MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Distracted by a time penalty and unable to counteract No. 97-ranked Laura Siegemund's aggressive approach, Zheng Qinwen's loss in the second round Wednesday fell a long way short of last year's run to the Australian Open final.

Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka held on for a tough second-round win at the Australian Open on Wednesday, but last year's finalist Zheng Qinwen became the first Top 10 seed to fall this week.

Last year’s Australian Open runner-up Zheng Qinwen has crashed out in a huge upset in the second round at Melbourne Park to unfancied German veteran Laura Siegemund. The fifth-seeded Zheng came into the first major of 2025 in imperious form.

Distracted by a time penalty and unable to counteract No. 97-ranked Laura Siegemund's aggressive approach, Zheng Qinwen's loss in the second round Wednesday fell a long way short of last year's run to the Australian Open final.

Zheng Qinwen, last year’s beaten Australian Open finalist, became the highest seed to fall so far in this year’s tournament after she was stunned by world No. 97 Laura Siegemund in the second round.

Beating Zheng Qinwen at the Australian Open was obviously too much for Laura Siegemund – the German was thrashed by Russian 27th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round on Friday. The 36-year-old had dominated China’s Olympic gold medallist in their clash two days ago,

In a thrilling upset at Melbourne Park, Laura Siegemund eliminated Olympic Gold Medalist Qinwen Zheng in a stunning victory of 7-6(3) 6-3. This marks Siegemund’s biggest Grand Slam triumph to date, as she defeated the No.