A COUPLE of seeded encounters ended in intriguing upsets during the beginning of the Round of 32 at the Australian Open, as the first weekend of zero spectators at the Melbourne Park event began.

Whilst the top seeds of the day in Ash Barty and Elina Svitolina were successful in their pursuits, and a trio of Americans impressed as the competition tightened, Karolina Pliskova, Belinda Bencic and Anett Kontaveit all were left behind on day six after all going down in straight sets to their respective opposition. Pliskova came away runner up in one of the tightest encounters of the day, going down to compatriot and 25th seed Karolina Muchova 7-6 7-6 in just under two hours, with a huge comeback from the lower ranked Czech doing wonders for her second week chances, coming back from 5-0 in the second set to reign supreme in the tiebreaker.

“The feeling was not great from any of the matches here. Some were a little bit better, some were a little bit worse,” Pliskova said.

“I think overall, too many mistakes, too much panic in the rallies. “I don’t know if it’s just not having any matches much lately, even last year. I don’t feel safe with anything that I was really doing on the court.

“I thought there were couple close games where I could really go 6-0,” Pliskova said. There was a long game for 5-1 and 6-0.

“I thought she just played a little bit better at this moment. Of course, I played quite amazing to 5-0, but then it’s quite tough to hold this level for a longer time. I was going for big shots.”

While Pliskova hit three more aces (6-3) and two more winners (24-22), she also hit eight more unforced errors (40-32) and was not quite as consistent off her serve, as Muchova well and truly took advantage of a rough day on the park from her higher ranked opposition. The same could not be said for Bencic though, with the 11th seed disposed of quickly and efficiently by 18th seed Elise Mertens 6-2 6-1 in the shortest match of the day, just 62 minutes. Interestingly, the remaining short encounter played out between the last upset to round out the set of three, as unseeded American Shelby Rogers overcame 21st seed Anett Kontveit in 68 minutes. She joins 22nd seed Jennifer Brady and Jessica Pegula in the Round of 16, whilst Kontaveit’s compatriot Kaia Kanepi was disposed of in the lone three-setter of the day,  as 28th seed Donna Vekic overcame the power-hitter 5-7 7-6 6-4.

While not quite as remarkable as some of the other matches on day six, Barty’s solid victory over 29th seed Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova and Svitolina’s win against 26th seed Kazakh Yulia Putintseva were no easy feats, as the two top five talents proved just why they are capable of going all the way.

ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[1] Ash Barty (AUS) defeated [29] Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) 6-2 6-4
[5] Elina Svitolina (UKR) defeated [26] Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 6-4 6-0
[25] Karolina Muchova (CZE) defeated [6] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 7-5 7-5
[18] Elise Mertens (BEL) defeated [11] Belinda Bencic [SUI) 6-2 6-1
Shelby Rogers (USA) defeated [21] Anett Kontaveit (EST) 6-4 6-3
[22] Jennifer Brady (USA) defeated [Q] Kaja Juvan (SLO) 6-1 6-3
[28] Donna Vekic (CRO) defeated Kaia Kanepi (EST) 5-7 7-6 6-4
Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 6-2 6-1

Picture credit: Getty Images