Czech tennis talent Linda Noskova was the sensation of the day at the Australian Open tennis championship. In the third round of the women’s circuit, she eliminated the top-seeded and the world’s number one Iga Swiatek by 2-1 (3:6, 6:3, 6:4). Thus the Polish woman’s hopes for a first title in Australia and a fifth Grand Slam trophy in total.
The Polish player, who is usually a dominant competitor and often beats 6:0 even, is far from her face in Melbourne. She had to go through a tiebreak in her first match against Sofia Kenin (USA), and then with a lot of trouble she also dealt with Danielle Collins (USA). In the fourth round, Linda Noskova will face Elina Svitolina (Ukraine), who defeated Viktorija Golubic (Switzerland).
In 2022, Iga Swiatek reached the quarterfinals in Australia, which is also her best achievement here. Last year she was stopped by Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) in the third round. Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus is defending her title from the previous edition.
It was clear that the 19-year-old Linda Noskova would be a tough opponent, both because of her three wins over top-10 competitors and because of the ambitious matches so far. But the top-seeded Iga Swiatek appeared to be in no mood for giveaways and broke in the sixth game before taking her serve to pull ahead in the sets.
The 22-year-old Iga Swiatek lowered the intensity a bit in the second set, attacking from difficult positions from the very beginning, firing powerful and hard-to-reflect forehands. However, Linda Noskova was excellent with her feet and in defense and did not let this scenario throw her off balance. And he held his own, responding with some explosive shots of his own, breaking through to make it 5:3. Then, on the second attempt, she took the serve and equalized the total score.
There was a forced stoppage in play as medics had to administer first aid to a supporter who had taken ill. In the third set, Iga Swiatek seemed to have found her form. the two exchanged one break each, but Linda Noskova made a new and decisive one for 4:3 and then with her serve closed the match for 6:4.
Elina Svitolina qualified for the fourth round of the Australian Open, winning by 2-0 (6:2, 6:3) against Viktorija Golubic. The 29-year-old Svitolina had a total of five breaks to just two for the Swiss in the 66-minute match.
Viktorija Golubic suffered a second loss in a total of three meetings with Elina Svitolina.
