Iga Swiatek, the world no 1 and tournament top seed, was dumped out of the Australian Open on Saturday, losing 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Czech teenager Linda Noskova in the third round.
The Pole's wait for a first title at Melbourne Park goes on after this collapse, which came after two difficult matches against Sofia Kenin and then Danielle Collins in the last round. Noskova became the first teenager to knock out the top-ranked player at the Australian Open since Amelie Mauresmo beat Lindsay Davenport in 1999.
"I'm speechless, I knew it was going to be an amazing match with the world number one and such a player, but I didn't really think it would end up like this," said the 19-year-old Noskova.
Noskova looked on paper to be a potential banana skin for Swiatek with three top-10 wins to her name, but the Pole seemed in no mood to be dragged into another scrap as she broke in the sixth game and held to love in the next.
Having wrapped up the first set, the 22-year-old Swiatek looked to take control but Noskova held firm and turned the tables, responding with some dynamic hitting of her own to break and then level the match.
The Czech broke early in the decider and despite Swiatek briefly levelling, got her nose in front again and served for the match to seal a big upset.
"I was shaking a little," Noskova said about serving for the victory. "I didn't hit two first serves which was not the best start for me but I pulled out an ace."
Meanwhile, two-time runner-up Daniil Medvedev swept past Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime to power into the last 16.
The Russian third seed won 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 and set up a clash against Portugal's world number 69 Nuno Borges, who upset Bulgarian 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov in four sets.
It was a vastly different match from his late-night escape from two sets down against Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori in the second round, a contest that finished at 3:40am on Friday.
Medvedev admitted the early-hours finish had taken its toll, saying he had not got to bed until 7am.
"It was not easy, I'm not feeling fresh, I'm not feeling 100 per cent," said the Russian, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2021 Melbourne Park final and Rafael Nadal a year later.
"It was tough, especially after the last match I had. I felt it was hard for me when I ran, so I tried to always give him a tough shot so I didn't have to run. Finally, especially in the third set, I managed to pull off some good shots and am happy about my game."
Cameron Norrie produced his best ever grand slam victory to reach the fourth round for the first time.
Norrie had never beaten a player ranked as high as world number 11 Casper Ruud at a major tournament and had lost all three previous matches against the Norwegian, who is a three-time major finalist.
But the 28-year-old played with purpose to claim a 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory.
He said: “It’s so special. I just kept a really good level throughout the match. I’ve been working really hard in the off-season on trying to be a little bit more aggressive. I managed to free up in the match and I really let go.”
Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round for the first time after opponent Shang Juncheng retired with injury in the third set.
Remarkably, this was 20-year-old Alcaraz’s first experience of playing a younger player in his 201st tour level match, but it was barely a contest, the second seed dropping just two games before Shang called it a day trailing 6-1, 6-1, 1-0.
Elsewhere, two-time champion Victoria Azarenka beat 11th seed Jelena Ostapenko and Chinese 12th seed Zheng Qinwen defeated her compatriot Wang Yafan to go through.
