Nine years on from winning her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2013 Australian Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships, arriving at this year’s first major without a personal coach has done little to dampen Aniek van Koot’s hopes of adding to her collection of Grand Slam titles.

World No. 3 Van Koot beat world No. 2 Yui Kamiji 7-5 7-5 to progress to Tuesday’s semi-finals at Melbourne Park, reversing the outcome of their semi-final earlier this week at the Melbourne Open and ensuring a last four meeting with world No. 4 Kgothatso Montjane.

“I was 4-0 up and I was doing all the things that I wanted to go and do,” Van Koot reflected as she looked back on a roller coaster first set again Kamiji, who had edged their most recent meeting 2-6 7-6(3) 7-6(4).

“Obviously last week we had a really tight match against each other. I was up 6-2, 4-2 but I couldn’t finish it, so today I got a little bit nervous when I was 4-0 up and it became 4-4, but I think I was a bit more calm than last week. And that’s what the advice was (from the coaches), too. To stop hiding and to have a swing at the ball no matter what the score was and that worked out pretty well.

“I quit with my coach later November, so I was a bit insecure coming here, so luckily we have Dennis (Sporrel), our national coach who is here, which is an absolute joy,” added Van Koot. “Me and Michel (Lentjes, former coach) ended on good terms, but it’s good to have a change sometimes.

“I have yet to appoint a new coach. I’m taking it day by day and this is just a huge win for me. I’m trying to improve every day. I know it sounds a cliché, but it’s actually true. I am improving every day. I’m making the hours, I’m putting the work in and I’m getting back the benefit from it.”

There was very nearly an all-Dutch semi-final and a fairy tale return to the Australian Open for two-time champion Jiske Griffioen as she began her first Grand Slam since 2017. However, 2021 Wimbledon finalist Montjane stayed the course after a fine first set to wrap up a 6-1 6-7(4) 7-5 victory in a little over two hours.

Zhenzhen Zhu hit the headlines in 2020 when she marked her Grand Slam debut by beating Diede de Groot in her opening match. However, there were conflicting fortunes for both players this year as Lucy Shuker produced a polished performance to reach her third Australian Open semi-final since 2013.

Shuker’s 6-2 6-2 win over Zhu was just her second in six career meetings between the Brit and the Chinese world No. 6 and world No. 9 Shuker will now come up against De Groot in the last four.

“I’m super happy,” said Shuker. “I just felt like I executed the game plan really well. I feel like I’ve been striking the ball really well out here and I think, fitness-wise, it shows the hard work I did through lockdown and ever since.

“I’m always the underdog. I’m a T4 para (paraplegic) and it’s incredibly hard to compete with the girls whose disability is more profound than mine. To get a win at the Grand Slams and get myself into the semis is just fantastic.”

For her part, De Groot maintained her fine start to 2022 as she gave Australian Open debutante Dana Mathewson little chance to build on their three-set round-robin contest at the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters, winning their latest head-to-head 6-2 6-1.  

Going into the first day of Dylan Alcott’s final Australian Open as a player, there was little chance that the seven-time quad singles champion’s quarter-final match against world No. 3 Niels Vink would pass quietly.

And so it proved as Vink pushed world No. 1 Alcott all the way in the first two sets, threatening to derail the Australian nation’s hopes of celebrating their hometown hero as an eight-time champion at the end of this week.

When Vink snatched the opening set on a tie-break the unthinkable became all-too much of possibility, but as the enthusiastic home crowd inside the Kia Arena cheered every Alcott winner in the second set, the top seed managed to find the crucial break that would force a final set.

As the set progressed an Alcott victory looked more and more likely and at 5-2 Vink called for the physio, hiding his emotions and his pain under a towel before revealing to the physio the extent of the pain he felt in his forearm.

Vink managed to compose himself enough to see out the match, but ultimately it was a 6-7(1) 6-4 6-2 Alcott victory that brought a thrilling day’s action to its conclusion.

Alcott will play another familiar opponent in the last four after Andy Lapthorne battled back from 5-3 down in the first set of his quarter-final against Grand Slam first-timer Donald Ramphadi, Lapthorne ultimately making his experience tell to prevail 7-5 6-3.  

While Vink’s not inconsiderable challenge may have ended in pain, as well as defeat, second seed Sam Schroder maintains the Dutch threat Alcott’s bid to retain his Australian Open title after defeating former champion David Wagner 6-1 6-3.

Schroder next meets Heath Davidson in Tuesday’s semi-finals, meaning that there is still the possibility of an all-Australian final after Davidson made a comfortable start with a 6-2 6-2 win over Koji Japan’s Sugeno.

Compared to the women’s singles and quad singles, the men’s quarter-finals arguably produced relatively fewer flashpoints as Shingo Kunieda, Tom Egberink, Alfie Hewett and Stephane Houdet advanced to the semi-finals in straight sets.

Ten-time champion Kunieda dethroned 2021 champion Joachim Gerard 6-4 6-2 as Gerard continues to try and recover his best form after being taken ill at the Tokyo Paralympics, while Egberink wasted little time in making a winning Australian Open debut with a 6-1 6-1 win over Australian wild card Ben Weekes that sets up a rematch of last September’s Tokyo final.

World No. 2 Hewett will play Houdet for a place in this year’s Australian Open final after last year’s runner-up defeated two-time champion Gustavo Fernandez 6-1 7-6(2). Houdet beat Gordon Reid 6-4 6-1 as 2016 champion Reid struggled to find his best form.