Women's seeds tumble at Australian Open as Medvedev faces Kyrgios test

MELBOURNE: Garbine Muguruza was among several seeds to fall on a day of shocks at the Australian Open on Thursday (Jan 19) ahead of men's title favourite Daniil Medvedev and Nick Kyrgios squaring off in a blockbuster encounter.

Third seed Muguruza and sixth seed Anett Kontaveit both suffered second-round upsets in straight sets, opening up the bottom half of the women's draw.

WTA Finals winner Muguruza struggled with her serve against 61st-ranked veteran Alize Cornet, losing 6-3, 6-3 in 1hr 27min.

"I am a bit of a dinosaur on the tour," said Cornet, who turns 32 on Saturday. "I've been there for 16 years so I have played a lot of matches and faced a lot of situations that I have overcome."

Kontaveit, seen by many as a serious title contender after a breakout 2021, committed 27 unforced errors as she was stunned 6-2, 6-4 by fast-rising Danish teenager Clara Tauson.

But second seed Aryna Sabalenka lives to fight another day, just, after coming from a set down for the second successive match to beat China's world No 100 Wang Xinyu.

The Belarusian has struggled with her serve since arriving in Australia and totted up 19 double faults - six in the opening game alone - before managing to drag herself through 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.

In the men's draw, Australian wildcard Chris O'Connell continued the day of upsets with a straight-sets win over 13th seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-4.

World number 175 O'Connell, who has reached the third round of a Slam for the first time, faces America's Maxime Cressy.

Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas -- chasing a first major title -- avoided the carnage but did not have it all his own way in a 7-6 (7/1), 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 win over former world number one junior Sebastian Baez of Argentina.

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