Melbourne: American title favorites Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff had convincing third-round wins Friday at the Australian Open.
The third-seeded Pegula, a quarterfinalist the past two years at Melbourne Park, needed 65 minutes for a 6-0 6-2 victory over Marta Kostyuk. Seventh-seeded Gauff be at Bernarda Pera 6-3 6-2 to reach the last 16.
Pegula raced through the first set and though Kostyuk established herself in the second set, she was always playing catch-up.
“I thought I just didn’t give away a lot of free points,” said Pegula, who will meet Barbora Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open champion, in the next round.
“I was playing aggressive when I had to but also smart. Happy to be through to the next round.”
Gauff had to withstand a barrage of big hitting from Pera.
“Today was a tough match,” Gauff said.
“Bernarda hit the….I can’t say that word…she hit the ball really hard, I was just trying to hang in there. I’m happy to be through to the second week.”
Top-seeded Iga Swiatek beat Cristina Bucsa, a qualifier from Spain, 6-0 6-1 in just 55 minutes. Last year’s finalist Danielle Collins of the US was beaten 6-2 5-7 6-2 by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
This is scary stuff from Swiatek 😳@iga_swiatek • @wwos • @espn • @Eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/HLes1KKw5E
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 20, 2023
Krejcikova was the first player to advance to the fourth round after a 6-2, 6-3 win over Anhelina Kalinina to open play Friday at Rod Laver Arena.
The 20th-seeded Czech player won the first five games of the match and dominated her Ukrainian opponent. Krejcikova has not dropped a set in three matches.
In men’s play, Stefanos Tsitsipas will take on Jannik Sinner in the fourth round.
Third-seeded Tsitsipas saved a set point in the second set but beat Tallon Griekspoor 6-2 7-6(5) 6-3 to reach the last 16 at Melbourne Park for the third time in four years.
Another straight sets success for Stef 🔥
He's off to the fourth round. See you there @steftsitsipas 👋@wwos • @espn •@eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/SrcF0wUbJJ
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 20, 2023
Sinner recovered from two sets down for the first time in his career as he beat Marton Fucsovics 4-6 4-6 6-1 6-2, 6-0 after 3 hours, 33 minutes, winning the last 12 games.
“For sure the first two sets were very tough for me,” the 21-year-old Italian and 15th-seeded player said.
“I went on court with one tactic, then I had to change a little bit, going a little more to his backhand. We made a lot of work in the off-season physically so today I was good physically in the last few sets.”
Tsitsipas, the highest-ranked player left in the men’s draw following the exits of top-seeded and defending champion Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Casper Ruud, was pushed hard in the second set by the 63rd-ranked Griekspoor.
The Dutch player had a set point on Tsitsipas’ serve at 6-5 in the second set but couldn’t convert it and Tsitsipas pulled away for victory.
Tsitsipas and Sinner have played five times, with the Greek player leading 4-1. The 24-year-old is a three-time Australian Open semifinalist and was the 2021 French Open runner-up to Novak Djokovic. Sinner reached the quarterfinals in Melbourne last year.
AP
