Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova will look to move one step closer to winning the first Grand Slam event of the year when they see action in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Australian Open on Monday night in Melbourne, Australia.

Nadal, who is slowly regaining the old form he lost after having a long layoff due to wrist injury and appendicitis late last year, will face seventh seed Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.

The Spanish tennis superstar, who has not won the tournament since winning his lone Australian Open title in 2008, is coming off an impressive 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 victory over 14th seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa.

Berdych, who is looking to make the semifinals of the event for the second consecutive year, has not dropped a set in the first four rounds, and defeated Bernard Tomic convincingly in the previous round.

Nadal will be favorite to win against Berdych, but the 14-time Grand Slam champion expects a tough match.

"He started the season great playing very well in Doha, and now he's here in quarterfinals," Nadal said of Berdych. "I don't know if he lost a set. I don't think so. He's playing great. Will be a very tough opponent."

Andy Murray will also see action in Day Nine of competition. The sixth-seeded Briton will collide with hometown bet Nick Kyrgios of Australia.

Murray, who has not won the tournament despite reaching the final three times in his career, is coming off a four-setter win over 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-5 in the fourth round.

On the other hand, 19-year-old Kyrgios booked a spot in the final eight with a victory against unseeded Andreas Seppi, the 30-year-old Italian who eliminated Roger Federer in the third round.

Kyrgios, who is looking to make his first Grand Slam semifinal stint, will be an underdog, but is expected to get a lot of backing from Australian fans at Rod Laver Arena.

On the women's side, second seed Maria Sharapova will face seventh seed Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, while third seed Simona Halep of Romania will collide with 10th seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia.

The Halep-Makarova showdown will be the first match at Rod Laver Arena and is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. EST, which will be followed by the Sharapova-Bouchard, Nadal-Berdych and Murray-Kyrgios matches respectively.

Fans can catch the quarterfinal matches on ESPN2 and through online live streaming via Australian Open Live and WatchESPN. Visit this link for complete 2015 Australian Open Day 9 schedule.

For the latest sports news, follow Latin Post Sports on Twitter.

FOR MORE AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2015 UPDATES, CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VISIT LATIN POST.COM'S SPORTS PAGE.

Related