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 by claiming 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 contest, 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 No 1 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.
Rybakina shrugged off the scheduling snub before the fourth round showdown but used it as fuel in her first appearance on centre court as a tightly wound Swiatek slowly unravelled.
“I felt the pressure, and I felt that I don’t want to lose instead of I want to win,” said Swiatek, who dominated last season with two Grand Slam wins.
“I felt like I took a step back in terms of how I approach these tournaments, and I maybe wanted it a little bit too hard.”
The result means this year’s Australian Open will be the first Grand Slam tournament in the open era where the top two seeds in both the men’s and women’s singles draws have lost prior to the quarterfinals.
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