On a day of upheaval in the women’s draw, world No.1 Iga Swiatek and star American youngster Coco Gauff were bounced out of the Australian Open in the fourth round.
The first major of 2023 will be without the top seeds in the men’s and women’s singles as week two begins, compounding the belief that this year’s Open could recast the status quo in tennis.
Iga Swiatek felt the pressure during her loss to Elena Rybakina.Credit:AP
US Open and Roland Garros champion Swiatek said she needed to reset and rediscover some of the fighting spirit she showed last year after crashing out in a 6-4, 6-4 defeat by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
Seventh seed Gauff, too, was emotional after her straight-sets loss to Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the former Roland Garros champion reaching the quarter-finals of a major for the first time in nearly five years.
Top seed Swiatek said the pressure had been building in Melbourne, and she had been going into matches hoping not to lose rather than wanting to win.
“I felt today that I don’t have that much to take from myself to fight even more. I felt I took a step back in terms of how I approach these tournaments and I maybe wanted it a little bit too hard,” Swiatek said.
“So I’m going to try to chill out a bit more. That’s all. I felt the pressure and I felt that I don’t want to lose instead of I want to win. So, that’s a base of what I should focus on in next couple of weeks.”
Elena Rybakina capitalised on an aggressive approach against the world No. 1.Credit:AP
Following Ash Barty’s retirement and Swiatek’s elevation to the top ranking, the Pole went on a 37-match winning streak last year before losing in the third round at Wimbledon. She bounced back to win at Flushing Meadows but heading to Australia she said she wasted too much energy worrying.
“Before the US Open I was actually able to kind of let it go because I played pretty bad in Toronto and Cincinnati, and that helped me to reset and just start the US Open without actually expecting much from myself,” she added.
“Here was different, so I’m not connecting the US Open with the streak at all. I’m not comparing this situation to my Wimbledon loss.”
Roland Garros finalist Gauff said her main emotion was frustration after a strong performance in Melbourne so far ended in the round of 16.
Coco Gauff leaves the court after her loss.Credit:AP
“I think it’s because I worked really hard, and I felt really good coming into the tournament, and I still feel good,” the 18-year-old said after the 7-5, 6-3 defeat.
Gauff teared up but wanted to continue her media conference. “But, you know, when you play a player like her, and she plays really well, it’s like, you know, there’s nothing you can do,” Gauff said.
“I feel like today I would say nothing because every match you play a part in, but I feel like it was rough. So, it’s a little bit frustrating on that part.”
The Kazakhstani Rybakina, who last year became the first player from her country to win a major, took it up to Swiatek from the start with an aggression that helped her land 24 winners to Swiatek’s 15, including four off the return serve.
That came with a higher unforced error count, but Rybakina struck when it mattered, including a return winner to nab a break at 3-3 in the opener, before going on to take the first set.
Swiatek looked like making a comeback early in the second set after taking a 3-0 lead, but the 23-year-old Rybakina held her own to level it, before pouncing at 4-4 with another run of pacey returns and a deadly accurate forehand winner.
“In the important moments I played really well, so it made a difference,” she said immediately afterwards.
After winning last year at the All-England Club but receiving none of the usual ranking points to go with it, Rybakina was always going to be a bigger contender here than her 22nd seeding might have suggested.
She had to make do with playing her first round out on court 13, but was then upgraded to arenas, including centre court for Sunday’s dispatching of the world No.1.
Swiatek copped a time violation warning before the match had even started for taking too long between the warm-up and her first serve. Rybakina then struck early, firing off two return winners in the opening service game to gain an early break.
“She was just better today, honestly,” Swiatek said. “She was tactically composed, and she is able to stay focused.
“I wanted to push her back but on my service games I felt like I really [needed] to work really hard to get any point because my first serve wasn’t working.″
The big-serving Rybakina said she knew she had to go on the attack from the very first ball to have a chance against the three-time grand slam singles champion. “When you play against [the] No.1 you have really nothing to lose,” she said. “Everybody wants to beat her.”
Rybakina will face 17th seed Ostapenko, an aggressive hard-hitter, in the quarter-finals.
Ostapenko, 25, won the French Open in 2017 two days after turning 20, and rose as high as world No.5, but was hampered by her lack of consistency. This is her first quarter-final appearance at the slams since she made the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2018.
She credited her success partly to being able to maintain her concentration. “With me, it’s never boring on the court,” Ostapenko said. “Sometimes I can go a little bit too much. But I’m an emotional person in general.”
Tunisian second seed Ons Jabeur, whom Rybakina beat in the Wimbledon final, was knocked out in the second round, but Jessica Pegula, Caroline Garcia and Aryna Sabalenka remain in the field.
The men’s No.1 seed Rafael Nadal was also an early casualty, bundled out in the second round after injuring his hip against American Mackenzie McDonald.
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