Venus advances to first Slam QF since 2010, more big winners on Day 8

MELBOURNE -- Catch up on all of the action from the Australian Open on Monday that you may have missed while you were sleeping: Venus Williams advances to her

MELBOURNE -- Catch up on all of the action from the Australian Open on Monday that you may have missed while you were sleeping:

Venus Williams advances to her first Slam quarterfinal since 2010

Venus showed patience and resilience to rally from a break down in the final set to beat No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 2-6, 6-1. The 34-year-old reeled off six straight games to win the match and move her record on the season to 9-0. 

Venus had a veteran's reaction to the win: "I'm just really focused and poised right now. I feel like I've been here before, so it's not like I'm jumping up and down for joy, Oh, shoot, what is this? I've never done this. Yes, I've done this. This is what I'm always going into each tournament thinking I want to do, even when I fall short. It's definitely not the first time. I guess that's how I feel."

Madison Keys dominates Madison Brengle

​The younger Madison won the day with a dominant performance from the baseline, hitting 38 winners to Brengle's three and firing six aces along with it.

12 things you should know about 19-year-old American Madison Keys

​Coming off her big win over No. 4 Petra Kvitova in the third round, the big question mark for Keys was whether she could deal with the pressure of being a favorite despite playing a player who had the precise type of game that could disrupt her. Keys put those questions to rest in one single swing of the racket, smacking an inside-out backhand return winner on the very first point. 

The win puts Keys into the first Slam quarterfinal of her career and she'll face Venus. The narrative there is an obvious one: It was seeing Venus in a beautiful Wimbledon dress when she was four years old that got Keys into tennis. Now they face off for a spot in the semifinals on Wednesday. 

Serena Williams rallies to beat Garbine Muguruza

It was looking like deja vu for about an hour. Muguruza, the talented young Spaniard who ousted Serena from the French Open last year, played a near-perfect set of tennis to roll to a 6-2 opening set before Serena reeled her back, raised her level and played her best tennis of the tournament so far. Serena would go on to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 with the help of 17 aces and 41 winners. This was the match Serena needed to find her best tennis. She'll play Cibulkova in the quarterfinals.

Dominika Cibulkova upends Victoria Azarenka 

American women, Azarenka, Smyczek lead 2015 AusOpen midterm grades

In the best women's match of the tournament so far, last year's finalist stepped up to beat the two-time champion 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Cibulkova fired 44 winners to 29 unforced errors and when the match got tight she was the one who stepped up to hit big. "She really went for her shots today and was very fearless throughout whole match," Azarenka said. "She's the type of player that sometimes she gets in that groove and it's a little bit difficult to break that rhythm. But I think I still had my opportunities, and I wasn't present enough today, and she was there. She jumped on those opportunities and really took control of that."

Said Cibulkova: "Today I was not thinking about the score, I was just going for it. When I was up I was going for it even more."

​Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic win

No. 5 Nishikori had the most dominant win of the day, beating No. 9 David Ferrer 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to advance to match his career-best performance at Melbourne Park and make the quarterfinals. He'll play No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, who was made to work harder than he would have liked to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6. One thing to keep an eye on as Wawrinka progresses: he appears to be nursing a right arm injury that's impacting his serve. 

Raonic finally lost a set -- two, actually -- but steadied himself to beat No. 12 Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to become the first Canadian man to advance to the Australian Open quarterfinals since 1968. 

Novak Djokovic into quarterfinals without dropping a set

For the eighth time in his career and third time in Melbourne, Djokovic reached the quarterfinals of the tournament without dropping a set. He beat Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-5, 7-6, on Monday night to earn a matchup against Raonic. 

Photo of the day

Patrick Scala/Getty Images

Video of the day

The art of the racket smash:

[tweet=https://twitter.com/ESPNTennis/status/559664346242879490]

Vine of the day

Serena as a linebacker? That we'd love to see:

Quote of the day

Here's Serena, who was asked what positions different tennis players would play on the field:

"Genie would be a good cornerback. Maria, I'm not sure. I don't know. Maybe she's a good cornerback as well because she'd be able to be out in the field, produce some blocks. It would be fun. We should all get together and play."

Tweets of the day

[tweet=https://twitter.com/serenawilliams/status/559681311229505536]

[tweet=https://twitter.com/AustralianOpen/status/559661325362552834]

[tweet=https://twitter.com/ESPNTennis/status/559632229341478915]

[tweet=https://twitter.com/TKokkinakis/status/559551449730785281]

[tweet=https://twitter.com/FortyDeuceTwits/status/559628140180275200]