A two-time Australian Open champ, the former world No 1 should have been getting ready to meet world No 3 Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round instead, but Strycova knocked her out in straight sets, leaving No 7 Kerber as the top seed in Azarenka’s half of the draw.
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Osaka held her serve to get on board at 2-1 and even pushed Azarenka to a break point in the next game, but she couldn’t match up to the Belarusian’s powerful groundstrokes. It all went rapidly downhill thereafter.
Azarenka next faces Barbora Strycova, a straight-sets victor over the No. 3 seed, Garbine Muguruza earlier Saturday.
Ivanovic led 6-4, 1-0 when Nigel Sears, her coach and the father of Andy Murray’s wife, collapsed in the stands and was eventually carried off on a stretcher.
“To be the very best, like no one ever was”, she said. Gael Monfils, ranked 25th and with $9.3 million in career earnings, plays No. 225-ranked countryman and qualifier Stephane Robert, who has been playing professionally since 2001 but has just $1.4 million in career earnings – which includes doubles prize money – with no singles titles.
Sydney-born Johanna Konta became the first British woman to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open since 1987 when she beat Denisa Allertova 6-2, 6-2.
Osaka, when asked what she will remember most from this year’s Australian Open, said, “I guess this match, because it’s like I’m learning”.
“And it’s not easy against Garbine, because she plays fast and also very deep”. Azarenka will now play No. 48 Barbora Strykova, whom she has beaten all four times they’ve played, with each victory lasting just two sets. “I just wanted to qualify”.
“But when you’re hungry and you’ve got to go play and you have absolutely nothing, that’s big pressure”. “I have said that many times that I had a person tell me, ‘Are you depressed?’ I said, ‘No.’ Because as an athlete, you don’t really want weaknesses to show”.
Azarenka said she began to approach things differently sometime after the U.S. Open.
“I don’t really need my voice, if I use my voice I talk too much s*** anyway”.
After the match, Raonic dedicated his win to the victims of a shooting at a school in Saskatchewan, Canada on Friday, which left four people dead and several more injured.
Despite a sore throat, No. 4-seed Stan Wawrinka had no trouble with Czech Lukas Rosol on Saturday, rolling to a 6-2, 6-3, 7-6(3) victory in one hour and 55 minutes to set up a fourth round clash with Milos Raonic.
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Her loss left No. 7 Angelique Kerber as the highest-ranked player in the bottom half of the women’s draw. In total, eight of the top 16 seeded women have lost in the first three rounds of the tournament, with No. 15 American Madison Keys still to play No. 20 Ana Ivanovic. No. 10-seeded John Isner, attempting to advance to the fourth round here for the first time since 2010, takes on 18th-seeded Feliciano Lopez.
