Sport

Australian Open top seed Iga Świątek shocked by 19yo Linda Nosková in third round

What a momentous night at this year's Australian Open, with the women's top seed Iga Świątek going down to world number 50 Linda Nosková in the biggest upset of the tournament.

Tonight we had Daniil Medvedev, Elina Svitolina and Alex Zverev go through, and in case you forgot, the early headlines belonged to second seed Carlos Alcaraz and veteran Adrian Mannarino.

Tomorrow night we'll see Australian number one Alex de Minaur, with 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic playing his fourth-round match in the daylight, something he hasn't done here in three years.

Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka and US Open winner Coco Gauff are also among the earlier starters, with Jannik Sinner and 16-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva also ones to watch.

But really, as we head into the second week of the tournament, every match is the biggest match of someone's life.

Can't wait to bring it all to you. But until then, you stay classy.

He was pushed to a tie-break by American 19-year-old Alex Michelsen, but sixth seed Alex Zverev was in a different class tonight and runs out a 6-2, 7-6(7/4), 6-2 winner in two hours exactly, right on the stroke of midnight.

It's about time he had a chill, relatively easy match, because his first round lasted more than three hours, and his second took four-and-a-half against Slovakia's Lukas Klein.

The German goes through to the fourth round to take on Great Britain's Cam Norrie.

Sixth seed Alex Zverev has just won the second-set tie-break against 19-year-old American Alex Michelsen, who lifted his game massively in that frame.

After dropping the first set 6-2 in just over 30 minutes, the second set last nearly an hour as the American found his radar and was leading the breaker 4-2 but let it slip.

Zverev won the second set on a very tight baseline call though, and Michelsen needs to try to refocus now after getting a bit tetchy after seeing the replay that showed it clipping the back of the line.

You may not know much about the 19-year-old who just took down world number one Iga Świątek, so here's a quick crash course.

• She was born in the town of Vsetín, which is a town of about 25,000 people near the Czechia-Slovakia border.
• She made two finals in 2023, in Adelaide and Prague, losing to Aryna Sabalenka and Nao Hibino.
• Ranked 50th in the world (although that will climb after this remarkable Australian Open debut) she is the eighth highest ranked Czech player in the WTA.
• She reached a career-high ranking of 40 in October last year.
• Nosková made the semifinals of the Brisbane International just before the Australian Open, losing to eventual winner Elena Rybakina.
  
• This year marks her first time playing the main draw at the Australian Open, although she has played all the other majors at least once since the 2022 French Open.
  
• Beat compatriot Marie Bouzková in the first round and American McCartney Kessler in the second.

Ukrainian 19th seed Elina Svitolina races through her match with Viktorija Golubic, taking down the world number 85 for her third successive straight-sets victory.

This one took just 64 minutes and — at 6-2, 6-3 — was actually her closest match of the tournament.

Svitolina dropped just four games in each of her first two matches against Taylah Preston and Viktoriya Tomova. She's spent barely more than three hours on court in this tournament.

Svitolina is one of those players who is always there or there about and just hasn't broken through for the big result at grand slams.

She's 29 years old and been playing majors since 2012. She's been as high as number three in the rankings and has 17 WTA titles under her belt.

She's made it to the last eight of a slam 10 times and done it on all three surfaces. She's a three-time semifinalist but never broken through to the final.

Is this her year?

It's gonna

In all the befuddlement around Linda Nosková's victory, Elina Svitolina is out on Margaret Court Arena taking on Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic.

Nineteenth seed Svitolina tore through the first set 6-2 in just over 30 minutes.

She's vying for a fourth-round showdown with Nosková.

It won't surprise you to know that the 50th-ranked player in the world beating the top seed has completely changed the complexion of the draw.

The top half of the women's singles now has just one major winner left, 18th seed Victoria Azarenka, and she last won a slam at the 2013 Australian Open.

World number 15 Qinwen Zheng is now the highest seed in the top half of the draw, and she is set to face unseeded Frenchwoman Oceane Dodin in the round of 16.

Meanwhile, the bottom half of the draw is a meat grinder, featuring second seed and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, fourth seed and most recent slam winner Coco Gauff, and ninth seed and 2021 French Open winner Barbora Krejčíková.

Sabalenka and Gauff are now surely heavy favourites for the tournament, and they would meet in the semifinals if they make it that far.

Nineteen-year-old Czech Linda Nosková has scored the biggest win of her career, taking down world number one Iga Świątek in three tough sets on Rod Laver Arena.

Świątek is the first women's top seed to be knocked out of the Australian Open before the fourth round since 1979, when Romanian Virginia Ruzici lost her opening clash.

Nosková wins 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to pull off the biggest upset of the tournament.

"I'm speechless," Nosková says on court.

"I didn't really think it would end up like this."

Just a quick reminder that this is her first time in the main draw of the Australian Open and she says she was shaking "a little" as she tried to serve out the match at 5-4.

Świątek threatened to break straight back as she jumped out to 0-30, but Nosková re-centred and nailed her first and only match point, dropping to her haunches and putting her face into her towel as she sat down after a gracious handshake with Świątek.

"I [missed my] first two first serves, but then I pulled out an ace. It's easier like that."

Apparently some fans were cheering for "Aussie Linda". And she says she's on board with the nickname.

"I'm ready, just say so.

"Thank you so much for the support. It was amazing to play here for the first time."

And she writes "First time feels different" on the camera lens as she walks off.

Linda Nosková has broken and held serve to move within one game of knocking our world number one Iga Świątek.

Świątek holds serve at 3-5 to stay in the match, but Nosková will serve for it.

The third-seeded Russian makes it 7-0 against Canada's Felix Auger Aliassime with a pretty straightforward victory in the end.

This is Medvedev's fifth trip to the second week at the Australian Open and he'll next face Nuno Borges, Portugal's world number 69, who just beat 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-7(3/7), 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(8/6).

The world number one looked completely switched on in that game and jumped out to a 0-40 lead, ultimately breaking from 15-40.

Świątek went after all her returns hard and really wanted to not just break back, but make a statement as she did so.

The 19-year-old Czech is leading Iga Świątek 2-1 in the third set with the break in hand thanks to some heavy hitting.

Świątek looks unsettled. She's talking to her coaches' box and the umpire quite a bit, I think about fans moving around between games.

Bear in mind, Świątek was down two breaks in the third set against Danielle Collins, who won 10 of 11 games to reach 4-1, before the world number one came back.

We've got a pause here as a spectator is seen to by paramedics. Doesn't seem like there's an awful lot of concern, so hopefully everyone's OK.

The two-time Australian Open runner-up has a two-sets-to-love lead over 27th seed Felix Auger Aliassime on Margaret Court Arena.

The third-seeded Russian is looking to make it 7-0 against his Canadian opponent, whose only loss before the fourth round at Melbourne Park was his debut in 2020.

The 19-year-old Czech star matches Świątek with a 6-3 win in the second set, taking us into a decider on Rod Laver Arena.

Nosková has hit seven more aces and six more winners than her more decorated opponent, who has left the court between sets.

Nosková is absolutely belting the ball, and the winners vs unforced error count has flipped for her. She hit 11 winners to 16 unforced errors in the first set, and that turned into 15-12 in the second.

It doesn't sound like much, but in a tight contest, those are the margins that matter.

The British 19th seed is through to the round of 16 at the Australian Open for the first time after taking out 11th seed Casper Ruud in four sets at John Cain Arena.

Norrie got to the net a whopping 55 times and won 40 of those points. He also fought off nine of the 10 break points he faced.

"I've been working really hard in the off-season to be more aggressive. I was coming forward a lot and volleyed really well. I played really free."

For Ruud, it might be time for some soul searching because this is the eighth time in the past 11 slams he has fallen before the fourth round.

Mixed in there are three finals ('22 French and US Open, '23 French), but also five second-round exits, two thirds and a first-round loss.

Real feast or famine stuff for an undeniably brilliant claycourt star.

Both sets ended just seconds apart and had some similarities, so let's just lump them in together shall we?

World number one Iga Świątek won the opening set against Linda Nosková in 43 minutes on Rod Laver Arena, while Daniil Medvedev took the first frame from Felix Auger Aliassime in 46 minutes. Both at 6-3.

They were both pretty routine sets, although their opponents are making them work for it.

But both Świątek and Medvedev are simply phenomenal at turning defence into attack time and time again with effort and funky angles.

Cameron Norrie is one set away from his first trip to the fourth round of the Australian Open, winning the third frame of his match against 11th seed Casper Ruud 6-4.

Adrian Mannarino isn't your typical professional tennis player.

This much was evident after his tight five-set win over 16th seed Ben Shelton last night.

When asked during his on-court interview what was the secret to his career-best form at age 35, he was honest with his reply.

"I started [drinking] tequila," Mannarino said, attracting a collective laugh from the crowd.

"That helps to not think too much. You just keep going. Sometimes you need to clear your brain, stop thinking about the past and just keep going. Don't look back."

Follow the link below to read the full article by Luke Pentony: