On January 18th, Beijing time, a major upset occurred in the third round of the new season's Australian Open women's singles event. The No. 4 seed, Paulini, suffered a stunning reversal with scores of 6-2, 4-6, and 0-6, losing to the 28th seed Svitolina with a total score of 1-2. This made her the third top-eight seeded player to be eliminated after Zheng Qinwen and Pegula.
Last year, Paulini achieved two consecutive runner-up finishes at the French Open and Wimbledon, which allowed her to enter the world's top five for the first time and maintain the fourth position for an extended period. In the new season, Paulini participated in the United Cup but was eliminated in the quarterfinals, indicating an average overall performance. Now at the Australian Open, she advanced to the top 32 relatively easily but faced a real challenge in her pursuit of a spot in the top 16.
In this match, Paulini faced Svitolina, who broke her serve in the third game of the first set. Paulini immediately broke back, followed by further breaks in the sixth and eighth games, winning the set 6-2 in a comfortable reversal.
However, in the second set, Paulini's state suddenly declined. Svitolina made a crucial break in the third game and held serve in the fourth, establishing a 3-1 lead. Both players then held their serves, and Svitolina leveled the total score at 6-4 after holding serve in the tenth game.
In the decisive final set, Svitolina continued to improve, breaking serve right from the start and continuing to do so in the third game, along with consecutive holds, leading 4-0 and putting Paulini in a desperate situation.
Facing a 0-4 deficit, Paulini was unable to stage a miraculous comeback. She was broken again in the fifth game and lost the set 0-6, suffering a bagel defeat and being reversed by Svitolina with a total score of 1-2, thus failing to advance to the next round.
As a result, Paulini became the third top-eight seeded player, following Zheng Qinwen and Pegula, to miss out on advancing to the round of sixteen, creating another major upset at the Australian Open.
With Paulini's early exit, it is also good news for Zheng Qinwen as she has the opportunity to surpass Paulini in the rankings before participating in the French Open, at least in her pursuit of a top-four ranking in the world.
For Svitolina, who pulled off the upset victory, it marks the fifth time in her career that she has advanced to the round of sixteen in the Australian Open women's singles. Additionally, her husband, Monfils, also eliminated the men's singles No. 4 seed Fritz earlier today in his match.
Currently, 15 spots in the Australian Open women's singles round of sixteen have been filled. Besides Svitolina, other qualifiers include Sabalenka, Mira Andreeva, Vekic, Pavlyuchenkova, Badosa, Bencic, Gauff, Swiatek, Navarro, Kudermetova, Lis, Rybakina, and Kasatkina. The last spot will be decided between Collins and Keys.