Muguruza takes Svitolina scalp as top women’s seeds tumble

Two-time Grand Slam champion Muguruza won 6-1 6-2 and faces Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan or Dutch ninth seed Kiki Bertens in the last 16 in Melbourne.

The 26-year-old Spaniard Muguruza, a former world number one but now ranked 32, failed to win two matches in a row last year after the French Open in May-June.

But the 2016 Roland Garros and 2017 Wimbledon champion spent the off-season climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to help clear her mind of tennis -- and it appears to have done the trick.

She seized the first set against fifth-seeded Ukrainian Svitolina in only 23 minutes at Rod Laver Arena.

She saved two break points while serving for the match, then sealed an emphatic victory with a powerful forehand winner.

"I was very concentrated and focused on what I wanted to do, it all went fast my way," the Spaniard said of the rapid first set.

"I played a very good match and managed to disturb her."

Muguruza had been suffering a viral illness when she began her Melbourne campaign.

"The first day I didn't feel very well at all and I am in round four because of my big fight (spirit)," she added.

The top women's seeds have tumbled at the Australian Open in round three.

Second seed Karolina Pliskova and sixth seed Belinda Bencic were both beaten on Saturday.

Reigning champion and third seed Naomi Osaka, eighth seed Serena Williams and 10th seed Madison Keys all fell out the Melbourne trapdoor on Friday.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep avoided becoming the latest big casualty when she beat Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva to reach the last 16 on Saturday.

The fourth seed won 6-1, 6-4 and plays Belgian 16th seed Elise Mertens or CiCi Bellis of the United States next in Melbourne.

The 28-year-old Halep, last year’s winner at Wimbledon, said: “I am not focusing on other players, just on myself. At this level, every match is really tough.”

Halep, who also won the French Open in 2018, said being the current Wimbledon champion meant nothing in terms of trying to win the Australian Open for the first time.

“It’s been a great year last year but this is different tennis,” she told Rod Laver Arena.

“I am ready, I give everything I have to win and really, really happy to be in the second week now.”