Australian Open 2023: Iga Swiatek buckles, Coco Gauff fails to capitalise

Melbourne: For once, the pressure took its toll on Iga Swiatek. The World No 1, the reigning French and US Opens champion, had allowed her mind to wander and the opponent capitalised. Usually very calm, composed, and jovial, Swiatek admitted to letting her mind play tricks on her as the Pole lost 4-6, 4-6 to Elena Rybakina in the fourth round of the 2023 Australian Open. Rybakina is no arbitrary foe though. The Kazakh player had made the quarters of 2021 French Open, but her shining glory came last year at Wimbledon. The 23-year-old became the youngest woman champion in 11 years. The doom in all this euphoria was the fact that ranking points were not awarded and Rybakina didn’t climb the charts which she otherwise would. If points were dished out, she would have finished the year at least in the top seven. As it stands, she is World No 25, not getting the luxury of playing on the biggest courts and facing challenging opponents relatively early in a draw. Swiatek is one tough draw. Ever since being handed the World No 1 mantle, she’s firmly held on to it. The Pole went on a 37-match winning streak last year, won eight titles and was coming in as the top-ranked player for four straight majors. In her three rounds, she was yet to lose a set and needed just 55 minutes to win her third-round match. But with it came the weight of expectations and she confessed to being bogged down by it. “Past two weeks have been pretty hard for me. So, I felt today that I don’t have that much to, like, to take from myself to fight even more. So, I felt like I took a step back in terms of how I approach these tournaments, and maybe wanted it a little bit too hard,” she said after the match. The 21-year-old, who was broken four times, felt she “wasted too much energy before and during the first days of the tournament to worry” where she didn’t want to lose instead of holding the desire to win. Rybakina, by contrast, has had cause to be motivated and produce results. Her first-round match at Melbourne Park was placed on tiny Court 13 while the US Open first round was on Court 12 – something that had her peeved. Against Swiatek, the Moscow-born player brought her A-game. She hit six aces, taking her tournament tally to 24 – most among the women, and held a 24-15 edge on winners versus last-year’s semi-finalist. “I played well in the important moments,” said Rybakina, who has now racked up consecutive wins over last year’s Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins and Swiatek. “Of course I’m nervous every time I go on the court, I think like everybody. But I’m calm, always. At least I’m trying not to show too much emotions. My coach says I actually need to show sometimes, so I’m also learning.”

Let’s goooooo Ostapenko! 🇱🇻@jelenaostapenko • #AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/SATUU9ELku

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2023

Next up for Rybakina is another big-hitter in Jelena Ostapenko who sent title-contender Coco Gauff packing. Playing next door on Margaret Court Arena, Latvia’s Ostapenko overpowered Gauff into a 7-5, 6-3 victory. The finish would give Rybakina a glimpse of what to expect. She unleashed a thumping forehand winner down the line to bring up match point and followed it up with an equally clinical cross court forehand winner. “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, who won the 2017 French Open and earned her fifth title in Dubai last year. “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.” Ostapenko, firebrand on and off the court, whose last Grand Slam quarter-final came at Wimbledon in 2018, was more solid in the closing stages of both sets and that proved by Gauff’s downfall. She broke Gauff at 6-5 to take the first set, then again at 4-3 in the second. “At the end, I think I kept her under so much pressure and it brought me a win,” said Ostapenko. The 17th ranked Ostapenko hit 30 winners to keep an attack-minded Gauff pegged back. “I feel like Jelena, she’s somebody that, you know, can play really good and sometimes there’s some things that you just can’t do,” said 18-year-old Gauff. “You know, she hit a lot of winners, which not a lot of people can do on me. So, I think that she did a great job today,” added the American who had faced eight, 17 and 24 winners in the previous three matches. While Gauff bowed out, her doubles partner Jessica Pegula remained in the competition courtesy a 7-5, 6-2 win over Barbora Krejcikova in another clash of two Grand Slam winners. The only former Australian Open champion remaining in the women’s singles draw is Victoria Azarenka who was pushed up until 2:17 AM by Lin Zhu in the night match on Rod Laver Arena. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.