As seeded players fall around her, Azarenka is embracing the pressure

MELBOURNE—With No. 3 seed Garbine Muguruza losing in the third round to No. 48-ranked Barbora Strycova, there is only one Top 10 seed left in the bottom half of the draw.

No. 7 seed Angelique Kerber is now the highest-ranked player in the bottom half at the Australian Open.

In addition to No. 3 seed Muguruza, No. 9 seed Karolina Pliskova fell to Ekaterina Makarova. Earlier this week, No. 2 seed Simona Halep and No. 8 seed Venus Williams both lost in the first round.

Both Halep and Muguruza said that they were under pressure in the Grand Slam tournament. The Spaniard said that it was a “very bad day” against Strycova.

Muguruza reached the final at Wimbledon last year, but she lost in the second round of the U.S. Open to Brit Johanna Konta.

Two-time Aussie Open champion Victoria Azarenka, however, said she “loves” the pressure and is used to nerves. The Belarusian is ranked No. 16, and she won her third-round match over Naomi Osaka in straight sets.

“I embrace it,” Azarenka said. “I don't know. Pressure for me, I think it's part of where I came from. I always had pressure. I had one shot to get out of where I am, so that was way more pressure than I'm having right now. So I just embrace it. I think that motivates me.

"Everybody is always nervous. Don't tell me nobody as an athlete [isn’t] nervous before the match. It's just what you do for the nerves. Do you use them for your advantage and hype you up and use that adrenaline to your power, or use it to close in and not to do anything?”

Asked about the other seeds falling, she shrugged it off.

"I don't really pay attention to that,” she said. “I think that just shows maybe a little bit of the depth of competition. That you have to be ready for every single match, and that's really what I'm trying to do."