MELBOURNE, Australia -- The No. 1 seeds, Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber, are gone from this crazy, cathartic Australian Open, and so is No. 2 Novak Djokovic. Now, with the quarterfinals set, we rank the remaining 16 players (men and women combined) in terms of their chances to win the title (in descending order).
No. 16 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni: The 34-year-old Croatian went 19 years between victories here at the Australian Open, and now, after four in a row, she's into the quarters of a major for the first time in her career. "[Forget] everything and everybody who tells you that you can't do it," she told the crowd at Rod Laver Arena after her win Monday.
No. 15 Mischa Zverev: This wasn't the Zverev most people expected to advance to the last eight. That would be his brother, Alexander, who pushed Rafael Nadal to five sets. All Mischa did was knock off No. 1 Murray with some classic serves and volleys. Roger Federer will be a tough second act to follow.
No. 14 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: Very quietly, the 25-year-old Russian has now been to the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slams. She'll have to get by Venus Williams to take the next major step.
No. 13 David Goffin: The first Belgian man to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals defeated Dominic Thiem in four sets. Goffin, 26, has weathered all kinds of storms here, including ace machine Ivo Karlovic and the quirky veteran Radek Stepanek.
No. 12 Coco Vandeweghe: So far, the 25-year-old Californian has acted like she's been here before -- which she has, at Wimbledon in 2015. Coco stunned No. 1 Angelique Kerber but will be tested sorely by Garbine Muguruza.
No. 11 Grigor Dimitrov: "Baby Fed" got whacked in the first set against Djokovic-killer Denis Istomin, but pulled it together nicely by winning the second-set tiebreaker and watching Istomin crumble like a cookie. Dimitrov has Goffin in the quarters. They've met only once, with Dimitrov winning a four-set match at the 2014 US Open.
No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: The hair has grown out a bit, but Tsonga is playing some vintage tennis. The Frenchman is trying to return to the scene of his only Grand Slam final, achieved in 2008.
No. 9 Johanna Konta: If she weren't playing Serena in the quarters, Konta would be a lot higher on this list, perhaps even the favorite to win. But her reward for beating Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6-4 is a date with the 22-time Grand Slam champion. No one is hotter than Konta. The defending semifinalist here has won nine straight matches -- and 18 straight sets.
No. 8 Venus Williams: After sister Serena, she's got seven times as many Grand Slam singles titles as the rest of the women's quarterfinalists. The official count is 7-1, with Muguruza as the lone major champion.
No. 7 Garbine Muguruza: The Spaniard is typically hot and cold, but she's been torrid Down Under. Like Venus, Muguruza didn't drop a set in her first four matches.
No. 6 Rafael Nadal: Nadal is the only Grand Slam champion left in the bottom half of the men's draw, which has to count for something since he has 14 major trophies at home. He survived a five-set marathon with Alexander Zverev in the third round before an easier match against Gael Monfils. Nadal will have his hands full with Milos Raonic.
No. 5 Karolina Pliskova: The big server from the Czech Republic was extended to a 10-8 third set in the third round but settled down against the last Aussie in the draw, Daria Gavrilova, on Monday night. Pliskova has slugged 45 aces so far in this event, 14 more than the next WTA player on the list, Serena.
No. 4 Stan Wawrinka: He's got the head-to-head advantage over Tsonga and is comforted by the knowledge that he's a three-time Slam winner. Instead of Murray, it's the No. 4-ranked Swiss in the quarterfinals.
No. 3 Roger Federer: The numbers don't lie. It's 2017, and Federer has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles. He's the No. 17 seed -- the same as Pete Sampras was when he won his final major, the 2002 US Open. Make that 18 for Fed when Sunday night rolls around.
No. 2 Milos Raonic: With the surprise departure of Murray and Djokovic, Raonic is technically in line to win this thing. He's a huge server -- second in aces (93) among those still in the tournament -- on lightning-fast courts. Nadal leads the head-to-head 6-2, but the Canadian has won two of the past three.
No. 1 Serena Williams: Sure, she had her serve broken four times in the fourth round against Barbora Strycova, but Serena always managed to dig out of trouble. All told, she's got 22 major titles -- the rest of the remaining women's field has eight. Case closed.