Top seed Swiatek, Gauff stunned; Tsitsipas survives

MELBOURNE: Top seed Iga Swiatek was bundled out of the Australian Open fourth round on Sunday, with Coco Gauff also exiting, as underestimated Grand Slam champions tore open the women’s draw.

Men’s third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas avoided a similar fate by clinching a thrilling 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 win over Jannik Sinner and kept his dreams of a maiden Grand Slam title alive. “It was a long match. I feel like I have spent a century on this court,” Tsitsipas said of the contest, which lasted just over four hours.

World No.1 Swiatek was sent packing by Elena Rybakina in the early match at the Rod Laver Arena, the Pole falling 4-6, 4-6 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.

“I felt the pressure, I felt that I did not want to lose instead of I want to win,” said Swiatek, who had dominated last season with two Grand Slam trophies. “I felt like I took a step back in terms of how I approach these tournaments. I maybe wanted it a little bit too hard.”

The shock 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 quarter-final stage.

Rybakina, the 22nd seed, might have expected to face Gauff in the quarter-finals, but the much-hyped American teenager was upset 5-7, 3-6 by Jelena Ostapenko, the forgotten Grand Slam winner of women’s tennis. The 2017 French Open champion delivered 30 winners past Gauff at the Margaret Court Arena, her last two sealing the match in style to leave the 18-year-old in tears.

The win secured a first Australian Open quarter-final for the hard-hitting Ostapenko as well as the first at a major since her run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2018.

Auger-Aliassime knocked out

At a tournament fast running out of star power, unheralded Czech Jiri Lehecka toppled Canadian sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(2), 7-6(3) in the men’s event. The 21-year-old will next play Tsitsipas, seeking revenge for a loss to the Greek in the Rotterdam semi-finals last year.

Big things have been expected of Sebastian Korda for some time and the young American is finally delivering on expectations. He took another step towards emulating his Australian Open-winning father Petr by booking his first Grand Slam quarter-final berth with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(10-7) win over Hubert Hurkacz.

RESULTS: Women’s singles: Fourth round: I Swiatek lost to E Rybakina 4-6, 4-6; J Ostapenko bt C Gauff 7-5, 6-3; J Pegula bt B Krejcikova 7-5, 6-2; V Azarenka bt L Zhu 4-6, 6-1, 6-4

Men’s singles: Fourth round: S Tsitsipas bt J Sinner 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3; J Lehecka bt F Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(2), 7-6(3); Y Nishioka lost to K Khachanov 0-6, 0-6, 6-7(4); H Hurkacz lost to S Korda 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-7(7-10)