Venus Williams has the chance to be the first woman through to the Australian Open semi-finals when she clashes with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The 36-year-old opens proceedings on Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday and will be confident of beating the 24th seed, having not lost a set in four previous encounters.

A win would be her 50th at the Australian Open in 17 visits to Melbourne.

It would also pave the way for an all-American semi-final, with hot-shot Coco Vanderweghe taking on Spaniard Garbine Muguruza.

Vanderweghe stunned world No.1 Angelique Kerber on Sunday night with her heavy baseline play.

Both Vanderweghe and Muguruza, the seventh seed, are enjoying their best runs at Melbourne Park.

The women’s quarter-finals give way to the men’s action, with two Swiss men favourites to reach the last four.

Roger Federer plays unlikely hero Mischa Zverev in the night session, with countryman Stan Wawrinka playing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the late afternoon.

On paper, Federer’s route to the last four is as easy as he could have hoped for, given he faces the world No.50.

But as Zverev showed in his dismissal of top seed Andy Murray, his serve-volley game is not to be underestimated.

The four singles quarter-finals are all on Rod Laver Arena.

Capping off the night is all-Australian doubles pair Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua, who take on top doubles seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic for a place in the semi-finals.