By Shrivathsa Sridhar
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Zheng Qinwen was the first big name to exit the women’s draw at the Australian Open on Wednesday after the Olympic champion was stunned by Laura Siegemund while top seed Aryna Sabalenka made heavy weather of her second round match before going through.
Jessica Pegula, who lost to Sabalenka in last year’s U.S. Open final, safely advanced while Tokyo Olympics champion Belinda Bencic moved on after a brief spell of rain delayed proceedings on the outer courts on the fourth day.
China’s Zheng had been bidding to emulate compatriot Li Na’s 2014 triumph at Melbourne Park but her hopes evaporated on John Cain Arena, where unseeded German Siegemund pulled off a stunning 7-6(3) 6-3 victory.
The fifth seed left the court looking like she was about to burst into tears while world number 97 Siegemund was beaming from ear to ear after a famous win.
“I knew I just had to play more than my best tennis – you have nothing to lose so I told myself to swing free,” Siegemund said on court.
“She’s an amazing player, she’s one of the best players now. But I know I can play and I wanted to maker it a tough fight.”
Zheng said it was just not her day.
“I had a lot of chances to break her in the first set but you know in that moment maybe my concentration wasn’t there,” the 22-year-old said.
“At the same time, I felt she was playing really good. It’s tennis, nothing more.”
Sabalenka is bidding to become the first woman to win three straight titles at Melbourne Park since Martina Hingis from 1997-99 and while the Belarusian beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-3 7-5 she did not have it all her own way.
After easing through the first two games of the match on Rod Laver Arena, Sabalenka twice swapped breaks with the world number 54 before taking control for a 5-2 lead and closing out the opening set on serve.
The three-times Grand Slam champion’s serve came under intense pressure in the next set and she found herself trailing 4-1 as an inspired Bouzas Maneiro began hitting stinging winners on both sides of the court.
Sabalenka found a spark from somewhere and fought back from 5-2 to level at 5-5 and fired a backhand winner to break again in the next game before wrapping up the contest to extend her win streak at the hardcourt major to 16.
“She played incredible tennis today and it was a really tough one,” Sabalenka said.
“I mean, I expected this tennis from her, so I’m really glad that I was able to win this match.
“In the second set … I wasn’t rushing too much after 5-2, I was like, ‘okay, whatever, we just leave this second set and we move on. And yeah, I was able to turn it around.
“I’m super happy with the win in straight sets, especially against someone like her, who makes you work for every point.”
American seventh seed Pegula beat Belgian Elise Mertens 6-4 6-2 on Margaret Court Arena while Bencic beat Suzan Lamens 6-1 7-6(3) after Olga Danilovic stunned 25th seed Liudmila Samsonova 6-1 6-2.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar, Lidia Kelly and Ian Ransom in Melbourne; additional reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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