Sports

MELBOURNE, Australia — American title favorites Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff had convincing third-round wins on 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 beat 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, 18, is the first American since Venus Williams (1998-99) to make the fourth round in multiple Australian Opens before turning 19. She also made the fourth round in 2020.

Gauff had to withstand a barrage of big hitting from Pera on Friday.

“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 U.S. was beaten 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.

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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Articles You May Like

The female gamers competing for thousands of pounds at first event of its kind in UK
Tram crash at Universal Studios Hollywood leaves 15 people hurt
Sunak pledges to keep child benefit cap if Tories win next election
Sunak set for week-long blitz of announcements amid talk of no-confidence vote and summer election
‘We aren’t going anywhere’ – TikTok vows court fight as new US law threatens to ban it