Australian Open 2024: Marketa Vondrousova crashes out after losing to Dayana Yastremska, Svitolina advances

7th seed Marketa Vondrousova failed to advance to the second round of the women’s singles.

In the Australian Open 2024. On Monday, January 15, the 2023 Wimbledon champion lost 1-6, 2-6 to Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine. Yastremska, who is ranked 93 in the world, 86 places below Vondrousova, pulled off the first major upset of the ongoing hard-court tournament at Melbourne Park.

Yastremska put her opponent under pressure right from the word go after taking a 2-0 lead in the first set with a break of serve. In absolutely no time, the 23-year-old raced to a 5-0 lead with another break, after which she closed out the opening set with ease.

Vondrousova faltered with her serve yet again in the second set, conceding two breaks to go 1-5 down. Eventually, it took Yastremska only an hour and 16 minutes to get the better of her opponent from the Czech Republic.

Vondrousova was nervous as she made 7 double faults with a winning percentage of 37 from her second serve and made 28 unforced errors. Yastremska made life tough for her with 26 winners. Yastremska will next be up against the winner of the match between Varvara Gracheva, who defeated Yanina Wickmayer in the first round.

Ukraine’s Elina Svotolina, in the meantime, made her way through to the second round of the championship. She defeated Australia’s Taylah Preston 6-2, 6-2 in the opening round. Preston converted the 2 break points that she got, but Svitolina responded with 6 of them. Preston was also let down by the 27 unforced errors that she made. Svotolina will next face Viktoriya Tomova, who beat Kayla Day 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 52 minutes.

19-year-old Linda Noskova also advanced to the second round after beating 31st seed Marie Bouzkova 1-6, 5-7 on Court 3.