On Day Nine of the Australian Open, Ashleigh Barty continued her straight-sets dominance as she sets up a semi-final appearance at her home Grand Slam while Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kygrios are also through to a semi-final, that of the men's doubles.

In other Australian action, Dylan Alcott will contest the quad wheelchair singles final in his Australian Open farewell after a semi-final victory.

In other fixtures around Melbourne Park, both men's singles quarter-finals went to five sets with Rafael Nadal and Matteo Berrettini the victors from those two matches while Madison Keys looks a forceful opponent as she took down another seeded player.

AUSSIES IN ACTION - BARTY, SPECIAL K'S BOTH INTO SEMI-FINALS

Ash Barty is through to the semi-finals of the Australian Open after a straight sets win over American Jessica Pegula. The number one seed only gave up two games - both in the first set - on the way to a win that took just over an hour to complete.

Barty started the first set by serving and while Pegula got the scores to deuce twice the first game, Barty powered on and won the game, and broke the American to lead two-nil after the second game.

Pegula then kept her serve and got on the board in the third game, and again in the fifth game, however, that would be all for the 21st seed as Barty won the next five games - sealing the eighth game, and set with an ace.

The first game of the second set was taken to deuce three times but the Australian won the game with a forehand winner and took that momentum through to the remainder of the set, winning all six games in a row and giving up a slim number of points to her opponent.

Barty now faces another American opponent in her semi-final matchup, coming up against Madison Keys on Thursday.

The dream run from Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kygrios continues in the men's doubles, the wildcard pairing dispatching the sixth seeds, Germany's Tim Pütz and New Zealand's Michael Venus in the quarter-final.

The two sides couldn't be split across the first 10 games of the first set as neither partnership gave up too many points, such was the power of their own service games, and serving in general. Although, with the scores tied at five games apiece, the Australians claimed a crucial break and then held serve to take the first set of the match.

The German/New Zealander duo won the first three games of the second set, breaking their Australian opponents in the second game, however, the hometown heroes would ensure it wouldn't happen again, winning the fourth game without giving up an opposing point.

From there, each team won two service games each, meaning Venus was serving for the set and despite the Australians being up three break points, they then lost the next five points due to unforced errors, allowing Pütz and Venus to even the ledger at one-all heading into the final set.

In the decisive set, Kokkinakis and Kygrios broke Venus' serve in the fourth game and would lead five games to two following a seventh game that went to deuce on three occasions. Pütz was able to fight back a game, but with Kygrios serving for the match, the Australians found a way to win with ease and advance to the semi-finals.

Dylan Alcott beat Great Britain's Andy Lapthorne in straight sets in his quad wheelchair singles semi-final, despite some early resistance from his opponent.

The number one seed, Alcott was pressed late in the first set despite being up five games to two as Lapthorne won the next game, saving a set point. Even while serving for the first set, Lapthorne had two break points but to Alcott's credit, he fought back and saved another break point when Lapthorne had an advantage, to force some errors, and eventually claim the set.

From there, the second set went by with relative ease for Alcott, who didn't give up a single game on his way towards celebrating the victory, even though some early games went to deuce, and the sixth game went to deuce three times, showcasing both Lapthorne's ability to not give up, but also Alcott's resilience to overcome his opponent.

Alcott will meet second seed, the Netherlands' Sam Schroder in the quad wheelchair singles final on Wednesday in what will bethe recently-announced 2022 Australian of the Year's last appearance at the Australian Open. Schroder was the last person to beat Alcott in a singles match, back at the 2020 US Open, in the semi-final.

Elsewhere, for the Australians, John Peers and his men's doubles partner, Serbia's Filip Polasek went down in two sets - including a first set tiebreak as the pairing of Spain's Marcel Granollers and Uruguay's Haracio Zeballos were stronger on the first serve, and didn't commit as many double faults as their Australian opponents.

John Peers was able to get a win today though as he and mixed doubles partner, China's Zhang Shuai beat Japanese pair Ena Shihabara and Ben McLachlan in straight sets. Peers and Zhang totalled more aces than their opponents as they capitalised on the first serves, winning over 80 per cent of first serve points.

Wildcard pairing Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler prevailed in their mixed doubles match against India's Sania Mirza and the USA's Rajeev Ram in straight sets, needing a tiebreak to decide the second set. While the Mirza/Ram duo were better with the first serves, Fourlis and Kubler won the necessary break points when needed, which decided the match.

Heath Davidson fell to second seed Sam Schroder in their quad wheelchair singles quarter-final, the Dutchman too good, and winning in straight sets. While Schroder had the greater unforced errors, he was dominant at his service game, and in winning points when receiving, that helped him to the victory.

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AROUND MELBOURNE PARK - MEN'S QUARTERS GO THE DISTANCE, MADISON HOLDS THE KEYS

Hoping to become first Italian to make the final four at the Australian Open, Matteo Berrettini was made to earn the feat, forced to fight every step along the way for his eventual win over Frenchman Gaël Monfils in a five set thriller on Rod Laver Arena in the final match of Day Nine.

To begin the first set, Monfils and Berrettini held strong in their respective service games, until the Italian broke the Frenchman's serve in the fifth game, creating a slight buffer as he'd also win his own service game following that.

Monfils attempted to claw back and won two of the next three games but the degree of serve speed from Berrettini was too much for Monfils, with Berrettini taking out the first set despite some late resistance from Monfils who got it to duece twice.

The first game of the second set lasted a touch over six minutes as Berrettini couldn't convert a break point, with the game heading to deuce four times as Monfils utilised his ace-hitting ability to get himself out of a jam and win the first game. That game though, paled in comparison to the fourth game which lasted more than 20 minutes as the back-and-forth rallies and points mounted with 10 instances of deuce - the game eventually won by Berrettini.

Berrettini gained a crucial break in the seventh game and held serve in the eighth, and while Monfils won a straight-forward ninth, the Italian forced his opponent into a series of errors, culminating in taking the set.

In the third set, there was more tales of long rallies, long games and moments of deuce, where Monfils claimed the set, assisted by breaking Berrettini in the sixth game due to a double fault. It remained a similar story even throughout the fourth set, with Monfils able to break Berrettini's serve on two occasions and take the set in similiar fashion to before, tying up the match at two sets apiece.

In the decisive fifth set, it was all Berrettini, starting with being successful in converting a break point from the first game, and using that to his advantage as he went up four games to zero. Monfils won two of the next three games but the margin proved too extreme as the Italian served for the match, and while the Frenchman tried to reduce the 40-0 lead to 40-30, an unforced error handed Berrettini the match.

Should Jannik Sinner also progress tomorrow evening, it would be just the second time that multiple Italian men have reached the semi-finals at the same Grand Slam - the last time was in 1960 at Roland Garros. It's never been achieved in the Open Era.

The quest for a 21st Slam title continues, as Rafael Nadal survived a five set epic against Canadian DenisShapovalov. It's just as well the schedule was changed this year for both semi-finals to be played on Friday, as Nadal is going to need every extra hour to recover from the gruelling contest.

Nadal dominated the opening set of this quarter-final match-up, the Spaniard did not face a break point, while converting his own to break Shapovalov in the first.

While Nadal took the second, Shapovalov started to make inroads on his return games, pushing the number six seed into longer rallies and putting more pressure on his serve.

The Canadian found more confidence and consistency in his serve, and turned things around in the third set. While it took until the 10th game, Shapovalov eventually broke Nadal and kept his dream alive.

Shapovalov was only going up from there, he ran away with the fourth set as Nadal looked for treatment from the physio and tablets for a stomach issue.

It was vintage Nadal in the deciding set, as he found another gear to get over the line and out of the heat.

Madison Keys has won her way to the Australian Open semi-finals, equaling her best result at the first Grand Slam of the year from 2015.

One of the Keys to that victory may have been her preseason training in Orlando, which prepared her nicely for the heat out on Rod Laver Arena today.

Fourth seed BarboraKrejčíková was visibly struggling in the scorching conditions and, after Keys served her way to securing the first set,Krejčíková dropped her opening two service games in the second.

It was one way traffic in the second set, as Keys ran away with the win, her 11th for the year.

In just one month of tennis she has equalled her number of wins from 2021. After a challenging year, it seems the American is back in form, finding the fun in tennis again, and ready to contest the semi-final against World Number One Barty.

Second seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shihabara continued their dominance of their section of the women's doubles draw, with another straight sets, convincing victory over American Shelby Rogers and Croatian partner Petra Martić.

The Japanese pair will now face Kazakhstan's Anna Danilina and Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, who today defeated Rebecca Peterson of Sweden and Anastasia Potapova of Russia. It was a competitive clash between the two unseeded pairings, however the serving fromDanilina and Haddad Maia was superior and got the job done.

While their opponents served six double faults,Danilina and Haddad Maia made 77 per cent of first serves and made just two double faults.

In mixed doubles action, CzechLucie Hradecká and Ecuadorian Gonzalo Escobar won through to the semi-finals with a straight sets victory over Japanese-Pakistani pairingMakoto Ninomiya and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.

While it was hard to split the teams, late breaks in both sets to Hradecká and Escobar secured the 7-5 7-5 victory. They now face Aussie duo Fourlis and Kubler.

Fifth seeds France's Kristina Mladenovic and Croatian Ivan Dodig had a cruisey ride into the semi-finals with a straight sets victory over New ZealandersMichael Venus and Erin Routliffe. They now face second seeds Zhang and Peers.

Winning 80 per cent of first serve points, Mladenovic and Dodig were able to hold serve quickly and comfortably before putting the pressure on Routliffe and Venus on the return games. Converting three out of four break point opportunities, while only allowing two unsuccessful chances on their own service games, was crucial to the win.

It was the second loss for Venus for the day, after his earlier men's doubles defeat to Kokkinakis and Kyrgios.