The number:
30
Winning shots struck by Jelena Ostapenko.
The Latvian surprise, at the end of a fiery match, overwhelmed American Coco Gauff 7-5, 6-3 (who could only convert one of the eight break points she had procured).
“
I had nothing to lose.
I had come to play each point, to have fun.
I always wanted to stay positive, I had to stay inhabited by the desire to beat her and I had it.
Even if I missed a shot, I had to keep the same path, put her under pressure and she cracked
, ”summarized the Latvian, radiant.
Ostapenko could savor a comeback in full light.
And have fun.
Asked about her confidence in the Hawk-Eye,
To be honest ?
No
”, triggering laughter from the spectators and the referee, before explaining: “
I mean honestly, this live electronic system… sometimes it feels like it makes mistakes.
I watch my team because I know sometimes I'm wrong, but I feel some balls are pretty close.
The surprise winner of Roland-Garros 2017 had not reached a Grand Slam quarter-final since 2018, at Wimbledon.
She will experience her first quarter-final in Melbourne against Kazakh Elena Rybakina who defeated Iga Swiatek.
To discover
Australian Open: ladies schedule and results
Australian Open: men's schedule and results
The sentence:
"
I felt that I did not want to lose instead of wanting to win
"
Signed Iga Swiatek.
Bruised, the world n°1 eliminated 6-4, 6-4 by the Kazakh Elena Rybakina (n°22) summarized: “I had to fight on each point.
It was Elena who was the strongest today.
I felt like the question was who was going to put the most pressure on the opponent, and she did that pretty well.
On my serve, I felt like I had to work really, really hard to get a point because my first serve wasn't working (57% points scored on his 1st serve).
The last two weeks have been difficult.
I felt a lot of pressure, I started the matches telling myself that I didn't want to lose instead of wanting to win.
So that's a base I need to focus on in the next two weeks.
I
felt today that I didn't have much to take out of myself to fight even harder.
I lost too much energy before and during the tournament to worry.
I felt like I had taken a step back in the way I approached these tournaments and maybe I wanted a little too much…” Whatever the winner of the Australian Open, the Polonaise will keep its place of n°1.
The stat
After Elena Rybakina, winner of the last Wimbledon tournament, won 6-4, 6-4 over the No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek, the Australian Open marks the first tournament of the Grand Open era slam where the top two seeds in the men's and women's singles draws lost before the quarter-finals.
The quarter-final between Rybakina and Ostapenko will not be the match that Melbourne was expecting, but it will oppose two Grand Slam title-winning players who, like the Kazakh (6 aces; 80% of points scored on her 1st service; 24 winning points; 4 out of 5 points scored at the net) are playing at a very high level.
The lone rider
That of Karen Khachanov (n°18), first qualified for the quarter-finals of the men's table.
The Russian eliminated the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (n°31) 6-0, 6-0, 7-6 (7/4).
The Russian won 14 consecutive games (conceding only 2 points in the 2nd set), the Japanese managing to interrupt the crazy series by taking the service of his rival to be led only 2-1 in the 3rd set.
For a place in the semi-finals, Khachanov will face the American Sebastian Korda or the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (at 7 a.m. the two players started the 5th set of a totally disjointed match: Hurkacz-Korda 6-3, 3-6, 2 -6, 6-1).
The tweet
Eliminated in the 3rd round 6-1, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 by the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut (n°25), Andy Murray profoundly marked the Australian Open, as recalled Todd Woodbridge, in disguise, on the set of Channel 9. On Twitter, the Scotsman, before turning the page at the end of a stunning tournament, delivered a little anecdote which recalls the path he has traveled in recent years : “
2 days ago, I came across the doctor by chance who, in 2017, told me 'the good news is that the problem you have with your hip can be fixed but you will not be able to no more playing professional sports.'' I think we've been chasing that legend for the last 5 days.
»
The
Japanese Shingo Kunieda, world No. 1 in wheelchair tennis, has announced his retirement at the age of 38.
He has won 28 Grand Slam singles titles, 22 Grand Slam doubles titles and several Paralympic medals.
He spent 582 weeks in the place of world No. 1.
To be continued
, from 9 a.m.: on the Rod Laver Arena, the clash between the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (n°3) and the Italian Jannik Sinner (n°15).
The Greek leads 4 to 1 (including a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory in the quarter-finals last year in Melbourne), followed by the match between Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and China's Lin Zhu which did not have never faced each other.