5 unexpected Australian Open champions in the Open Era

In recent years, although a number of players have dominated proceedings in Melbourne, there have been some shock final upsets, with a few ousters thrown in on the way for good measure.Often, it is top-5 players who take the title at the Australian Open - but here are 5 cases where a dark horse at the tournament put up a fight and persevered to eventually win the title despite not being considered a contender in the earlier stages of the tournament.

#5 Barbara Jordan

American Barbara Jordan won the title in 1979 after being seeded 5^th at the tournament

American tennis player Barbara Jordan had a highest-ever rank of 37^th in the singles, and although she did well at the collegiate level, she was not among the best players of her time.

Jordan had never reached the final of a Grand Slam before 1979, and had been seeded 5^th at that year’s Australian Open behind several higher-ranked, more proficient players. That did not appear to deter Jordan, who dropped only one set en route the finals, where she beat compatriot Sharon Walsh, who was seeded 4^th ahead of her, in straight sets.

It wouldn’t be Jordan’s last Grand Slam title, however, as she went on to win the mixed doubles title at the French Open four years later, in 1983, with compatriot Eliot Teltscher.

#4 Brian Teacher

Teacher beat Kim Warwick of Australia for the 1980 title

American Brian Teacher’s best finish at a Grand Slam prior to 1980 had been a 4^th round finish at the US Open. Although he had upset both Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe before, neither of those upsets had been at majors.

Over his 13-year career, Teacher won 8 singles titles – but it was 1980 that would bring him unprecedented success.

Seeded 8^th at the tournament, Teacher may have been expected to have a middling finish at the tournament – but following shock ousters for Ivan Lendl, Jose Luis Clerc and a number of top seeds in the early rounds of the tournament (barring tournament top seed Guillermo Vilas), the lower seeded players had an opportunity to break through.

And Teacher took that opportunity. Initially up against unseeded players, he moved quickly through the tournament with some hard-fought victories, and eventually faced Australia’s Kim Warwick in the finals. It was also Warwick’s only Grand Slam final.

After a hard fought first set and a tiebreak in the second, Teacher defeated Kim Warwick to win his only Grand Slam title. He was one of 5 American players who won a single Grand Slam singles title.

#3 Petr Korda

Korda was banned from the sport later in 1998

Czech ace Petr Korda’s career may since have been tainted by drug revelations in the wake of his Slam win, but he took the title unexpectedly in 1998.

Korda was seeded sixth at the tournament, with reigning champion Pete Sampras the top seed. Ahead of the Czech in the list was an array of illustrious names – Pat Rafter, Michael Chang, Swedish ace Jonas Bjorkman and Britain’s Greg Rusedski.

Rusedski and former No. 1 Rafter both crashed out in the earlier stages of the tournament, with Sampras ousted in the quarterfinals by Slovakian Karol Kucera, who took apart the American No. 1’s attack. It was he who would be Korda’s next opponent – but the Czech handled the onslaught with relative ease, and although he dropped a set against Kucera, managed to win the others convincingly.

He faced 9^th seed Marcelo Rios of Chile in the final, and completely outclassed him, defeating him in straight sets to take his only Grand Slam title.

#2 Thomas Johansson

Johansson won his only Grand Slam title in 2002

Swedish ace Thomas Johansson is by no means short on talent. The former top 10 player had significant success at the singles, with 9 masters titles in the singles and one in the doubles, but had never progressed beyond the second round at a Grand Slam.

Johansson was seeded 16th at the 2002 Australian Open, which defending champion Andre Agassi had withdrawn from. Former World No. 1 Marat Safin had only dropped 3 sets on course to the finals, with then-World No. 1 and local player Lleyton Hewitt crashing out in a first round upset.

Safin was seeded 9th at the tournament and by that point already had a singles Grand Slam and three doubles Slams to his name. The Russian was heavily expected to win, and Johansson likely did not fancy his own chances.

The tall Russian ace did in fact win the first set quite convincingly, and looked set to win, but Johansson seized the game from him to take the following two sets 6-4, 6-4. In a tenuous deciding set that went to a tiebreak, it was the Swede who emerged victorious, winning 7-6.

In winning that year’s Grand Slam, which was the only one of his career, Johansson became the first Swede since his own idol, Mats Wilander, won the title 14 years prior.

#1 Stan Wawrinka

The 2014 Australian Open was Stan Wawrinka’s first ever Grand Slam win

Swiss ace Stan Wawrinka is now 4^th ranked in the world and has won another Grand Slam since his Australian Open win in 2014 – but he was not exactly a title contender then.

Novak Djokovic had taken the title for three years in a row prior, and had been widely pipped to take it a fourth time. To add to Wawrinka’s woes, he had lost to Djokovic at every one of the pair’s 14 previous meetings and would likely not have expected to win himself.

He was up against Djokovic relatively early in the tournament, with the two battling each other for a semi-finals berth. The Swiss fought the World No. 1 tooth-and-nail however, with the fifth set – the decider – 9-7, after being a break down against Djokovic.

He then managed to take apart the defenses of Tomas Berdych, eventually facing another formidable opponent – former World No. 1 Rafael Nadal – in the finals. Again, this was not necessarily a positive sign for Wawrinka, who had not been able to scrape even a single set against the Spaniard in the previous 12 times the pair had faced off.

Faced with an ignominous past record against Nadal, Wawrinka won the first two sets against Nadal in very convincing fashion – 6-2, 6-3, and after dropping the third set came back just as strongly in the decider to take an eventual victory.

En route to his first ever Grand Slam title, Wawrinka beat both top seeds at the tournament – the first player to do so in over two decades, and became the first man outside the Big Four to win a Grand Slam since Juan Martin del Potro’s US Open win in 2009.

Ever since, there has been no looking back for the Swiss, who also for a time overtook his compatriot, GOAT Roger Federer, in the ATP rankings.