Evonne Goolagong Cawley is commemorated on a major anniversary, while Jelena Dokic and Aryna Sabalenka use a couple of towels to do some good.

Here are five quick hits from day 12 at Melbourne Park.

1. A famous date

Before the women's semifinals on Thursday night, Tennis Australia made a special presentation to seven-time major winner Evonne Goolagong Cawley on centre court.

While celebrating the 50th anniversary of her first of four Australian Open titles, Todd Woodbridge also announced that going forward, the tournament's annual celebration of First Nations culture will be known as Evonne Goolagong Cawley Day. 

TA also announced a $100,000 donation "to deliver Indigenous programs and continue Evonne's outstanding lifelong work".

January 25 also marked 10 years to the day since China's first major singles champion, Li Na, won the Australian Open, with Qinwen Zheng becoming the second player from the country to reach a slam final on the same date.

2. Dokic and Sabalenka's touching gesture

Jelena Dokic was finally embraced by Australian fans during a thrilling run to the quarterfinals in Melbourne in 2009 after years away from the top flight and the Australian Open in particular.

As part of her return to the public spotlight, Dokic has spoken and written openly about the torment her father put her through over the years.

The Croatian-born former world number four has become a welcome presence as a broadcaster at the tournament, developing an easy rapport with many players in her on-court interviews.

During one of her most recent post-match chats with Aryna Sabalenka she joked the defending champion was taking too many towels and had to give Dokic at least one.

A day later she said she felt guilty for pressuring Sabalenka in that moment and returned the towel to court, asking the second seed to sign it so it could be auctioned off to raise money for survivors of domestic violence.

In addition to the original one, Sabalenka signed a second and gave them both to Dokic.

3. Nugs for breakfast after Zverev's late finish

Alexander Zverev spent 13 hours and 47 minutes on court through his opening five matches, then added three more hours in his quarterfinal against Carlos Alcaraz.

It could have been much shorter — well under two hours — if Zverev had closed it out while leading 5-2 in the third set, but alas, the sixth seed finally wrapped things up around 1:20am AEDT.

According to the Instagram account of Zverev's brother, Mischa, the team got back to their hotel about 3am and went out for a 40-piece of chicken nuggets an hour later.

It doesn't sound like the best diet for an elite athlete, but considering Alex's effort against Alcaraz, it's hard to argue.

4. Hunter becomes the hunted

After becoming the women's doubles world number one, Australian Storm Hunter is under pressure to perform, particularly at majors.