Athletistic/Tennis. The 2024 Australian Open ended with Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner crowned singles winners. Arina won the title after dominating for two weeks; she didn’t lose a single set. As for Sinner, he ended Novak Djokovic’s 33-match winning streak in Melbourne in the semifinals. The Italian then made his comeback after two sets in the final against Daniil Medvedev, winning 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

There were no sensational winners this year, but a number of players were eliminated quite early, including some weaker players, and the Australian Open was not a success for them. On the women’s side, 20 seeds were eliminated in the second round, including all Russian seeds.

There weren’t many shocking results on the men’s side, but a few big names were eliminated early on. In this regard, it is worth recalling the main disappointments of the Australian Open.

Marketa Vondrousova

Reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova has become the first top-10 tennis player to be eliminated from the Australian Open. Seeded seventh in Melbourne, she was crushed by qualifier Dayana Yastremska in the first round.

The Ukrainian inflicted a crushing defeat on Vondrousova with a score of 6-1, 6-2 and finally reached the semi-finals. As for the Czech, it was her first exit from the tournament since 2020, when she failed to advance past the first round.

Jessica Pegula

Given Pegula’s reputation as a consistent tennis player over the past two years, her presence in the second week of the Australian Open was expected. Over the past three years, she has reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open three times.

So when Pegula met Clara Burel, ranked 51st in the WTA rankings, in the second round, the American was expected to win. Instead, the world number 5 lost 4-6, 2-6, her first early exit from a Grand Slam tournament since the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, when she also bowed out after the second round.

Grigor Dimitrov

Dimitrov finished last season on a high note, making the semifinals at the Shanghai Masters and finishing second at the Paris Masters. In 2024, he won the Brisbane International, his first title since the 2017 ATP Finals.

Given his form and previous results at the Australian Open, Dimitrov was expected to go far, but in the third round he lost to little-known Portuguese Nuno Borges. the latter won with a score of 7-6 (3), 4-6, 2-6, 6-7 (6).

Elena Rybakina

Last year’s Australian Open runner-up has had a brilliant start to the season. She won the Brisbane International without dropping a single set, beating Aryna Sabalenka 6-0, 6-3 in the final.

Given Rybakina’s performance, she was among the top favorites for the title in Melbourne. But already in the second round, Elena lost to Elena Blinkova in an epic match, which was ultimately recognized as the best of the Australian Open.

The fate of the match was decided by a championship tie-break, during which 42 draws were played – this is an Australian Open record.

In the end, it was Blinkova who managed to win with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (22-20).

Holger Rune

Rune is a representative of the new young generation, like Sinner, winner of the Australian Open. And we also expect a lot from him. The young Dane finished second in Brisbane ahead of the first Grand Slam of the season.

Rune beat Yoshihito Nishioka in the first round in Melbourne to move past Arthur Kazo. The Frenchman had never made it past the first round in his career, but ultimately surprised the Dane with a 7-6 (4), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory to reach the third round of the tournament.

But it’s worth recognizing that this isn’t the first early departure from TBS for Rune; he was already eliminated in the first round of last year’s US Open.

Iga Swiatek

Swiatek is ranked number one in the WTA rankings and has been dominant in recent years. She finished last season with victories at the China Open and WTA Finals, becoming world number one for the second year in a row.

Swiatek came into the Australian Open on a 16-match winning streak, but hasn’t been at her best since the start of the tournament.

Iga defeated Sofia Kenin in straight sets in the first round before narrowly missing out in the second round to Danielle Collins. In the deciding set, Swiatek trailed 1-4, but turned things around to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

However, already in the third round, Swiatek lost again, giving way to the young Czech Linda Noskova – 6-3, 3-6, 4-6.

Lyudmila Samsonova

Samsonova is the first top Russian woman to be eliminated from the Australian Open. Lyudmila lost on the first day of the competition to American Amanda Anisimova, who was not even in the top 300 of the WTA rankings, although she had already shown good results at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. At the start of the tournament, Anisimova was 339th and Samsonova 14th. But in the end, Lyudmila lost in straight sets and that was the biggest feeling of the first day of the Australian Open.

Then Anisimova overtook Nadya Podoroshka and Paula Badosa, and only in the fourth round she was stopped by Arina Sabalenko. As a result, the American climbed 125 places in the WTA rankings and this is the biggest advance among women.

Veronica Kudermetova

Kudermetova was also eliminated in the first round, the day after Samsonova. The Russian from the top 20 of the WTA ranking lost to the old Swiss Victoria Golubic, who won only one WTA-250 tournament and two WTA-125 tournaments during her career. In Tokyo, she won silver in the duet, but the rather strong Belinda Bencic played alongside her. And she was the engine of the train.

Before the tournament, Golubic was ranked 85th in the WTA rankings and had beaten Kudermetova 7-6, 1-6, 6-1. She then knocked out Katerina Sinyakova and was eliminated in the third round by Elina Svitolina.

Ekaterina Alexandrova

Alexandrova is the third Russian in the top 20 of the WTA rankings to be eliminated in the first round of the Australian Open. Her opponent was 35-year-old Laura Siegemund, who has won only 2 WTA tournaments during her career, the last in 2017. At all TBS except Roland Garros, she did not go beyond the third round and performed better shown in doubles, where she won the 2020 US Open.

Siegemund was ranked 78th in the WTA before the tournament and beat Alexandrova 6-2, 3-6, 7-6. But in the second round, she lost to the American Storm Hunter.

The early departure of all Russian seeds can generally be grouped into one category, since Anastasia Potapova (105th in the WTA rankings Kaye Juvan) also lost in the first round. And Russia’s last seed, Daria Kasatkina, was eliminated in the second round, losing to Sloane Stephens.

Vyacheslav Gorbachev/Athletistic


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