Garbine Muguruza admitted Saturday she had a “very bad day at the office” after failing to live up to her billing as third seed in a shock Australian Open loss to Barbora Strycova.
Advertisement
Strycova never let Muguruza settle and capitalized on an excellent tactical game to win the match in just 76 minutes.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka walked on to Rod Laver Arena knowing that the No. 2- and No. 3-ranked players were already out of the tournament and that the draw appeared to be opening up in her favor.
Barbora Strycova, right, of the Czech Republic is congratulated by…
Osaka’s outstanding run will end with Azarenka to continue her campaign as she heads toward a possible Australian Open final berth.
“He’s a tough player, for sure”, Wawrinka said.
Cruising through the first two sets, the Canadian was challenged in the third; Troicki handed Raonic just his first broken service game all tournament, but the No. 13 seed managed to break back – and then again – to close out the match in straight sets.
“I think I just couldn’t find the court, my shots and didn’t really find my game”. “I want to still keep improving from match to match, because it’s only getting harder from here”.
On the other side of the world, the Australian Open is the first Grand Slam of the year.
Strycova has only been past the third round once before in 38 Grand Slam appearances when she reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2014. “The rest, if I don’t have a voice, if I feel a little bit sick, it doesn’t matter”. She was leading Madison Keys 6-4, 1-0 when play was suspended because a spectator needed urgent medical treatment in the stands.
Ferrer beat another American Steve Johnson 6-1 6-4 6-4 while Isner overcame Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-7 (8/10) 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 6-4. “I’m sure not just in that small community but throughout Canada it was a lot of people that were sort of heartbroken over it”.
The Spaniard was looking to reach the last 16 for a third consecutive Australian Open, while Strycova was aiming for a maiden place in the second week in Melbourne.
Germany’s Angelique Kerber is the only top-10 seed, at number seven, left in the bottom half of the women’s draw.
It was the first time in the Open era at the Australian Open that two of the top three women’s seeds were eliminated before the fourth round.
Advertisement
Britain’s Konta will take on Russian No. 21 seed Elena Makarova, who upset the ninth-seeded Pliskova 6-3 6-2.
