IF Day 5 seemed like carnage on the women’s draw, then Day 6 was the follow-up, with a three top six seeds out in straight sets, and two of them winning a combined four games.

Sixth seed, Belinda Bencic was blown away by 28th seed, Anett Kontaveit who continued her dazzling Open form to move into the fourth round. Bencic simply had no answers for the red-hot Estonian who restricted her opponent to just one game in a 49-minute rout. Kontaveit only lost nine points on-serve, with three of those double faults in the serving performance of the tournament. She broke five times and hit 21 winners with only seven unforced errors compared to her Swiss opponents’ 11 and 18 respectively. It was a game to forget for Bencic who bows out in the Round of 32, but it was a case of Kontaveit simply being the far better player on the day.

Poland’s Iga Swiatek also caused an upset to move through to the Round of 16 with a straight sets win over 19th seed, Donna Vekic. The Polish teenager is ranked 56th in the world but showed she has a bright future by reaching the fourth round of the Open to equal her French Open effort last year. She reached the second round of Melbourne Park 12 months ago but has eclipsed that by at least two rounds with the one-hour 44-minute victory over the Croatian seed. She served up six aces and hit 29 winners to go with 24 unforced errors, while recording a first serve winning percentage of 78. Vekic struggled on her second serve with just a 44 per cent success rate, and hit 32 unforced errors to go with 18 winners. While Swiatek only won 15 more points, it was enough to win in the straight sets with three breaks from eight opportunities.

It was business as usual for the world number four with Simona Halep breezing through to the fourth round with a 6-1 6-4 victory over Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva. Given the casualties in that half of the draw, it leaves Halep as the only top 10 player to reach the semi-finals. Halep won the match in 78 minutes with a successful 77 per cent first serve winning percentage, as well as breaking five times to two and hitting 26 winners to 13. She has been flying under the radar at the Australian Open, but continued her good form with just the 15 unforced errors in the match.

Now the fourth round sees a highly anticipated match between fourth seed Halep, and 16th seed, Elise Mertens. The Belgian had an unusual clash with American Catherine Bellis, with two winning sets where she only dropped a combined game either side of a tiebreaker loss. Mertens won 6-1 6-7 6-0 in just under two hours of action thanks to 12 aces and 38 winners, as well as only 33 unforced errors. Bellis recorded the 16 winners but 34 unforced errors, and while she could only break once – Mertens broke a massive seven times and won 44 per cent of her receiving points. The Belgian was also dominant on her first serve, only dropping 10 points on it fo the match, while Bellis could only win half of her first serve points.

[28] A. Kontaveit (EST) defeated [6] B. Bencic (SUI) 6-0 6-1
I. Swiatek (POL) defeated [19] D. Vekic (CRO) 7-5 6-3
[16] E. Mertens (BEL) defeated C. Bellis (USA) 6-1 6-7 6-0
[4] S. Halep (ROU) defeated Y. Putintseva (KAZ) 6-1 6-4

World number two Karolina Pliskova lost her match to 30th seed Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenko in two tiebreakers. The Russian won 7-4 and 7-3 in the tiebreakers, and only five more points overall in an evenly points match. Statistically, Pliskova was was strong across the board, hitting 35 winners and 29 unforced errors compared to her opponents’ 51 and 42. She was more prominent at the net with a 70 per cent success rate, and broke twice, the same amount as Pavlyuchenko. But the Russian was more efficient with her first serve, winning 74 per cent of her points and while she did not make the most of her break point opportunities – twice from 15 chances – she won 38 per cent of her receiving points and stepped up in the two critical tiebreakers.

Now the 30th seed faces former Open champion, Angelique Kerber who overcame Italian, Camila Giorgi in three sets. She cruised to a 6-2 lead after one set, but the German did not have it all her own way as the 28-year-old Italian hit back to win the second set tiebreaker, 7-4. The 17th seed then settled to run out the winner 6-2 6-7 6-3 in two hours and eight minutes. Giorgi’s serving early was atrocious with eight double faults in the first set, but steadied with only three more in the next two sets. Kerber only recorded the two for the match and hit 15 winners for 16 unforced errors, while Giorgi rolled the dice with 49 and 65 respectively. In the end, Giorgi preferred the serve-volley technique which suits her style, while Kerber is more of the consistent counter puncher, breaking five times and winning 75 per cent of her first serve points.

Meanwhile fellow Grand Slam champion, Garbine Muguruza could face off against Kerber as if the stars had wound back the clock, following a straight sets smashing over fifth seed, Elina Svitolina 6-1 6-2. Muruguza booked a fourth round date with ninth seed, Kiki Bertens after the comprehensive Round of 32 victory. Muguruza needed just 67 minutes to claim victory, downing the Ukranian thanks to 31 winners and only nine unforced errors. Svitolina had 12 of each, and won just 53 per cent of her first serve points, as the Spaniard completely took control of the match. Muguruza won 54 per cent of her receiving points, and only dropped four points on her first serve for the whole match.

Finally, Bertens rounds out the Round of 16 action following her win over Zarina Diyas. The Kazakhstan player had made a good run at this open but it came to an end at the hands of the top 10 player, 6-3 7-6. Bertens won in an hour and 35 minutes on Margaret Court Arena, winning 76 per cent of her first serve points, breaking three times and hitting 35 winners in a clean display of skill. She also won 42 per cent of her receiving points as Diyas could only manage the 59 per cent off her first serve and 43 per cent off her second serve, dishing up 19 winners but 28 unforced errors. Now Bertens will need to find a way to win against a player who has already been there and done it in Grand Slams.

G. Muguruza (ESP) defeated [5] E. Svitolina (UKR) 6-1 6-2
[9] K. Bertens (NED) defeated Z. Diyas (KAZ) 6-2 7-6
[17] A. Kerber (GER) defeated C. Giorgi (ITA) 6-2 6-7 6-3
[30] A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) defeated [2] K. Pliskova (CZE) 7-6 7-6