The Australian Open has already seen some big shocks after just two days of the 2026 tournament.
Top seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz have already won their first match at the Australian Open this year.
However, there have already been some big-name casualties from the tournament, including Felix Auger-Aliassime, who retired from his first-round match against Nuno Borges.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova is also out of the Australian Open, and she has now been joined by a top 20 player.
Magda Linette wins her first Grand Slam match in over two years
Emma Navarro can sometimes be forgotten in American tennis as she is only the fifth-highest ranked player from the USA, despite being the world number 15.
However, it has been a mixed start to the season for Navarro, who had lost in the first round of the WTA 250 tournament in Auckland, before reaching the quarterfinals of the Adelaide International.
Navarro was then handed a tricky draw against former Australian Open semifinalist Magda Linette, who beat Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula last year.
While the Pole reached the semifinals of the Australian Open just three years ago, Linette had actually lost her last nine Grand Slam matches, which dates back to the 2023 US Open when she beat Kimberly Birrell.
This run looked set to continue for Linette when Navarro won the first set of their match, but she was able to fight back to beat the American, 3-6 6-3 6-3.
Linette is now into the second round of the Australian Open for the first time since her run to the semifinals three years ago, and the world number 50 will now look to continue her resurgence against Ann Li.
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What will happen to Emma Navarro’s ranking after first-round exit from the Australian Open?
Navarro has become the second-highest ranked player to have already exited the women’s singles draw of the Australian Open this year, with 11th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova also losing at the first possible opportunity.
However, this could have a more significant impact on Navarro, who reached the Australian Open quarterfinals for the first time last year.
This first-round defeat means that Navarro is now confirmed to drop 420 points from her ranking, and is already confirmed to drop to at least world number 17 in the live rankings.
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Navarro is likely to continue falling further as players below her continue to collect points, and she could even be at risk of falling outside the top 20 for the first time since May 2024.
The former world number eight will now have a couple of weeks away from the match court, before she heads to the Middle East for tournaments in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai.
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