MELBOURNE: Top seed Iga Swiatek was bundled out of the Australian Open fourth round on Sunday, with title threat Coco Gauff also exiting in tears, as a pair of underestimated Grand Slam champions tore open the women’s draw.
Third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas avoided a similar fate on the men’s side later in the day, raising his level when needed to claim a thrilling 6-4 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 win over Italian Jannik Sinner and keep his dreams of a maiden Grand Slam title alive.
“It was a long match. I feel like I’ve spent a century on this court,” Tsitsipas said of the match, which lasted just over four hours. “It was a ripper, as they say here. I can feel my face burning from the effort today.”
World number one Swiatek was sent packing by Elena Rybakina in the early match at Rod Laver Arena, the Pole falling 6-4 6-4 to the Kazak Wimbledon winner who started her tournament in the Melbourne Park wilderness of Court 13.
FORGOTTEN OSTAPENKO
Rybakina, the 22nd seed, might have expected to face Gauff in the quarter-finals but the much-hyped American teenager was upset 7-5 6-3 by Jelena Ostapenko, the forgotten Grand Slam winner of women’s tennis.
The 2017 French Open champion thrashed 30 winners past Gauff on Margaret Court Arena, her last two sealing the match in style to leave the 18-year-old in tears at her post-match media conference.
“I feel like it was rough,” Gauff told reporters, before breaking down with emotion. “When you play a player like her and she plays really well, it’s like, you know, there’s nothing you can do.”
The win secured a first Australian Open quarter-final for hard-hitting Ostapenko, as well as the first at a Grand Slam since her run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2018.
KORDA DELIVERS
While Lehecka was a bolt from the blue, big things have been expected of Sebastian Korda for some time and the young American is finally delivering on expectations at Melbourne Park.
He took another step towards emulating his Australian Open-winning father Petr by booking his first Grand Slam quarter-final with a see-sawing 3-6 6-3 6-2 1-6 7-6 (10-7) win over Hubert Hurkacz at Rod Laver Arena.
Korda, whose father won the 1998 title under the Czech flag, showed impressive composure as Polish 10th seed Hurkacz roared back to level the fifth set tiebreak at 7-7 by winning four consecutive points.
Korda held firm, closing it out with a backhand winner to set up a clash with Russian 18th seed Karen Khachanov.
“It feels awesome. I was not feeling too much energy towards the fourth and fifth sets but you guys picked me up,” the 29th seed told the crowd.
