MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Jessica Pegula cruised into the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Marta Kostyuk.
The third-seeded Pegula, a quarterfinalist the past two years at Melbourne Park, needed 65 minutes for victory as the American set up a round-of-16 match against Barbora Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open champion.
“I thought I just didn’t give away a lot of free points,” Pegula said. “I was playing aggressive when I had to but also smart. Happy to be through to the next round.”
Last year’s finalist Danielle Collins of the U.S. was beaten 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. Coco Gauff was playing Bernarda Pera later on Friday.
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.
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.
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