Wimbledon champ Rybakina sends top seed Swiatek crashing out of Oz Open

World No 1 Iga Swiatek crashed out of the Australian Open on Sunday with a 6-4 6-4 defeat by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina on Rod Laver Arena.

Kazakhstan's Rybakina advanced to the quarterfinals of the season's opening Grand Slam for the first time with an impressive display against the misfiring Pole.

“It was a really tough match and I really respect Iga because of the strike she has and the Grand Slams,” said Rybakina.

“She's a young player and she plays really well. Today I think was also serving well, just struggling on one side.

“Then in the important moments I played really well and it made a difference.”

Rybakina, seeded 22nd, will face Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in the quarterfinals.

Swiatek, the reigning French and US Open champion, got off to a rough start, surrendering her opening service game after receiving a warning from the chair umpire over the time she took for her prematch preparations.

She fought back to level the scores by the fourth game but Rybakina would break again, clinically punishing the Pole's second serve to take the opening set.

Swiatek looked to have recovered after she rattled off three straight games at the start of the second set behind a more aggressive forehand, only for Rybakina to haul herself level with another break of serve.

The Russia-born right-hander broke Swiatek again at 4-4 in the second set before holding her own serve in convincing fashion to close out the match.

Jelena Ostapenko emerged from four years in the Grand Slam wilderness to upset American seventh seed Coco Gauff 7-5 6-3 and reach her first Australian Open quarterfinal.

The 25-year-old Latvian had stunned the world in 2017 when she beat Simona Halep in the French Open final before being written off as a “one-Slam wonder” for failing to make much of an impression at the majors in recent years.

But on Sunday, on a Margaret Court Arena bathed in sunshine, Ostapenko announced her return to the big time with a power-hitting clinic against Gauff, the 18-year-old hyped as a title threat and potential long-term successor to Serena Williams.

“I always knew and believed in my game,” Ostapenko said.

“If I play well, I can beat almost anyone. I was trying to work more on my consistency, especially in the preseason. Yeah, just to step on the court and play my game.

“I think I'm doing it quite well this week.”

The win was Ostapenko's first over a top 10 player at a Grand Slam in three years and secured her first ticket to a major quarterfinal since her run to the Wimbledon semifinals in 2018.

A downcast Gauff converted only one of eight break points and was reduced to tears in the post-match media conference.

It was a big setback for the highly fancied American after reaching the final at Roland Garros and the US Open quarterfinals.

“When you play a player like her and she plays really well, it's like, you know, there's nothing you can do,” said Gauff.

“I feel like it was rough ... So it's a little bit frustrating on that part.”

American Sebastian Korda reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time on Sunday after defeating Poland's Hubert Hurkacz 3-6 6-3 6-2 1-6 7-6 (10-7).

Korda, who dumped 2021 and 2022 runner-up Daniil Medvedev out in the third round, got off to a shaky start on Rod Laver Arena against Hurkacz but the 29th seed bounced back to take the second and third sets.