Australian Open: Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff ousted in fourth round

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek was eliminated from the Australian Open by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the fourth round, busting open the women’s draw.

Rybakina, the 22nd seed who would be in the top 10 if the WTA counted 2022 Wimbledon ranking points, took out Swiatek, who won the French Open and U.S. Open last year, 6-4, 6-4 to become the first quarterfinalist in Melbourne.

“When you play against No. 1, I think you have really nothing to lose,” said Rybakina, who was playing on one of the two main show courts for the first time this tournament. “So I was trying to just attack her from the first ball, and it really worked well.”

AUSTRALIAN OPEN DRAWS:Women |Men

The Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the men’s and women’s draws were all eliminated before the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in the Open Era, according to the International Tennis Federation.

“I need to work on my, I don’t know, kind of mindset and fight a little bit more as I did last season,” Swiatek said. “I’m going to take time right now to kind of reset.

“I maybe wanted it a little bit too hard. So I’m going to try to chill out a little bit more. … I felt the pressure, and I felt that I don’t want to lose instead of I want to win.”

Last July, Rybakina became the second-lowest-ranked woman to win Wimbledon at No. 23 in the world. She was born and raised in Moscow but in 2018 switched nationality to Kazakhstan, which offered more financial support of her tennis career.

Wimbledon banned Russians and Belarusians from playing last year due to the war in Ukraine. The WTA and ATP responded by stripping the event of its ranking points.

Rybakina next gets No. 17 Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion from Latvia who beat No. 7 Coco Gauff 7-5, 6-3.

“There was moments in the match where I was getting frustrated because I normally can problem-solve, but today I feel like I didn’t have much answers to what she was doing,” said Gauff, who had more winners (21) than unforced errors (14) but was one for eight on break points, while Ostapenko converted all three of hers.

No. 3 Jessica Pegula, who beat No. 20 Barbora Krejcikova 7-5, 6-2 later Sunday, is now the highest women’s seed left and the lone American woman left.

“It’s weird being a favorite,” said Pegula, who goes into her fifth major quarterfinal looking to get into her first semifinal. “I don’t really feel like a favorite because I’m going against people that have had more success than me.

“I’ve been playing the best I have than in any of my other Grand Slam quarterfinals.”

Pegula, who hasn’t dropped a set in four matches, is looking to end the longest U.S. women’s singles major title drought this century (since Sofia Kenin won the 2020 Australian Open) and longest U.S. men’s and women’s singles major drought in the Open Era (since 1968).

In the men’s draw, American Sebastian Korda began the day as the third favorite to win the title, according to PointsBet Sportsbook, despite being the 11th-highest ranked man of the 16 left.

Korda, whose dad, Petr, won the Australian Open 25 years ago and turns 55 on Monday, then reached his first major quarterfinal by taking out Poland’s 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (7).

“When I go in the shower, I’ll yell a little bit,” to celebrate, he said. “That’s about it.”

Korda, seeded 29th, gets another higher seed, No. 18 Karen Khachanov of Russia, who swept Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-0, 6-0, 7-6 (4).

The other quarterfinal in the top half pits the top remaining seed, No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, against 71st-ranked Czech Jiri Lehecka, who upset No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime.

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Great Britain’s Matt Weston and German Susanne Kreher consolidated breakout post-Olympic seasons by winning world skeleton titles in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Friday.

Weston, 15th at last year’s Olympics, prevailed by 1.79 seconds combining times from four runs, the largest margin of victory at worlds for men or women since 2012.

Weston became the second British man to win a world skeleton title after Kristan Bromley in 2008. The 25-year-old from Surrey left taekwondo at age 17 due to a reported back injury and has three wins in six World Cups this season.

Italian Amedeo Bagnis, whose best World Cup finish is eighth, took silver, a year after placing 11th at the Olympics. South Korean Jeong Seung-Gi earned bronze by one hundredth over Brit Chris Thompson, a year after placing 10th at the Olympics.

Kreher, a 24-year-old sprint convert in her first full World Cup season, won by one hundredth of a second over Olympic bronze medalist Kimberley Bos of the Netherlands. Mimi Rahneva took bronze for Canada’s first Olympic or world skeleton medal since 2015.

Kreher extended Germany’s streak to six consecutive women’s world titles. Kreher, last year’s world junior champion, has three World Cup podiums this season, but no wins on the circuit.

Germany’s reigning Olympic champions Christopher Grotheer and Hannah Neise were 10th and 15th, respectively. Tina Hermann, who won the last three women’s world titles, was fifth.

Two other Olympic champions were absent: 2014 gold medalist Aleksandr Tretiyakov is out due to the ban on Russians for the war in Ukraine. Yun Sung-Bin, a 2018 gold medalist, is taking this season off but is expected to come back, according to the South Korean federation.

The top Americans were Hallie Clarke in 10th for the women and Austin Florian in 19th for the men. The last U.S. medalist at worlds was Noelle Pikus-Pace, who took silver in 2013.

Katie Uhlaender, the top U.S. finisher at the last worlds and last Olympics (sixth both times), has not competed this season after rupturing a tendon in her right ankle two months ago.

Worlds continue with the women’s monobob and two-man bobsled events Saturday and Sunday.

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The U.S. Figure Skating Championships, in some ways marking a new era in the sport, air live from San Jose, California, on NBC Sports, USA Network and Peacock.

After last February’s Olympics, U.S. figure skating saw its greatest turnover from one season to the next in more than 20 years.

Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou, the top two men last season, are not competing this season and may be done altogether. Alysa Liu and Mariah Bell, the top two women, retired. As did the top ice dance couple of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue. Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc, last year’s national pairs’ champions, also left the sport.

So, for the first time since 1993, the U.S. Championships feature a reigning national champion in just one of the four disciplines.

Amid all that, U.S. skaters performed well in the fall Grand Prix Series and made the podium in all four disciplines at December’s Grand Prix Final for the first time. Note the absence of Russian skaters, banned from international events due to the war in Ukraine.

At nationals, skaters are vying for spots on the team — three per discipline — for March’s world championships in Japan.

Ilia Malinin, an 18-year-old from Virginia, is the headliner after becoming the first skater to land a quadruple Axel, doing so at all four of his events this season. He ranks second in the world by best total score, a whopping 38.28 points ahead of the next American (Camden Pulkinen).

Jason Brown is the lone Olympian in the men’s field, competing for the first time since placing sixth at the Games.

Isabeau Levito, 15 and a reigning world junior champion like Malinin, took silver at the Grand Prix Final against the world’s other top skaters. She enters nationals with a best score this season 18.13 points better than the next American, Amber Glenn. Bradie Tennell, a 2018 Olympian coming back from foot and ankle injuries, is also a threat to gain one of the three women’s spots at worlds.

Ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates are the lone defending national champions and will likely make the podium for an 11th consecutive year, which would be one shy of the record.

Bates, who last year at 32 became the oldest U.S. champion in any discipline in decades, has made 12 career senior nationals podiums with Chock and former partner Emily Samuelson. It is believed that a 13th finish in the top three would break the U.S. record for a single discipline he currently shares with Michelle Kwan, Nathaniel Niles and Theresa Weld Blanchard.

In pairs, Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier return after missing nationals last year due to Frazier contracting COVID-19 the week of the event. Since, they posted the best U.S. pairs’ finish at an Olympics in 20 years, the first world title for a U.S. pair in 43 years and the first Grand Prix Final medal ever for a U.S. pair.

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2023 U.S. Figure Skating Championships Live Broadcast Schedule

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