Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia celebrates during the women's singles third round match against Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic at the 2020 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 25, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhu Hongye)
Czech star Karolina Pliskova is the latest champion to exit the Australian Open following Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka.
MELBOURNE, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Karolina Pliskova has become the latest champion to exit the women's draw of the Australian Open on Saturday, losing to Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3).
The Czech World No. 2 joins the likes of Serena Williams and defending champion Naomi Osaka who both also bowed out in the third round the day before.
Williams lost in three sets to China's Wang Qiang, while Osaka crumbled at the hands of 15-year-old, Coco Gauff.
Just 12 months ago, Pliskova made an unimpeded run to the Australian Open semifinals, but this year her lacklustre effort in the third round cost her a repeat performance.
The Czech former World No. 1 said that upsets were part of the sport, and when players don't play to their full ability, as she did, it can cost dearly.
Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic reacts during the women's singles third round match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia at the 2020 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 25, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhu Hongye)
"For me, it's not surprising these upsets, not even one from yesterday, not even mine of today. I think that's normal in this sport," she said.
Not long after Pliskova's defeat, sixth seeded Swiss player, Belinda Bencic joined the exit crew in spectacular fashion, going down to Estonian Anett Kontaveit, 6-0, 6-1.
Bencic agreed that upsets are a part of tennis, adding that it was unusual that no top ten seeds lost in the first round of this tournament.
"It's the same on every Grand Slam. There is upsets, and I think it's normal, because, yeah, it's tennis, and tennis is very unpredictable," she said.
Bucking the trend was Romanian World ranked No. 3, Simona Halep, who won her tie against Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, 6-1, 6-4 to progress to the final 16. ■
