By Zheng Qinwen, last year’s beaten Australian Open finalist, became the highest seed to fall so far in this year’s tournament after she was stunned by world No. 97 Laura Siegemund in the second round.
Zheng, the fifth seed in Melbourne, was beaten 7-6 (3), 6-3 by the 36-year-old German veteran, who has now reached the third round Down Under for just the third time in her career.
“Not much to say because I tried to do what I can during this match, but I feel maybe today is not my day,” Zheng told reporters after the game. “There are a lot of details on the important points that I didn’t make the right choice.
“I had a lot of chances to break her in the first set, but in that moment, maybe my concentration wasn’t there, I always made an easy mistake in those moments.”
Twice during the match Zheng, who claimed the women’s singles gold medal at the Paris Olympics, was hit with a time violation while preparing to serve.
One came at a crucial moment in the second set when Zheng was serving at 1-2, 15-30. During a heated exchange with the umpire, the 22-year-old said she couldn’t see the clock from where she was serving.
The umpire then told Zheng she needed to look at the clock before she started preparing to serve.
After the back-and-forth, Zheng shanked her subsequent second serve straight into the floor and went on to lose her service game, which proved to be the decisive break in the second set.
“From my angle, the time was on the side, so I couldn’t see if I bounced the ball, I couldn’t catch the time, so I didn’t know if I was late or early,” Zheng explained. “I was so surprised to get that second serve (after the violation), it’s never happened to me before.
“That one really distracted me from the match. It’s the first time I’ve had this situation with a time violation. This is my fourth year on the tour and it had never happened to me.”
Elsewhere in the women’s bracket, two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka was made to work hard for her win by Spain’s Jéssica Bouzas.
Sabalenka had to fight back from 2-5 down in the second set but eventually reached the third round after winning 6-3, 7-5.
Naomi Osaka, another two-time Australian Open champion, came from a set down to record an impressive 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over 20th seed Karolína Muchová, while Coco Gauff, the USA’s best hope Down Under, eased past Great Britain’s Jodie Burrage 6-3, 7-5.
