Five disappointments at the 2015 Australian Open in Melbourne

Russia's Maria Sharapova had her best chance to win the Australian Open but came up a cropper against Serena Williams. Mal Fairclough / AFP

Here is a look at five players who will have departed the Australian Open disappointed, in some way, with their efforts.

Roger Federer

After a poor 2013, it was a spirited run to the last four in Melbourne in 2014 that had hinted at the Federer resurgence. Twelve months later the world No 2 has crashed out in the third round to Andreas Seppi, to fail to make the last 16 in Australia for the first time since 2001. It is far too early to talk of a permanent decline in the 33 year old Swiss, but this was a poor ­showing.

Maria Sharapova

It maybe harsh to put one of the women’s finalists in here but this was a wasted opportunity for the Russian. She was playing well and had won the pre-tournament warm-up event in Brisbane. Serena Williams was not at her best and this was a great chance for Sharapova to claim a victory that would have ended her 15-match losing streak to the world No 1. Sharapova failed to get the job done and even lost in straight sets to give the impression she is even further away from bridging the gap, which has to be a disappointment for the world No 2.

Tomas Berdych

This could also be construed as harsh. The disappointment is not in how he played as he played great, beating Rafael Nadal is not to be sniffed at. It was the manner of his semi-final loss to Andy Murray that was the disappointment. He won the first set and had Murray on the backfoot. But a shocking second set, in which he was bageled, took away all momentum and he was beaten in four sets to kiss goodbye to another chance for that first major win.

Petra Kvitova

An early exit in the third round from the Czech player, who has proven that when she is at her best, such as at Wimbledon, that she can be unstoppable. Those days seem to come around too infrequently, though, and her straight sets exit to Madison Keys raises questions about her confidence and mental strength.

Ana Ivanovic

The Serbian had a good 2014, consistent, if not outstanding, and had looked like she was close to recapturing the form that saw her win the 2008 French Open. The world No 5 had been runner-up in Brisbane, but all thoughts of continuing that progress evaporated on the opening day of the tournament as she lost in three sets to Lucie Hradecka, making yet another false dawn of a reported Ivanovic renaissance.

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