Teenager Linda Noskova stuns top seed Iga Swiatek in Australian Open third round

MELBOURNE – Czech teenager Linda Noskova was at a loss for words after she stunned top seed Iga Swiatek 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round of the Australian Open on Jan 20, as the Pole’s bid for a maiden Melbourne Park title and fifth Grand Slam trophy fell apart.

Swiatek’s defeat also meant that her 18-match winning run came to a shuddering halt.

“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, who will face Ukrainian 19th seed Elina Svitolina in the last 16.

The emotional 19-year-old crouched to the ground and put her hands over her face when the big moment came and buried her head in her towel later and cried.

“The match was obviously really, really tough... I think from the first time that I saw I was going to play her, I was just thinking about this match for two days in a row. I was just trying to prepare myself mentally,” she added.

“I’m just really glad to get through this round.”

Swiatek 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 the last time out.

Noskova emerged as a tricky third-round opponent with three wins against top-10 players under her belt, but Swiatek looked in no mood to be dragged into another dogfight as she broke in the sixth game and held to love in the next to take charge.

The 22-year-old barely let the intensity drop after taking the first set, as she forced Australian Open debutante Noskova into uncomfortable positions in the second by working the angles and launching big forehands.

But the Czech 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 four-time Grand Slam 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. She broke back but Noskova did not relent and got her nose in front again to close out the match on serve and complete a huge upset. 

“I felt like I had everything under control until she broke me in the second set,” the Pole said.

“I had couple of chances to break her in second set and I didn’t use them. That’s a shame. Sometimes I was rushing it. I wasn’t playing with my intuition and naturally.

“I’ll have to work on stuff to feel more comfortable next year.”

Just three of the top 10 women’s seeds remain in the draw at the end of the first week – defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Barbora Krejcikova.

In other matches, two-time former champion Victoria Azarenka took her career record against Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko to 4-0 with a 6-1, 7-5 victory.

The Belarusian won both her Grand Slam titles here and the 34-year-old showed just how much she enjoys Melbourne Park with her dominant win over the 2017 French Open champion.

“I knew it’s going to be a tough battle,” Azarenka said after her victory over Ostapenko, who had opened the season by winning the title in Adelaide and returning to the top 10.

“She’s a Grand Slam champion, she’s been in amazing form coming off the title... I was just trying to find an opportunity in that second set to get one break point at a time.”

In the men’s draw, Daniil Medvedev raced into the second week 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 wee hours of Jan 19, looked at his clinical best as he eased into the next stage.

Briton Cameron Norrie, the 19th seed, took out Norway’s former world No. 2 Casper Ruud with a 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 6-3 win to make it to the fourth round for the first time. REUTERS, AFP