Swiatek, Gauff dumped out in more Australian Open shocks

MELBOURNE

Top seed Iga Swiatek and a tearful Coco Gauff both crashed out in straight sets in the last 16 on Jan. 22 in yet more shocks at the Australian Open.

Swiatek’s defeat to Elena Rybakina makes it the first Grand Slam in the Open era, since 1968, to lose the top two seeds in the men’s and women’s draws before the quarterfinals.

Wimbledon champion Rybakina swept past the 2022 French and U.S. Open winner from Poland 6-4, 6-4 in 1hr 29min at a stunned Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

Moscow-born Kazakh Rybakina moves on to a last-eight encounter with Jelena Ostapenko.

The Latvian 17th seed provided the second upset of a crazy few minutes by knocking out seventh seed Gauff 7-5, 6-3 on neighboring Margaret Court Arena.

The 18-year-old Gauff broke down in tears during an emotional post-match press conference.

World number one and hot favorite Swiatek admitted that the 22nd-seeded Rybakina deserved to win.

“I felt the pressure,” Swiatek, 21, said. “I felt that I didn’t want to lose instead of wanting to win.”

Swiatek, who dominated women’s tennis last year and is already a three-time major champion, added: “I felt today that I don’t have that much left to fight even more.

“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. So I’m going to try to chill out a little bit more.”

Swiatek follows second seed Ons Jabeur out the Melbourne exit door, the Tunisian having gone out in the second round in another surprise.

The American Gauff had been favourite to defeat Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open winner.

But the 25-year-old Ostapenko was always in control to ensure that Gauff must wait at least a bit longer for a first major title.

“I knew she’s such a great player, super young and she’s playing really well, but I really had nothing to lose,” said Ostapenko.

“I just went there and tried to show my best and try to fight for every point, and to make it hard for her, and I’m really happy with the way I played.”

The men’s draw has also seen a series of surprise results.

Injury-hampered top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal went out in round two to unseeded American Mackenzie McDonald in straight sets.

Second seed Casper Ruud is also out, as is the 2021 and 2022 runner-up Daniil Medvedev.

But nine-time Melbourne champion Novak Djokovic is still on the scene as he chases a record-equaling 22nd Slam title.

The fourth seed from Serbia is however nursing a hamstring injury.

Karen Khachanov reached the quarterfinals after the Russian 18th seed swept past Japan’s outclassed Yoshihito Nishioka 6-0, 6-0, 7-6 (7/4).