A quick look at the Australian Open:

LOOKAHEAD TO SUNDAY

Ash Barty was on and off the court quickly in her third-round match, a straight-sets win that left her most of the rest of the day to do whatever she pleased. If she chose to watch any tennis on TV, it would have been interesting viewing.

Serena Williams and Australian Open defending champion Naomi Osaka were both beaten in her half of the draw. She couldn't have met either until the semifinals, but their departures, along with Caroline Wozniacki, certainly improved Barty's chances of becoming the first Australian women's champion here since Chris O'Neil in 1978.

Those results left these fourth-round matchups: Wang Qiang, who upset Williams, plays Ons Jabeur, who beat Wozniacki; 15-year-old Coco Gauff, who beat Osaka, plays fellow American Sofia Kenin; two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova takes on Maria Sakkari and Barty plays Alison Riske.

Barty and Riske have only met once before, when the American won their fourth-round match at Wimbledon last year. For Barty, that loss came only a month after she won her first major title at the French Open.

"For me, it was the end of a long trip," Barty said. "I felt like I was pretty tired. It had been a massive few months away from home."

In the men's fourth-round matches, Roger Federer plays Marton Fucsovics two days after his great escape against Aussie John Millman. Federer won six straight points from 8-4 in a fifth-set super tiebreaker to eke out the win in what he called an "epic" match. Defending champion Novak Djokovic plays Diego Schwartzman, Tennys Sandgren takes on Fabio Fognini and, in a contest between big servers, Milos Raonic plays Marin Cilic.

"I think we're both going to be trying to move the other guy around, be the one dictating," Raonic said. "It's going to be important for me to get ahead early in the points, take care of my serve, and be the aggressor."

SUNDAY'S FORECAST

Partly cloudy, high of 27 Celsius (81 Fahrenheit).

SATURDAY'S WEATHER

Sunny and high of 27 C ( 81F).

SATURDAY'S KEY RESULTS

Men's third round: No. 1 Rafael Nadal beat No. 27 Pablo Carreno Busta; No. 5 Dominic Thiem beat No. 29 Taylor Fritz 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4 ; No. 10 Gael Monfils beat Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-3; No. 17 Andrey Rublev beat No. 11 David Goffin 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Women's third round: No. 4 Simona Halep beat Yulina Putintseva 6-1, 6-4; No. 28 Anett Kontaveit beat No. 6 Belinda Bencic 6-0, 6-1; No. 30 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat No. 2 Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3); No. 17 Angelique Kerber beat Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3; No. 16 Elise Mertens beat CiCi Bellis 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-0; Iga Swiatek beat No. 19 Donna Vekic 7-5, 6-3.

STAT OF THE DAY: 15: Winning streak for No. 17 Andrey Rublev after finishing the Davis Cup 4-0 last November, winning titles at Doha and Adelaide this month and now reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I think I was a little bit — how you say — overwhelmed." — Belinda Bencic after winning just one game in her loss to Anett Kontaveit.

Rafael Nadal feels good about his tennis as the Australian Open heads to Week 2.

"I needed to improve," he said, "and I improved."

This assessment arrived after Nadal needed less than 100 minutes to move a step closer to a record-tying 20th Grand Slam title with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory over 27th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta in the third round Saturday.

"When he plays that comfortably," Carreno Busta said, "there's nothing you can do."

Nadal's down-the-line lefty forehand was perfectly on-target and "impossible to read," Carreno Busta explained.

"Starting," Nadal said, "to create damage."

Nadal's serving was close to impeccable.

"Good news," Nadal said.

There was a lot of that for him.

He won 52 of 62 points on his serve.

He never offered his opponent a break chance.

He finished with a total of merely seven unforced errors among the match's 125 total points -- and six times as many winners, 42.

"My best match of the tournament so far, without a doubt," Nadal said. "Big difference between today and the previous days."

Against "this Rafa," Carreno Busta said, "you feel a little powerless."

And to think: Nadal did this after staying up late enough to watch on TV as the man he's chasing in the Grand Slam count, Roger Federer, was pushed to a fifth-set tiebreaker before getting through to the fourth round at nearly 1 a.m.

That was part of a chaotic Day 5 -- including losses by Serena Williams and reigning champion Naomi Osaka, who was ousted by 15-year-old sensation Coco Gauff -- and the trend continued on Day 6 on the women's side.

No. 2 Karolina Pliskova and No. 6 Belinda Bencic both exited, meaning eight of the top 13 seeds already are gone.

Pliskova, the 2016 U.S. Open runner-up, lost 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) to 30th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, while Bencic, a semifinalist at Flushing Meadows last September, offered little pushback while being defeated 6-0, 6-1 in 49 minutes by 28th-seeded Anett Kontaveit.

Kontaveit now meets 18-year-old Iga Swiatek, who is ranked 59th and eliminated No. 19 seed Donna Vekic 7-5, 6-3.

"At this level, everything can happen," two-time major champion Simona Halep said about all of the surprises, "so that's why sometimes I'm a little bit stressed."

Halep, who is seeded fourth, stuck around by beating Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 6-4, and next plays No. 16 Elise Mertens, who ended the Grand Slam return of 20-year-old American CiCi Bellis 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-0.

Nadal won the Australian Open back in 2009 and has been the runner-up four times since, including a year ago against Novak Djokovic.

It's Nadal's least successful major tournament: The 33-year-old Spaniard owns 12 trophies from the French Open, four from the U.S. Open and two from Wimbledon.

He's said he is not focused on whether he gets to No. 20 by the end of these two weeks -- or where he ends up in the final count in comparison to Federer or Djokovic, who is third on the list with 16 at the moment.

Likewise, Federer says he figures he knows both of those rivals will overtake him in the Slam standings at some point.

For now, Nadal is tracking his progress on a match-by-match basis.

And for one warm, sunny afternoon in Rod Laver Arena, at least, he was pleased.

Next up could be more of a test: Nadal will take on No. 16 Karen Khachanov or No. 23 Nick Kyrgios, who were facing each other in the third round on Saturday night.

No. 17 Andrey Rublev stretched his winning streak to 15 matches, including 11-0 in 2020, by coming back to defeat No. 11 David Goffin 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Advancing to a matchup with a quarterfinal berth at stake were No. 5 Dominic Thiem and No. 10 Gael Monfils.

Thiem, twice a runner-up to Nadal at Roland Garros, eliminated No. 29 Taylor Fritz of the U.S. 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4, and Monfils beat qualifier Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-3.

"Such a great, entertaining player," Thiem said about Monfils. "It's nice to see his show."

Bangladeshi Grand Master (GM) Ziaur Rahman earned 6 points after 9th round games of the 12th Chennai Open International Grandmasters Chess Tournament in the Indian city Chennai on Friday.

Other Bangladeshi Chess players Tahsin Tajwar Zia and Md Jishan Rahman Maleq earned 4.5 and 3.4 points respectively, said Bangladesh Chess Federation (BCF) in a press release.  

In 9th round games, GM Zia beat Sa Kannan of India, Tahsin beat Keerthana B of India and Maleq beat Rosewe M of India.

Bangladesh’s premier Archer Mohammed Ruman Shana clinched the KOOL-BSPA Best Player of the Year’2019 award as he was selected the best sportsman of the year in 2019 for winning three gold medals in 13th South Asian Games in Nepal in December and for securing a spot for the Tokyo Olympics’2020 from the World Archery Championship in the Netherlands in June.

The archer also clinched the KOOL-BSPA Popular Choice’2019 and the Best Archer of the Year’2019 awards.  

Bangladesh Sports Press Association (BSPA) handed over the awards to Shana in a program held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon on Friday. Managing Director of Square Toiletries Ltd Anjan Chowdhury and President of International Sports Press Association (AIPS), Asia Sattam Alsaheli were present on the occasion as the ‘Guests of Honor’.

Shana was nominated for the best player award along with cricket all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and national football team captain Jamal Bhuiyan. All three star athletes – Ruman, Shakib and Jamal -- were also nominated for the popular choice award along with South Asian Games gold medalists -- karate player Marzan Akter Priya, weightlifter Mabia Akhter Simanta and fencer Fatima Mujib.

Other awards:

Best Cricket of the Year 2019: Shakib Al Hasan

Best Footballer of the Year 2019: Jamal Bhuiyan

Best Coach: Martin Frederick, Head Coach of Bangladesh archery

Best Weightlifter of the Year 2019: Mabia Akhter Simanta

Best Karate Player of the Year 2019: Humayra Akter Antara

Best Fencer of the Year 2019: Fatima Mujib

Best Taekwondo of the Year 2019: Dipu Chakma

Promising Athlete:  Eti Khatun (Archery)

Best Sports Organizer of the Year 2019: Kazi Rajib Uddin Ahmed Chapal, General Secretary of Bangladesh Archery Federation.

Grassroots Level Sports Personalities of the Year: Athletics coach Rafiqullah Akhter Milon of  Noakhali and football coach Tajul Islam of Thakurgaon.  

Best Sponsors of the Year 2019: City Group.

Special Honour: Former Kabaddi player Abdul Jalil.

Organizers of the Tokyo Olympic Games said on Friday that they are excited and happy with the preparation for the Games with the opening ceremony only six months away.

"As the Games draw closer, excitement is building throughout the city," said Tokyo 2020 in a press release.

"With the Olympic year finally here, everything is coming together," said Tokyo 2020 spokesperson Masa Takaya. "We've spent the last seven years working toward this, and now with just six months to go.

"We're excited to see the pieces falling into place. From venues to volunteers to ticketing, preparations are exactly where we want them to be at the six-month mark."

The committee said that all 43 venues - eight new permanent venues, 25 existing sites and 10 temporary venues - are complete except for the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, which will be ready in February.

It was revealed that at the close of the second phase of ticket sales, a total of 4.48 million tickets had been purchased by the general public in Japan.

There will be one final round of sales worldwide on a first-come, first-served basis, to take place this spring.

It said that people living outside of Japan are able to purchase tickets through Authorised Ticket Resellers (ATRs) in their home countries.

Approximately 80,000 people in Japan and overseas have been initially selected from 204,680 applicants to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Volunteer Program, and trainings have begun throughout Japan.

Tokyo 2020 said that they have done exceptionally well commercially.

"The total number of Tokyo 2020 Olympic domestic partners has reached 65, including 15 Gold Partners, 32 Official Partners and 19 Official Supporters, in addition to the 14 Worldwide Olympic Partners.

"Four companies are acting as Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay Presenting Partners, the highest number ever."

The Olympic Games will be held from July 24 to August 9.