ANKARA
World No.1 Iga Swiatek has been eliminated from the Australian Open 2023 by Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina on Sunday.
The Polish top seed was eliminated by the Wimbledon champion 4-6, 4-6 sets in a women’s singles round 4 match.
“For sure, (the) past two weeks have been pretty hard for me,” Swiatek said, adding: “So, I felt today that I don’t have that much to take from myself to fight even more … I felt like I took a step back in terms of how I approach these tournaments, and I maybe wanted it a little bit too hard.”
“I felt the pressure, and I felt that ‘I don’t want to lose’ instead of ‘I want to win’,” the 21-year-old said.
Rybakina, for her part, said: “It was a really tough match. I really respect Iga because the (streak) she has and her Grand Slams.”
“She’s a young player and, I think, she plays really well and, today, I think, I was serving also good, just struggling a bit on one side but in the end in the important moments I played really well so it made the difference,” she added.
Ostapenko shocks Gauff in round 4
Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia shocked world No. 7 Coco Gauff in a women’s singles round 4 match.
Ostapenko beat Gauff 7-5, 6-3 to reach her maiden Australian Open quarterfinal.
“I’m really happy with the win,” Ostapenko said.
“Of course, I knew she’s such a great player, super young, she’s playing really well and was fighting until the very last point,” she added.
Rybakina will face 2017 French Open winner Ostapenko in the quarterfinals.
