Upsets Hit Women’s Draw At Australian Open As Muguruza, Kontaveit, Raducanu Lose
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It was only a matter of time before the upsets hit the women’s draw, and they hit hard yesterday.
The two finalists from the WTA Championships were bounced early as Garbine Muguruza and Anett Kontaveit were upset.
Muguruza, a former finalist, had nothing to offer in the way of French veteran Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-3.
“It’s a tough day,” said Muguruza. “My serve wasn’t there, I think my shots weren’t there also, tactically I think I wasn’t [making] the right decisions either.
“My shots weren’t as accurate and precise. I feel also my aggressive game wasn’t that aggressive today.”
Kontaveit, who played so well at the end of 2021, fell to powerful teen Clara Tauson who collected her first Top 10 win with a 6-2 6-4 victory.
“I felt so good out here,” said the 19-year-old Tauson. “I heard a lot of people cheering for me… that just gave me so much confidence and I played a very good match.
“It’s the first time I’m in the third round of a slam, playing a player like her to reach it, it’s a really big achievement for me.
“Doing it in a Slam is a really great feeling. It’s just a lot of hard work that I’ve put into it. That it’s here already in one of the first tournaments of the year is a really nice feeling. But I still have some work to do. I cannot be too happy with the win today, but I am really happy.”
The Danish teen will now face Danielle Collins.
US Open champion Emma Raducanu fell to Danka Kovinic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. The teen battled blisters as well as her opponent.
“There were some people in my team that maybe didn’t want me to play,” said Raducanu.
“I thought it was a pretty good learning experience for me. You know, I discovered tools about myself and my game that I didn’t know I had before, that slice forehand is not so bad and I have some sort of hand skills. That was a positive surprise.
“I know that I can pull myself out of deep situations. Because I’m still young, I feel like I can learn a backhand, I can learn some sort of tactics, but it’s quite hard to learn or teach someone that fight and grittiness to hang in there when things are pretty much all against you. So, I’m quite proud of that.”
No. 12 seed Elena Rybakina also exited retiring to Shuai Zhang 6-4,1-0.
Meanwhile, former finalist Simona Halep sailed in the third round with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Beatriz Haddad Maia. Iga Swiatek rolled as well.
The serving saga of Aryna Sabalenka continued. The world No. 2 hit nine double faults in her first two service games, but somehow battled back and after 19 double faults in total advanced over Xinyu Wang 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also ended the singles career of 37-year-old former US Open champion Sam Stosur 6-2, 6-2.
"I dreamed of winning a Grand Slam. To do what I've done, dreaming as a little kid is phenomenal."
Congratulations on a wonderful singles career @bambamsam30 🙌#AusOpen · #AO2022 pic.twitter.com/OGiFNJWTsC
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 20, 2022
Tonight, the third round begins with two big matches. Ash Barty will battle Camila Giorgi and Naomi Osaka meets the red-hot Amanda Anisimova.
During the day, French Open winners Barbora Krejcikova clashes with Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka meets Elina Svitolina.
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