The first half of second-round matches at the Adelaide International 1 completed on Wednesday and the draw lost seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Maria Sakkari, while top-seeded Ashleigh Barty squeezed past Coco Gauff at night.
Slovenia’s world No.100 Kaja Juvan scored the biggest win of her career with a 7-6(6) 6-1 upset of second seed Aryna Sabalenka to move into the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 tournament.
The 21-year-old Juvan recovered from a break down twice in the first set, saved a set point in the tiebreak, and raced through the second set as Sabalenka lost the match with 18 double faults in 89 minutes.
World No.40 Shelby Rogers advanced to the Adelaide International quarterfinals for the second year in a row with a 7-6(5) 2-6 6-4 victory over third seed Maria Sakkari. Last year, she upset No.34 Veronika Kudermetova and No.16 Johanna Konta to reach the last eight in Adelaide.
The 29-year-old Rogers now owns five Top 10 wins in her career: besides this most recent upset of sixth-ranked Sakkari, the American’s biography includes wins over No.8 Eugenie Bouchard (2014 Montreal), No.4 Simona Halep (2017 Australian Open), No.9 Serena Williams (2020 Lexington) and No.1 Ashleigh Barty (2021 US Open).
Rogers’ quarterfinal opponent will be seventh seed Elena Rybakina, who defeated Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova 6-3 6-4.
In the last second-round match played on Wednesday, world No.1 Ashleigh Barty came back from a set and a break down to defeat Coco Gauff 4-6 7-5 6-1 and victoriously start her 2022 singles campaign. Barty (w/Sanders) and Gauff (w/McNally) also faced off in doubles yesterday, with Barty coming out on top 6-0 7-6(4).
Barty is spending her 109th week at the top of the WTA rankings (74th consecutive week).
Second-round action at the Adelaide International 1 continues on Thursday, with the following encounters:
Leylah Fernandez vs. [5] Iga Swiatek
Anastasia Gasanova vs. Misaki Doi
Victoria Azarenka vs. Priscilla Hon
Ajla Tomljanovic vs. [6] Sofia Kenin
Sabalenka is a trainwreck with the service yips. She badly needs a psychologist. Bet she wishes she hadn’t parted ways with Dmitry Tursunov.
BTW, Marija what do you think of the exemption and then denial of Nole’s visa in Australia. I see his father is rather upset..to put it mildly:
MY SON IS IN AUSTRALIAN CAPTIVITY, BUT HE HAS NEVER BEEN FREE
“My son is in Australian captivity tonight, but he has never been freer. From this moment, Novak became a symbol and leader of the free world, the world of poor and oppressed countries and peoples. My son Novak Djokovic showed that he is a small but heroic country. such as Serbia can have the best tennis player and athlete of all time and that truth can no longer be hidden.
I can imprison him tonight, I can put him in chains tomorrow, but the truth is like water and it always finds its way. Novak is the Spartacus of the new world who does not tolerate injustice, colonialism and hypocrisy, but fights for the equality of all people on the planet, regardless of their skin color, regardless of which God they pray to and how much money they have. Novak has shown that any goal can be achieved if you have your dreams, and that dream, together with it, is shared by billions of people and children who see their role model in it.
The rich world may not allow Nole to continue playing tennis, but it will reveal his true face and thus start a far more serious game. On one side, there will be greedy and arrogant members of the world oligarchy, and on the other, a whole libertarian and proud world that still believes in justice, truth, fair play and the dreams of its children. ”
Srdjan Djokovic
Is Petra Kvitova playing in this tournament?
Jim, I think this vaccination issue is going too far. It is unfortunate that Novak, or anyone, is going through all this. I understand that rules are rules, but when you look realistically, is Novak really such a medical threat to Australia? I am sorry that he is going through all this. It would’ve been better that he had been denied right away and didn’t even travel to Australia.
However, I also absolutely understand Melbourne residents. They endured the hardest lockdowns, the majority got vaccinated, and it is reasonable that they are enraged if someone tries to bend the rules in a way, or be an exception.
Mentality of Serbian people is very different. In Serbia, rules can always be adjusted (which apparently has its good and bad sides). People in Serbia don’t think about corona too much and life is going on pretty much as normal (although there is a lot of pressure from the media). About 50% people are vaccinated, 50% are not, and although there is tension between these two “clans”, I hope that as time goes by we will put this issue aside and be united, as it is the most important thing.
Albert Kessler, Kvitova was upset on Day 1: https://womenstennisblog.com/2022/01/03/hon-upsets-kvitova-sakkari-wins-adelaide/
I really think the Australian National government (Border Force) is making a political issue about the Djokovic visa situation. The Victorian State government and Tennis Australia had already granted the Medical exemption, just like they did for Tennys Sandgren (who is not vaccinated), and a few other players who were let into the country. The Border Force is just trying to show their muscle, that we will not let you break our rules just because of your status. Novak seems to always get a bad rap…you can bet your bottom dollar had the same situation happened with Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal, they would have been treated much differently and be let it with no fanfare or grief.
Jim, I agree. Novak’s father says that Tennis Australia submitted all the documents for Novak (not Novak’s team), just like they did for other players, and all of a sudden it turns out that Novak’s documentation is faulty. Novak is now held in some dirty room (cell) and all his belongings except for his phone have been taken away from him, even his wallet. He can’t even change his clothes or wash his face. Really bad. In Belgrade there was a protest this afternoon to set Novak free and also a press conference with his parents.