“It definitely was something that is a goal of mine, especially after last year; I wasn’t able to beat a seed in a Grand Slam,” Osaka said. “I’m obviously very thankful that happened so early this year.”
She also joked about gaining a measure of “revenge” by defeating Garcia — who eliminated Osaka in Melbourne a year ago — and Muchova in consecutive matches.
Next for Osaka is a matchup against Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic, who is also a mother; her daughter, Bella, was born last year. Both Osaka and Bencic are big hitters.
“It’s going to be a fun match,” Bencic said.
Muchova wasn’t the highest-seeded player to exit Wednesday. That was No. 5 Zheng Qinwen, the runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at the 2024 Australian Open and the gold medalist at the Paris Games last August. Zheng lost a bit of focus after being called for a time violation and never managed to counter 97th-ranked Laura Siegemund’s strokes, bowing out 7-6 (3), 6-3 at John Cain Arena.
After the chair umpire cited her for taking too long to serve, Zheng hit her next offering so poorly it bounced way before reaching the net.
“I knew,” the 36-year-old Siegemund said, “I just had to play more than my best tennis.”
The player who beat Zheng in the final 12 months ago, No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, stretched her Melbourne Park winning streak to 16 matches as she eyes a third consecutive title, beating No. 54 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-3, 7-5 at Rod Laver Arena.
Other women’s winners included No. 3 Coco Gauff, No. 7 Jessica Pegula, No. 14 Mirra Andreeva and No. 30 Leylah Fernandez. Gauff, the 2023 U.S. Open champion who has won all seven matches she’s played this season, now faces Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open runner-up.
Novak Djokovic added to his record collection by playing in his 430th career Grand Slam match — one more than Roger Federer — and, though he dropped a set for the second outing in a row with new coach Andy Murray by his side, moved into the third round with a 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 win over Jaime Faria.
Other men advancing included No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz, who joked that he is now a “serve bot” after hitting 14 aces while dismissing Yoshihito Nishioka 6-0, 6-1, 6-4.
“The serve’s about confidence and feeling,” Alcaraz said. “Today I felt great.”
Seeded losers included No. 6 Casper Ruud, a three-time major finalist; No. 22 Sebastian Korda and No. 27 Jordan Thompson.
Ruud was eliminated by 19-year-old Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Mensik equaled his best Grand Slam showing by getting to the third round and joined 18-year-old João Fonseca — who upset No. 9 Andrey Rublev on Tuesday — as the first pair of teens to beat top-10 men at the same Grand Slam tournament since Djokovic and Murray did it at Wimbledon in 2006.
