Czech teen Noskova stuns top seed Swiatek
Top seed Iga Swiatek tumbled out of the Australian Open yesterday, losing 6-3 3-6 46 to Czech teenager Linda Noskova in the third round as her bid for a maiden title at Melbourne Park and fifth Grand Slam trophy fell apart.
The Pole, more accustomed to breezing past opponents with the odd “bagel” or 6-0 scoreline thrown in, had struggled in Melbourne, enduring a first-set tiebreak in her opener against Sofia Kenin before fighting back from the brink of defeat to oust Danielle Collins last time out.
But it was not to be, as Noskova became the first teenager to defeat the top-ranked player at the Australian Open since Amelie Mauresmo toppled Lindsay Davenport in 1999. “I’m speechless, I knew it was going to be an amazing match with the world No 1 and such a player, but I didn’t really think it would end up like this,” said Noskova.
The emotional 19-year-old crouched to the floor and put her hands over her face when the big moment came and buried her head in her towel later and cried. “I’m just really glad to get through this round,” she added.
Noskova had emerged as a tricky thirdround opponent for Swiatek with three top 10 wins under her belt, but the Pole had looked in no mood to be dragged into another fight as she broke in the sixth game and held to love in the next to take charge.
The 22-year-old Swiatek barely let the intensity drop after taking the opening set as she forced the Melbourne Park debutant into some uncomfortable positions in the second by working the angles and launching big forehands.
But Noskova held firm, responding with some explosive hitting of her own and breaking en route to levelling up the contest before heaping the pressure on the fourtimes Major champion to take a 2-1 lead in the decider.
Swiatek looked to have composed herself during a brief pause in play — as doctors attended to a sick supporter in the crowd — and broke back, but Noskova did not relent. She got her nose in front again to close out the match on serve and complete a huge upset.
“I was shaking a little,” Noskova said about serving for the victory. “I didn’t hit two first serves which was not the best start for me but I pulled out an ace.”
Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev yesterday raced into the second week of the Australian Open with a 6-3 6-4 6-3 victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime, showing few signs of fatigue after his marathon late-night outing in the second round.
The Russian third seed, who came from two sets down to beat Emil Ruusuvuori well into the early hours of Friday morning, looked at his clinical best as he eased into the fourth round for the fifth time. “It was tough, especially after the last match I had but happy to play some good level,” said Medvedev, who took his career record against Auger-Aliassime to 7-0.
“I tried to always give him tough shots so I didn’t have to run too much, and in the third set I managed to find some shots. So happy with the level of my game.”
The pair went to five sets in the quarterfinals two years ago at Melbourne Park before Medvedev prevailed after saving a match point, but Auger-Aliassime came nowhere near the level he displayed that night.
The error-prone Canadian 27th seed showed some fight to prevent Medvedev from winning the match with a sixth break but the Russian served out comfortably enough to seal the victory in just over two hours.
Medvedev, back-to-back losing finalist in Melbourne in 2021 and 2022, moves on to a meeting with Portuguese world number 69 Nuno Borges in the last 16.