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Melbourne - Kevin Anderson's impressive singles run at the Australian Open was halted by fifth seed Tomas Berdych in the fourth round of the Grand Slam tennis tournament on Sunday.
The South African put up a brave fight, taking the third set to a tie-break, but Berdych held on to win 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (15/13) and reach the quarter-finals.
The Czech player is ranked 25 places higher than the South African by the ATP.
Anderson had progressed beyond the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time with a gutsy performance against Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
The South African men's No 1 twice fought back from a set down to beat Verdasco, the former world No 7, 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 in the third round.
He held his nerve against Italian Paulo Lorenzi, securing a 3-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in the first round, and bagged a 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 straight sets win over Russian Andrey Kuznetsov in round two.
Anderson is still involved in the tournament though: he and Israeli partner Jonathan Erlich will face the Dutch pairing of Robin Haase and Igor Sijsling in the third round of the men's doubles competition on Monday.
Another South African Natalie Grandin, and Valdimira Uhlirova of the Czech Republic, will square up against the Australian duo of Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua in the third round of the women's doubles.
Earlier in the week, Chanelle Scheepers, the only other South African in the main singles draw for the tournament, went down 1-6, 2-6 against Czech world No 22 Klara Zakopalova in the opening round of the women's singles.
Scheepers and American partner Jill Craybas were knocked out by Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in straight sets in the second round of the women's doubles.
Grandin and American Rajeev Ram lost in straight sets to Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova and Italian Fabio Fognini in the first round of the mixed doubles.
Latest results from day seven of the Australian Open on Sunday:
Women's singles
Fourth round
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS x19) bt Angelique Kerber (GER x5) 7-5, 6-4
Maria Sharapova (RUS x2) bt Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 6-1, 6-0
Li Na (CHN x6) bt Julia Goerges (GER x18) 7-6 (8/6), 6-1
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x4) bt Ana Ivanovic (SRB x13) 6-2, 6-4
Men's singles
Fourth round
David Ferrer (ESP x4) bt Kei Nishikori (JPN x16) 6-2, 6-1, 6-4
Nicolas Almagro (ESP x10) bt Janko Tipsarevic (SRB x8) 6-2, 5-1 ret
Tomas Berdych (CZE x5) bt Kevin Anderson (RSA) 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (15/13)
