Day of upsets
At the Australian Open, world Nos. 1 Angelique Kerber and Andy Murray lose; veterans advance,
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA It was a shocking day in the Australian Open on Sunday when both world No. 1 players — Angelique Kerber and Andy Murray — were upset in fourth-round matches.
Kerber, the defending champion, was upset by American Coco Vandeweghe 6-2, 6-3 in the late night match, while Murray lost to 50th-ranked Mischa Zverev 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.
“I was not feeling the ball at all tonight,” Kerber said. “I was not playing good from the first point.”
The last time both No. 1 players in the world lost before the quarterfinals on the same day in a Grand Slam was at Wimbledon in 2014. At the time, Serena Wil- liams fell to Alize Cornet of France in the third round and Rafael Nadal lost to Nick Kyrgios of Australia in the fourth round.
It took Vandeweghe all of 68 minutes to end Kerber’s shot at defending her first Grand Slam tournament title. Vandeweghe, who surrendered her serve on the one break point she offered to Kerber, posted 30 winners to just seven for the German.
“My game plan was to execute knowing that she was going to get a lot of balls back, just to keep picking my spots and trust my game to beat her,” Vande- weghe said.
Kerber’s year is not off to a favorable start as she reached only the quarterfinals in Brisbane and the second round in Sydney.
Second-seeded Williams, who defeated No. 16 Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals Monday (Sunday night ET), must win the title to regain the No. 1 ranking.
Vandeweghe is into her second career Grand Slam quarterfinal and first in the Australian Open. The Southern California native was a quarterfinalist in 2015 at Wimbledon, where she fell to Maria Sharapova.
The upset of Kerber marks Vandeweghe’s ninth win against a top 10 player — she lost her only other match against a world No. 1 to Serena Williams in the 2014 Miami tournament.
Vandeweghe will play seventhseeded Garbine Muguruza, the reigning French Open champion, in the quarterfinals. Muguruza captured a 6-2, 6-3 win against Sorana Cirstea of Romania earlier in the day.