasingly close. After a humdrum 6-1, 6-2 Kvitova victory in the 2012 French Open they would not meet again for five years, until Kvitova came through a three-setter at Edgbaston in 2017. Then just over a week ago they played an absolute snorter in the final of the Sydney International, Barty storming through the first set before losing the next two on the slenderest of margins. “One day,” Kvitova said at the end, “you’re going to make it for sure.” Is this going to be that day?

This would probably be a good place for a match report from Sydney:

And here’s Kevin Mitchell’s take on Barty’s victory over Maria Sharapova in the last round:

“I know that I have to go out there and try and be as brave as possible,” Barty said of this match. “If I get my opportunities, they’ll be few and far between so I know I have to take them with both hands and try and really get stuck into her service games.”

It’s bold talk. On this stage, under this pressure, with all this attention, in the biggest match of her career, can Barty blossom? She has already proven that she can trouble Kvitova; now she only has to beat her. Welcome, one and all. Let’s see how she goes, shall we?