Australian Open 2024: Major heartbreaks plague the tournament featuring Holger Rune, Elena Rybakina, and Andy Murray

The 2024 Australian Open has already seen quite a few upsets featuring Elena Rybakina, Holger Rune, and Andy Murray.


Australian Open 2024: Major heartbreaks plague the tournament featuring Holger Rune, Elena Rybakina, and Andy Murray

Holger Rune, Elena Rybakina, Andy Murray (Images via: Imago)

The 2024 Australian Open is in its third round with half of the third-round matches done and dusted. Like every year, there have been quite a few surprises for the fans with below-ranked players outshining the stars of the game.

The likes of Elena Rybakina, Andy Murray, and Holger Rune have had to face early exits with shocking defeats, or better-called upsets.

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While Rybakina and Rune faced a defeat in the second round, Murray was knocked out of the tournament after a defeat in the opening round. Apart from these, a few more top-ranked players were knocked out after losing to below-ranked players.

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Ons Jabeur, Marketa Vondrousova, Maria Sakkari, and Paula Badosa are the prominent names from the women’s singles event who were knocked out after losing to a below-ranked player. 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu was also knocked out after a defeat in the second round.

The major upsets so far at the Australian Open 2024

After talking about so many upsets at the 2024 Australian Open so far in brief, let us talk about the major ones of them in detail.

Elena Rybakina loses to Anna Blinkova

The biggest upset of the 2024 Australian Open came on Thursday when Elena Rybakina lost to Anna Blinkova in her second-round match.

Anna Blinkova (L) after defeating Elena Rybakina (R)
Anna Blinkova (L) after defeating Elena Rybakina (R) (Credit: Sky Sports)

The last year’s finalist lost to the Russian in three sets. Rybakina and Blinkova fought for two hours and 46 minutes before the Russian sealed the deal in one of the longest tiebreakers.

Holger Rune loses to Arthur Cazaux

Danish tennis ace Holger Rune who is touted as one of the top players on the ATP tour lost to Frenchman Arthur Cazaux in four sets.

Holger Rune loses to Arthur Cazaux
Holger Rune loses to Arthur Cazaux (Image via: Imago)

The youngster could win only 17 games out of the 42 games played. In an intense battle for three hours and 22 minutes, Rune was dominated by his opponent. This has raised concerns over Rune’s consistency.

Ons Jabeur loses to Mirra Andreeva

Although not a major upset, Ons Jabeur losing to below-ranked Mirra Andreeva comes as a surprise. Also, Jabeur losing in straight sets was even more shocking for the fans.

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Ons Jabeur, Mirra Andreeva (Images via Eurosport, Mirra Andreeva)

The Tunisian lost to the 16-year-old Russian 0-6, 2-6.

Emma Raducanu loses to Yafan Wang

2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu lost to Yafan Wang in the second round. Although she was making a comeback after a long time, Raducanu was expected to go a bit deeper at the year’s first Grand Slam.

Emma Raducanu
Emma Raducanu (Image via: Imago)

However, the Briton struggled with her fitness and lost to Wang 4-6, 6-4, 4-6 on Thursday.

Andy Murray loses to Tomas Martin Etcheverry

Briton tennis ace Andy Murray who was once a part of the Big Four of men’s tennis losing to Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the first round was shocking for tennis fans.

Andy Murray loses to Tomas Martin Etcheverry
Andy Murray loses to Tomas Martin Etcheverry (Image via: Imago)

Although the Briton is in the twilight of his career, Murray was expected to show some fight and survive till a few rounds if not win the title. Murray lost to Etcheverry 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

Some other upsets at the 2024 Australian Open

  • Maria Sakkari loses to Elina Avanesyan 4-6, 4-6 in the second round.
  • Caroline Wozniacki loses to Maria Timofeeva 6-1, 4-6, 1-6 in the second round.
  • 16th seed Caroline Garcia loses to Magdalena Frech 4-6, 6-7 in the second round.
  • Alycia Parks beats Leylah Fernandez in straight sets in the second round.
  • Amanda Anisimova beats Paula Badosa in the third round.

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