Seeds Garbiñe Muguruza, Anett Kontaveit depart Australian Open in second round

Former Australian Open finalist Garbiñe Muguruza crashed out of this year's tournament as she succumbed to a surprise second-round 6-3, 6-3 loss to France's Alize Cornet.

Cornet gave the Spanish number three seed little respite throughout her straight-sets win to advance to the next round, where she will face either Heather Watson or Tamara Zidanšek.

«I feel amazing and I think I played a great match out there today,» Cornet said in her courtside interview.

«My state of mind was perfect, I was super focused on what I had to do.

»I felt like in a bubble and you always have to play a super good match to beat Garbiñe as she's such a fighter."

Cornet made a rapid start, securing an early break and kept Muguruza — the 2020 Australian Open runner-up and former world number one — under constant pressure to close out the set.

It was a similar story in the second set, even as Muguruza attempted to fight back, but a series of unforced errors and Cornet's determination saw the Frenchwoman close out the match.

Joining Muguruza in making an early exit was sixth seed Anett Kontaveit, who lost 6-2, 6-4 to 19-year-old Clara Tauson.

Meanwhile, former French Open champion Iga Świątek booked her place in the third round, the seventh seed advancing with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Sweden's Rebecca Peterson.

In the men's draw, last year's quarter-finalist Andrey Rublev made short work of Ricardas Berankis with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 win over the unseeded Lithuanian to reach the third round for the fourth time.

The Russian fifth seed next meets Marin Čilić or Norbert Gombos.

Great Britain's Dan Evans — the men's number 24 seed — moved through to the next round after his opponent, Arthur Rinderknech, pulled out with a wrist injury.

Reuters