Novak Djokovic set up a blockbuster clash with Carlos Alcaraz in the Australian Open quarter-finals after he defeated Czech 24th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 on Sunday.
After a challenging start, Djokovic upped his game in his pursuit of a record 25th Grand Slam crown and 11th at Melbourne Park.
"Thank you very much for being here tonight. I appreciate your presence and the support. I'll see you in the next round. Thank you very much," Djokovic said in a short post-match speech.
A solitary break in the eighth game was all Djokovic needed to take the opening set. The 37-year-old Serb looked in total control despite playing well within himself at a packed Rod Laver Arena.
Seventh seed Djokovic attacked Lehecka's serve early in the next set and doubled his advantage in the match as the Czech, 23, was left with a mountain to climb.
A rejuvenated Lehecka recovered after dropping serve again and stayed in the fight to frustrate Djokovic in the third set, but there was only going to be one winner when the Serb went ahead 4-2 in the tiebreak.
Djokovic comfortably closed out the win to equal his now retired rival Roger Federer's all-time record of 15 appearances in the last-eight stage of the Melbourne Park major.
After the match, Djokovic revealed the reason for his tense on-court behaviour where he refused to speak to the host broadcaster at length.
The Serbian took aim at official broadcaster Channel Nine, whose reporter Tony Jones had mocked him and his fans when they were cheering two days earlier.
"Novak he's over-rated, Novak's a has-been. Novak kick him out. Oh, I'm glad they can't hear me," Jones had said.
Jones had already been taken to task by American Danielle Collins, who he called a "brat" for her on-court behaviour.
Djokovic said he had not received a public apology from the broadcaster and would continue boycotting them until he does.
"Since they're official broadcasters, I chose not to give interviews for Channel Nine," Djokovic said, adding he had made his feelings clear to tournament director Craig Tiley.
"I told him, 'If you guys want to fine me for not giving an on-court interview, that's okay'. I'll accept that, because this is something that needs to be done. That's all there is to it."
His next opponent Alcaraz reached his second Australian Open quarter-final after injury-hampered opponent Jack Draper retired while trailing 7-5, 6-1.
Third seed Alcaraz was well on top in the afternoon match at Rod Laver Arena when Briton Draper decided he could not continue with the troublesome hip he had managed through three five-set matches at the tournament.
"This is not the way that I want to get through to the next round. I'm just happy to play another quarter-final here in Australia," Alcaraz said on court.
"But really sorry for Jack. He doesn't deserve to get injured."
It was the second time Draper had retired injured against Alcaraz, having cut short their 2023 match at Indian Wells due to an abdominal strain.
Draper said he felt his hip worsen after the third game and worried the injury was like a "ticking time-bomb".
"I just need to be sensible because there is no escape from it, especially here or whatever, you know, the tennis schedule is so tight," he said.
Meanwhile, Coco Gauff said she felt "invincible" after the recent United Cup and is not fazed about dropping her first set in nine matches this season in reaching the quarter-finals of the women's draw.
The American world number three beat Switzerland's Belinda Bencic 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 to set up a clash with 11th seed Paula Badosa of Spain.
"Two out of three sets at this stage of my career is not that physically hard for me," said the 20-year-old Gauff, who is chasing a first Melbourne title.
"The off-season I just put in so much work physically so I'm not worried at all about recovering emotionally or mentally," added Gauff, who won all five of her singles in Perth and Sydney to lead the US to a United Cup team triumph.
"The United Cup was a little bit more exhausting because of the fact that I finished at 1am one night, then had to fly across the country and play. That was more of the mental, emotional test.
"Honestly, I feel like after playing that whole United Cup, I felt pretty invincible."
Also, world No1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Double defending champion Sabalenka blew away Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva 6-1, 6-2 in a ruthless display on the hottest day of the tournament so far.
Sabalenka and Gauff will meet in the semi-finals should they win their respective matches in the last eight.
Belarus' Sabalenka was out on a roasting centre court for only 62 minutes before registering an 18th consecutive win at Melbourne Park.
"I'm super happy to get through this difficult match in straight sets," said Sabalenka, who faces Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova next.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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