The Sydney International continued to be a graveyard for some of the top names in women’s tennis with champion and top seed Agnieszka Radwanska and former world number one Caroline Wozniacki both losing in the second round yesterday.
Men’s champion Bernard Tomic, however, followed up the exploits of fellow Australian Marko Matosevic, who earlier beat Florian Mayer 6-2 4-6 6-3, to demolish eighth seed Marcel Granollers 6-3 6-0 in just under an hour.
Radwanska and Wozniacki followed grand slam champions Svetlana Kuznetsova, of Russia, and Italy’s Francesca Schiavone and former world number one Jelena Jankvoic as early evictees from the tournament.
Radwanska’s title defence lasted just 92 minutes when she was dumped out 7-5 6-2 by American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands, while Wozniacki, who struggled in her first round match on Monday, was beaten 6-4 7-6 by Czech Lucie Safarova.
World number five Radwanska, who won the Sydney title last year as part of a 13-match unbeaten streak that ended in the Australian Open quarter-finals, said she was not overly concerned with her early loss.
“I really had a lot of good matches last week,” the 24-year-old Pole added in reference to winning all three matches at the Hopman Cup in Perth last week.
“It’s not like I’m playing bad. I’m not worried about that.
“I just think not my day (and)... sometimes you have to lose. I think every week is different story. You start over and over again.”
Mattek-Sands will now face fellow American Madison Keys in the quarter-finals.
Former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova will play Safarova in the quarter-finals after the second seed smashed American qualifier Christina McHale 6-1 6-0 in a little over an hour.
Wozniacki, who missed the Brisbane tournament last week with a sore shoulder, said she was feeling fine but had failed to win the crucial points in the clash against Safarova.
“I felt like it was pretty good today. It was small things that I did not win,” the Dane said.
Meanwhile, Australian Lleyton Hewitt took a different approach to being ready for the Australian Open by withdrawing from the invitational Kooyong Classic tournament in Melbourne.
The 32-year-old caused an upset at the Brisbane International beating Roger Federer in the final on Sunday and he said he felt he would need the week off to recover for the season-opening grand slam.
“At the moment it’s just all about recovery time for me,” Hewitt said.
“When you get older it gets a bit tougher than when you were 16. We’re going into the first major and you’ve got to do what’s absolutely right for you.”
His place in the eight-man field will be taken by compatriot Jordan Thompson, who will play world number nine Richard Gasquet in their first matches today.
Meanwhile, world number eight Tomas Berdych opens the tournament against Spain’s Fernando Verdasco.