Down goes No. 1.
Iga Swiatek, the Girls’s Tennis Affiliation’s prime participant, suffered an upset loss to Linda Noskova within the third spherical of the Australian Open. The four-time grand slam winner misplaced 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Noskova, 19, is looking for her first singles title. She’s coming off one in all her finest match outcomes. In a tune-up to the Australian Open, Noskova reached the semifinals of the Brisbane Worldwide in early January, the place she misplaced to the No. 3 participant on this planet, Elena Rybakina.
Of the 4 tennis grand slams, together with the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open, Swiatek has extra losses on the Australian Open than wherever else. She has one semifinal look (2022) and three Spherical of 16 exits.
She additionally struggled within the second spherical, needing a third-set comeback to beat Danielle Collins, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Swiatek’s third-round loss is the earliest she’s been bounced from the Australian since a second-round loss in straight units to Camila Giorgi in 2019.
Per ESPNBet, the upset paves the best way for the winner of a possible Sabalenka-Coco Gauff semifinal to win the yr’s first grand slam.
Gauff (+160) is the favourite, however Sabalenka (+200) is correct behind. With Noskova’s win, the highest half of the bracket is broad open. The consequence was most helpful to Qinwen Zheng (+700), who has the third-best odds of successful the match.
Subsequent up for Noskova is a match with No. 19 Elina Svitolina with a spot within the quarterfinals on the road.
