THE surprises keep coming in the women’s draw of the Australian Open, with the seeds continuing to fall.

One of the seeds to fall yesterday was Beatriz Haddad Maia, with the 10th-ranked Brazilian falling in straight sets to qualifier Maria Timofeeva 7⁹ – 6⁷, 6 – 3.

The Russian served more aces and less double faults than the Brazilian, proving efficient on serve.

Haddad Maia’s first serve in percentage may have been higher, but Timofeeva’s win percentage for both first and second serve exceeded her opponent.

Timofeeva’s next opponent is Marta Kostyuk, after the Ukranian defeated another Russian in Elina Avanesyan yesterday.

Haddad Maia was not the only seed to fall yesterday, with 28th seed Lesia Tsurenko copping the tournament’s first bagel at the hands of a dominant Aryna Sabalenka.

Barbora Krejcikova did not have an easy time of it against qualifier Storm Hunter, with the Aussie pushing her to three sets before the Czech ultimately prevailed.

With third round action finishing up today, only a maximum of 10 seeds will see the second week of this year’s Australian Open.

RESULTS:

2024 Australian Open – Day 6

A. Sabalenka [2] def. L. Tsurenko [28] 6 – 0, 6 – 0
B. Krejcikova [9] def. S. Hunter [Q] 4 – 6, 7 – 5, 6 – 3
C. Gauff [4] def. A. Parks 6 – 0, 6 – 2
M. Timofeeva [Q] def. B. Haddad Maia [10] 7⁹ – 6⁷, 6 – 3
A. Anisimova def. P. Badosa 7 – 5, 6 – 4
M. Frech def. A. Zakharova [Q] 4 – 6, 7 – 5, 6 – 4
M. Kostyuk def. E. Avanesyan 2 – 6, 6 – 4, 6 – 4
M. Andreeva def. D. Parry 1 – 6, 6 – 1, 7¹⁰ – 6⁵