Australian Open Day 6 preview: Breaking down the 12 remaining seeds
Time for an early temperature check at the Australian Open. Spoiler: The heat on the top players has been intense.
Through two rollicking rounds, we’ve already seen No.3-ranked Elena Rybakina View Profile , No.5 Jessica Pegula View Profile , No.6 Ons Jabeur View Profile , No.7 Marketa Vondrousova View Profile and No.8 Maria Sakkari View Profile sent home, while No.9 Karolina Muchova View Profile withdrew before the tournament. Seven of the Top 16 seeds are already gone.
The most dominant of the elite survivors? Aryna Sabalenka View Profile dropped only six games, averaging 60 minutes per match. Meanwhile, World No.1 Iga Swiatek View Profile , who came back from being down two breaks in the third set against Danielle Collins View Profile , has clocked a staggering 5 hours and 5 minutes of court time.
Australian Open: Scores | Draws | Order of play
“I mean, you’re not going to lie to yourself, obviously that you’re losing 4-1,” Swiatek said. “The only thing you can do is just try again. At that point you kind of know that you may lose. You can actually relax a little bit more because you know that, OK, probably I'm going to lose, so I don’t care anymore.
“Sometimes it works like that.”
Melbourne has been awash in fresh faces. Sixteen-year-old 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva View Profile upset Jabeur and 20-year-old Maria Timofeeva View Profile -- one of four qualifiers still alive -- defeated 2018 Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki View Profile . Anna Blinkova View Profile outlasted Rybakina, winning in a record 42-point match-tiebreak, while Clara Burel View Profile shocked Pegula.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the remaining seeds in the draw:
No. 1. Iga Swiatek View Profile
Sets lost: 1
Time on court: 5 hours, 5 minutes
Next opponent: Linda Noskova View Profile (head-to-head 1-0, Swiatek)
Swiatek won the last five games against Collins to run her winning streak to 18 straight matches, making her the only woman or man to reach the singles third round at each of the Grand Slam events since 2020. She’s now 49-4 in the majors against unseeded players and will try to make it an even 50 against Noskova.
No. 2. Aryna Sabalenka View Profile
Sets lost: 0
Time on court: 2 hours
Next opponent: No.28 seed Lesia Tsurenko View Profile (head-to-head 1-1)
After losing the Brisbane final to Rybakina, Sabalenka, one of the featured players in "Break Point" has hit the reset button, pounding a pair of young qualifiers. Tsurenko, a 6-3, 6-4 second-round winner over Rebeka Masarova View Profile , could provide more resistance. A win here would give Sabalenka 10 straight in Melbourne, one less than Serena Williams’ between 2017-19.
No. 4. Coco Gauff View Profile
Sets lost: 0
Time on court: 2 hours, 44 minutes
Next opponent: Alycia Parks View Profile (head-to-head 0-0)
Caroline Dolehide View Profile pushed Gauff to a first set tiebreak, but she adjusted nicely for a 7-6 (2), 6-2 win. Parks, a fellow American, was a 7-5, 6-4 winner over No.32 Leylah Fernandez View Profile . They’ve known each other for years but have never played a formal match. Gauff started the season 7-0 and has a streak of nine straight major match-wins.
No. 9. Barbora Krejcikova View Profile
Sets lost: 1
Time on court: 3 hours, 55 minutes
Next opponent: qualifier Storm Hunter (head-to-head 0-0)
Krejcikova was a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Tamara Korpatsch View Profile , while Hunter defeated Laura Siegemund View Profile 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The two have never played. Coincidentally, Krejcikova and Siegemund embark on their Grand Slam career as doubles partners. They reached the semifinals in Adelaide and are seeded No.5 here.
No. 10. Beatriz Haddad Maia View Profile
Sets lost: 1
Time on court: 3 hours, 38 minutes
Next opponent: qualifier Maria Timofeeva View Profile (head-to-head 0-0)
Timofeeva, who took out Alize Cornet and Wozniacki (both 33), gets 27-year-old Haddad Maia -- in her prime. Haddad Maia defeated 16-year-old qualifier Alina Korneev 6-1, 6-2. This will be their first match.
No. 11. Jelena Ostapenko View Profile
Sets lost: 1
Time on court: 3 hours, 23 minutes
Next opponent: Victoria Azarenka View Profile (head-to-head 3-0, Azarenka)
Ostapenko went the distance in her second-round match, dispatching home favorite Ajla Tomljanovic View Profile 6-0, 3-6, 6-4. This sets up a tasty matchup between two former Grand Slam champions.
Late night win 💪@JelenaOstapenk8's win streak bumps up to 7 with her win over Tomljanovic.#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/A1jfhw4DCN
— wta (@WTA) January 18, 2024
No. 12. Zheng Qinwen
Sets lost: 1
Time on court: 3 hours, 55 minutes
Next opponent: Wang Yafan (head-to-head 1-0, Wang)
Zheng struggled to get past Ashlyn Krueger View Profile in the first round (3-6, 6-2, 6-3) but looked more settled in defeating Katie Boulter View Profile 6-3, 6-3. Wang reached the semifinals two weeks ago in Auckland.
No.18 Victoria Azarenka View Profile
Sets lost: 2
Time on court: 4 hours, 41 minutes
Next opponent: Jelena Ostapenko View Profile (head-to-head 3-0, Azarenka)
Azarenka needed three sets to subdue Clara Tauson View Profile 6-4, 3-6 6-2 in a match that ended after 1 a.m. Azarenka has won five of six matches Down Under to start the year -- one of them a three-set gem over Ostapenko in the Brisbane quarterfinals.
No.19 Elina Svitolina View Profile
Sets lost: 0
Time on court: 2 hours, 4 minutes
Next opponent: Viktorija Golubic View Profile (head-to-head 1-0, Svitolina)
After Sabalenka, Svitolina has been the most efficient, winning matches against Australian wild card Taylah Preston View Profile and Viktoriya Tomova View Profile . Golubic, on the other hand, needed three sets against No.15 Veronika Kudermetova View Profile and Katerina Siniakova View Profile .
No.26 Jasmine Paolini View Profile
Sets lost: 0
Time on court: 2 hours, 19 minutes
Next opponent: Anna Blinkova View Profile
Paolini has put in little work through two rounds, dropping no more than four games in any set. She’ll next take on Blinkova, an opponent coming off an emotionally charged, record-setting performance in taking out Rybakina.
THAT THIRD SET TIEBREAK 🤯
— wta (@WTA) January 18, 2024
Anna Blinkova View Profile knocks out the No.3 seed Rybakina and takes her place in Round 3!
Final tiebreak score: 22-20#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/eSLLPENvUf
No.27 Emma Navarro View Profile
Sets lost: 2
Time on court: 4 hours, 48 minutes
Next opponent: Dayana Yastremska View Profile (head-to-head 0-0)
With the departure of Pegula, Navarro and Sloane Stephens are the only Americans left in the top half of the draw. Navarro has weathered two three-set matches, defeating Wang Xiyu and Elisabetta Cocciaretto View Profile . Yastremska took out No. 7 Marketa Vondrousova View Profile in the first round.
No.28 Lesia Tsurenko View Profile
Sets lost: 1
Time on court: 3 hours, 54 minutes
Next opponent: Aryna Sabalenka View Profile (head-to-head 1-1)
Tsurenko needed more than two-and-a-half hours to overcome Lucia Bronzetti View Profile in the opening match before a relatively straightforward contest in the second round. Tsurenko will have her hands full against the defending champion, but she did knock off Sabalenka six years ago in Hobart.