The Netflix curse has struck once more on the Australian Open, claiming quantity six seed Maria Sakkari on Friday.
87th ranked Zhu Lin shocked the Greek star as she claimed the 7-6, 1-6, 6-4 victory to advance into the ultimate 16.
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Netflix’s new collection, Break Point, was launched to most of the people on January 13 and provides followers a glance behind the scenes of the tennis world.
The 10-part docuseries shines a highlight on a number of stars of the sport, however ever since its debut the celebrities of the collection have crumbled on the Australian Open.
Nine of the ten featured within the opening 5 episodes have did not make it into the second week on the first Grand Slam of 2023.
Three withdrew earlier than the match received underway, lacking out as a result of damage. Six have been eradicated earlier than the third spherical ends.
Sakkari turned the newest participant to be struck down by the curse. Only Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime stays within the draw.
The win for Zhu was her first ever in opposition to an opponent ranked inside the highest 10 on the planet.
She had misplaced all seven of her earlier encounters in opposition to top-10 gamers. But you wouldn’t have recognized it in a late-night encounter on Margaret Court Arena which went previous midnight and, fittingly, into Chinese New Year’s Eve.
Underdog Zhu celebrated the Year of the Rabbit by taking the primary set on a tie-break.
Though she dropped the second as Sakkari lastly awakened, Zhu regrouped to safe the largest win of her Grand Slam profession after which burst into floods of tears.
“Is this real? Am I in a dream?” she sobbed.
“Thank you, my team, and thank you for pushing me every day,” she stated, seeking to her participant’s field.
“It’s just I have to believe in myself that I have the ability to be able to play at this high level and I need to work hard every day.
“And, yeah, who knows what’s going to happen? You never know.”
But it was the curse which turned the new subject amongst tennis followers. Auger-Aliassime is left to carried the load for the collection after American Taylor Fritz dispelled any notion previous to his Australian Open exit within the second spherical in opposition to Aussie Alexei Popyrin.
“I noticed the people pulling out of the tournament but I didn’t know it was a thing,” stated the 25-year-old.“I’m not going to lose my first-round match because I’m in the Netflix show, so I didn’t think about that.”
Despite the curse lingering over Melbourne Park, it hasn’t deterred different stars from placing their hand as much as seem in potential future seasons.
Denmark’s Holger Rune laughed off solutions showing could carry unhealthy luck to gamers, saying he could be open to getting concerned in a brand new season.
“I’m excited to do it. I think it’s going to be great. It’s good for tennis,” he stated.
“It’s good for us players. [The] more fans we can get into the sport, it’s better. I’m just very positive about it.”
– with AFP
